Ksenia Kologrieva
President & Founder
Ksenia studied Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language at the top Russian university – Moscow State University. She has taught and designed foreign language immersion programs for children and adults for over 10 years. Her students have ranged from small kids to military personnel, from high school students to corporate executives, from PhD candidates to young professionals. Before founding Cloudberry, Ksenia worked in brand management at large international companies in Moscow, Russia. She earned her undergraduate degree in history and languages from Russian State University for the Humanities. Ksenia speaks Italian and Russian. She has traveled extensively and has a passion for creating cross-cultural understanding. Ksenia's top interest is children's bilingualism.
ksenia@cloudberrylanguageschool.com
Todd Jackson
Russian Language Instructor & Russian-English Translator
Todd has studied the Russian language and culture for over 13 years and is certified by the American Translators Association. He lived in Moscow for nearly 10 years, working as an in-house Russian-English translator at Russia’s biggest news agency, Interfax, where his translations covered virtually every aspect of the rapidly growing Russian economy. He also collaborated on translation projects as a freelancer with major Russian and international companies. Todd has translated a number of books on different topics ranging from history to oil & gas and politics. At Cloudberry Todd offers a workshop for translators and leads the class “Those weird Russians!” on Russian culture and mentality.
todd@cloudberrylanguageschool.com
Masha Sherstinova
Russian Language & Culture Instructor
Masha has a BA in Languages from Saint Petersburg State University and MA in Teaching Languages from University of Northern Iowa. She is highly experienced in teaching foreign languages to both adults and children. At Cloudberry Masha authors exciting workshops on Russian Cinema, Russian Slang & Idioms and Russian Media. Masha is passionate about teaching her native language to anyone who is ready to learn, explore and be fascinated by Russian culture.
Wahied Girgis
Arabic Language & Middle East History Instructor
Wahied recently moved from Egypt and is very passionate about sharing his language and culture with Chicagoans. He has a Master’s Degree in History from Cairo University and vast experience teaching adults and children of different ages. As a professional Egyptologist and the former director of a travel agency in Cairo, he can offer you endless tips on traveling in the Middle East.
Ying Xu
Mandarin Chinese Language & Culture Instructor
Ying is from Xi’an, the ancient capital of China. Her enthusiasm for her culture and language is contagious. She knows fast ways of teaching Chinese characters and will make you speak Mandarin during the first 5 minutes of the very first lesson. She is also a lawyer so she will teach you the appropriate business language and culture during her Mandarin classes for professionals. Her favorite things are traveling and cooking Chinese food, especially Hunan cuisine.
Sasha Belyi
Russian Language through Music Instructor
Sasha is a University of Chicago graduate and a successful example of how native language and culture can be preserved in an immigrant family. He has strong experience leading educational programs for children at the largest language camp in the US, Concordia Language Villages. Sasha enjoys playing guitar and singing Russian songs. You will learn a lot of new words and cultural references during his lessons at Cloudberry.
Zhanna Palmeri
ESL & Business English Instructor
Zhanna has an MA in English and is certified as an ESL teacher by Michigan State University. She has over five years' experience teaching adults and teens. She has been teaching English both online and in person, and she loves sharing American culture and introducing others to the pleasures and quirks of the English language. She particularly enjoys using popular culture, film, games and music to teach, and always builds lessons around your individual interests and goals.
Our teachers are not simply native speakers but highly experienced instructors who follow the latest teaching trends, have the best education in the industry and take responsibility for ensuring student progress. Many of them recently came to the US with a fresh perspective and the latest cultural references from their native countries. Children are taught only by native speakers. Cloudberry Language School provides all teachers with extensive training before they teach their first class.