Testimonial by Natasha Bednarz

This winter school was one of the best, most challenging, and most rewarding language-learning experiences I have had.

At the heart of the Eastern Armenian program was Sona, the teacher of the course. Besides being a highly skilled instructor, she comes up with creative ways to make the language sink in, and avoids English to make it an immersive environment. She also prepares a diverse range of instructive materials for every lesson; she covers speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar and listening every day, comprehensively approaching the language. I entered the school at an intermediate level of Armenian (speaking, reading, writing).

My classmates were beginners, and Sona noticed immediately that the material was very basic for me. She set up one-on-one classes with me every day after her class with the other students. She doubled her workday for two weeks to make sure the course was useful and challenging for me.

Whatever your current level of Armenian, ASPIRANTUM classes will help you significantly develop your language skills! I am working as a researcher in Armenia this year, and halfway through the course, my colleagues commented on how much I improved my communication was. The course truly pushed me; it was never easy or boring. Sona's academic materials were always relevant and interesting, from listening to songs and poetry readings, to watching lectures from a diverse range of academic fields.

Thus, concurrent with my language skill growth it was an added education in Armenian culture, history, arts, politics, and society. Lastly, the ASPIRANTUM team is very fun; they organize two traditional Armenian dinners during the course :)