Painting Competition - Mayfair School of English

Mayfair School of English in conjunction with British Council Moscow organised a painting competition to celebrate the UK and Russia Year of Culture in 2014. The subject of the competition was Russia Today. The response was tremendous and of a genuinely high quality. We were flooded with entries and it was indeed difficult to choose from the 120 we received, of which many could easily have won. The three winners in the end after a very difficult judging session were :

1) Sergei Kurbatov

2) Aigul Mazitova

3) Elena Leontieva

All three of these students were made welcome during this year at the Mayfair School of English where they were invited to study on free courses. Flights and accomodation were donated by the British Council, Russia. So good was the response that 7 further runner-ups were chosen and offered offered free English language courses. Many have come and taken up our joint offer.

We hope to repeat this with other countries in the future and at some stage have a exhibition of works from various countries. Who knows – we may have a Van Gogh or a budding Picasso amidst us?

Here are the winning pictures and links to the artists’ sites with information about them and their work. We would also like to share two of the artists’ experiences here in London and at the school as shown below:

1) Yudaeva Ekaterina

2) Solopeev Ruslan

3) Nadezhda Romanchuk

4) Natalia Eremina

5)Sergei Burcov

6)Ekaterina Chevtaeva

7)Daria Smirnova

Sergei Kurbatov:

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How did you feel about winning the competition?

I was more than surprised! Did not think that my work could be a winner of competition. When I received a letter from the British Council, I was very excited and surprised.

What did you gain from your course at Mayfair School?

A lot of practice. After the first week I began to understand the spoken language, that English spoken on the street. I stopped analyze and put together the phrases in my mind, started to think in English. I gained many new friends – most valuable acquisition

What did you enjoy most in school?

The atmosphere within the school: perfect quality of teaching, the students were interested to learn and we had responsible and sympathetic teachers.

Study was not tiring at all. The process of study takes place like a dialogue between students and students, teachers and students. During this dialogue you learn quietly.

How did you enjoy your time in London generally?

I fell in love with London. Thanks to Mayfair School for the opportunity to see the city as a resident, not as a tourist. This is an invaluable experience. London is a huge city that cares about its citizens and guests: parks, free museums, stands with maps and information, bicycles, monuments and more. I want to come to London again and again.

Burtsov Sergey:

“A sudden opportunity to take a 2-week course on English in the heart of London, at Mayfair School, came as a surprise for me and as a real present. I’m an artist and, following the advice by my friend, I sent my work for an art competition held in Russia by the British Council, Moscow, together with London Mayfair School. And to a great joy of my wonderful wife Anna and my fellow artists from the TM-Studia art unity I was chosen as one of the finalists. And, as a prize, I was invited to study English for 2 weeks.
It’s amazing that there is Mayfair School, that there are people supporting artists and developing international relations between people!
The studying process at Mayfair school is organized in a really vivid and interesting manner, all the teachers are very professional and friendly, there is a lot of practice and funny tasks. And all of this is in English only.
I should note that for me as an artist, the travel to London was extremely useful: almost every day I visited museums. Here they have a great collection of artefacts – fine arts and sculptures that are definitely worth seeing. I want to sincerely thank the British Council in Russia for the competition held and Mayfair School administration for making it all happen and for the warm welcome.
I met some new friends at the School and also got to meet and talk to the founder of London Mayfair School and I appreciate it a lot!
Everything was simply great!“