Hi, I'm Olga.

My first degree is in software engineering, so I see language as a system: every ending has a reason, every rule has a logic.

For five years I taught electrical engineering, electronics and IT at a technical college. My students weren't linguists. I had to explain things simply and clearly, otherwise nothing worked at all.

Then I went back to learn how to teach: a master's degree in secondary and higher education, with distinction. Not "I know Russian, so I can teach it", but method: how people take in new material, why they forget, and how to build a programme they'll see through to the end.

In 2020 my family and I moved to Finland. I didn't know a word of Finnish: an adult, with degrees, with experience, and unable to speak.

I learned the language, passed the national language exam (YKI), had my master's degree recognised in Finland and completed vocational teacher training at Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK). My teaching placement was at a Finnish college: maths for Finnish students, taught in Finnish. It was frightening. And it worked.

I know how to explain: that's years of practice and teacher training in two countries. And I know what it feels like to be a capable adult who can't say a simple sentence, because I've been there myself. Today I've chosen to work online, so I can teach my own language to my own students directly.