Book Discussion Club: The Path to Meaning
An online reading and debating club for teenagers from Russian-speaking families living abroad.
- Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Zamyatin - alongside Salinger, Franzen and Rooney
- Debates in the Karl Popper format: two sides, arguments and questions to each other
- We learn to defend a position and understand why the person opposite thinks otherwise
- 5–9 students
- 60 minutes
- once a week
- Zoom, online
- Certificate on completion
- 23 yearsof teaching experience
- 4.9Google rating
- 268Google reviews
Behind the Pygmalion Academy programme is Pygmalion Language Centre, a language centre founded in Latvia in 2003. About the centre
This club is a good fit if your teenager…
Is 16–17 years old and growing up in a Russian-speaking family
Reads at a basic or confident level, writes short texts and is ready to discuss what they read
Wants to argue seriously, with reasoned arguments and by the rules
Does your teenager not speak Russian yet?Choose a suitable A1–C1 level course.
About the programme
The programme in all three groups of the club is built around the same themes: identity, emotions, other people, relationships, the world and one’s path, maturity. What changes is the texts and the depth of the conversation. In the oldest group the central question is put differently: “who am I when I choose myself?” - and we look for the answer together with Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Zamyatin and Salinger. A meeting lasts 60 minutes, and there is no need to read the whole book beforehand.
The discussion is run as a Karl Popper debate, adapted for beginners: two sides, prepared arguments and a round of questions to each other. What matters here is not simply winning the argument but understanding the logic of the other position.
Identity
Who I am when I choose myself: the inner voice, self-respect, self-definition and courage.
Emotions
Making sense of your feelings: honesty with yourself, steadiness, depth and maturity.
Other people
Learning to understand people better: their motives and histories, masks and expectations, conflicts and reconciliation.
Relationships
Closeness, boundaries and responsibility: why we fear love and fear losing ourselves. The anchor text is “Eugene Onegin”.
The world and one’s path
The world as a space of choice and your own path through it: what I want, what stops me and what carries me forward.
Maturity
Inner ground and a freedom that takes others into account. The anchor text is “A Hero of Our Time”. The programme closes on “I choose to be myself”: a personal manifesto, a conversation about the year’s favourite book, a debate tournament and a creative project. At the end the teenager receives a certificate.
What we read in class
Cultural grounding
Russian classics on freedom, responsibility and maturity - in fragments.
- Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”
- Lermontov’s “A Hero of Our Time”
- Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”
- Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina”
- Zamyatin’s “We”
- Dostoevsky’s novels
- Poems by Tsvetaeva and Vysotsky
Wider horizons
Contemporary fiction on the search for yourself.
- Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”
- Coelho’s “The Alchemist”
- Lowry’s “The Giver”
- Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood”
- Rooney
- Franzen
- Strout
- Adichie
What a lesson consists of
We open with a short question on the topic and share our thoughts
We read a literary fragment and watch a scene from a film
The debate: two positions, arguments and questions to each other
We work in pairs and sum up: writing a manifesto or a short answer
How lesson time is divided
- Discussion50%
- Reading20%
- Writing20%
- Film fragment10%
Skills your teenager will develop in the club
- Understands their own identity and can talk about it
- Tells complicated emotions apart and learns to manage them
- Holds a dialogue: argues, listens and respects the other position
- Sees the motives, the histories and the inner conflicts of characters
- Builds relationships honestly and respectfully, without losing themselves
- Analyses texts and uses them to understand themselves and other people better
- Writes short essays, reflective texts and personal manifestos
Teachers
Diana
Teaches the teen courses and club, ages 12–17
- Education
- BA in Philology (University of Latvia), teacher training (Liepāja University)
- Experience
- 20 years of teaching
- Languages
- Russian (native), English, Spanish
- Her students have won prizes at national Russian language olympiads
The more languages a person knows, the brighter and fuller their life becomes.
Raisa A.
Teaches the teen courses and the discussion club - ages 12–17
- Education
- MA in Philology
- Languages
- Russian (native), English (B2)
- Methodology consultant and textbook reviewer
- Takes part in national and international projects
- Also teaches drama and public speaking
I teach because dialogue makes a person free.
Timetable and price
60 €/monthWhy it’s worth keeping Russian
Bilingualism is an advantage
Children growing up with two languages learn to see the world from a broader perspective and easily switch between different ways of thinking.
Russian develops thinking skills
By learning the language more deeply, children learn to express their thoughts more precisely, understand complex ideas, and formulate their own ideas - building intellectual maturity.
A link to culture and family
A language is stories, traditions and the people closest to you. It helps a child feel part of the family and keep their roots.
Frequently asked questions
Enroll your child in the course
An online reading and debating club for teenagers from Russian-speaking families living abroad.