The most efficient way to learn a language is to travel abroad, immerse yourself in the language and culture , and follow a language course. Living abroad gives you the cultural understanding and everyday practice you need to quickly improve improve your language skills.

Students can immediately put their newly acquired knowledge of Russian to practical use as Odessa is a bustling Russian-speaking city.

«Russian Express» - is the main textbook at OLSC which has won the approval and recognition by UNESCO for the LINGUAPAX programme aimed at fostering language learning as a means of cultural understanding and world peace.

Alongside Learning Russian we offer the following accommodation choices:

Regular homestay Executive homestay Self-catering apartments

What is included in the price of OLSC courses:

Language classes*

Entrance test

Free access to the internet
(WIFI connection)

Free use of the self-study
centre and library

Spacious recreation rooms

Local information
24-hour emergency number
OLSC final certificate, giving precise details of your speaking, listening,
reading and writing skills in correspondence to the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages.

* A lesson lasts 45 minutes. Classes are taught exclusively in Russian. Class size: max.10

Learn how to use your Russian language effectively in everyday settings and situations. We will guide and improve your skills in Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing, Vocabulary and Grammar.

The Ukrainian language belongs to the East Slavic language group, and is the language of 48 million Ukrainians living in their native country as well as in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, and other countries.  

Ukrainian has been the official language of Ukraine since the Act of Declaration of Independence on 24 August, 1991. 

Ukrainian is quickly becoming a popular language, and is taught at many universities throughout the world.  In some provinces of Canada it is included in the high school curriculum.


Are you a language teacher looking for new teaching ideas? OLSC is at the forefront of the development of communicative methodologies and learner centred approaches. The course focuses on various aspects of Russian language teaching including learner autonomy and classroom management skills. Come and benefit from our know-how.

Cultural Excursions and Leisure Programmes

Students can participate in cultural activities and visit local tourist attractions with OLSC staff and students, as well as enjoy the nightlife.
We endeavour to:

  • give students the opportunity to participate in the local way of life;
  • provide advice and information related to the local culture;
  • effectively introduce the activities program as an extension of the classroom.

History & Culture(link is external)

Odessa rich history is not to be missed while you study at OLSC.
OLSC offers a wide range of tours and excursions to cover all famous cultural and historical venues of Odessa and region.

Other Events(link is external)

For those of you who want fun in the sun. Odessa offers a range of opportunities for the casual or more active time spending. OLSC can assist you in making the necessary arrangements.

Entertainment (Theatres, Movies, Nightlife, Restaurants and Cafes)(link is external)

Those who are interested in getting to know Odessa from all its sides and facets should not miss entertainment opportunities the city offers in the widest variety. Odessa has 7 theatres, 2 chains of modern cinemas, indoor and outdoor clubs, and a selection of restaurants and cafes that can satisfy almost any taste.

If we are to credit a comic scene from an Odessan operetta about the statue of the Duc de Richelieu, the Duc received a telegram from his relatives saying they were coming to visit him.  He went out to meet them and congealed on the spot with the telegram in his hand...
Yes - who, pray tell, didn't come to Odessa!  And who on earth didn't write about it!  And just what hasn't been written about it! 
Pushkin detected European features in Odessa, whereas Mark Twain opined:  "Look up the street or down the street, this way or that way, we saw only America!" Jules Verne discerned in Odessa "a genuine oasis in the middle of the vast surrounding steppes".  Only Mikhail Zhvanetskiy was straight and to the point, without metaphor:  "...a fairly beautiful city in our South and someone's North.  On the shores of the Black Sea."  Everyone, however, without exception, remarked on Odessa's blissful idleness.. 

The sea and blissful idleness are the chief draws of Odessa.  But it's not enough to have the sea- you need the inspiration to idleness as well.  And Odessa knows her stuff in that area.  

The intrigues of the streets and the heavy scent of spring acacias lead you to a cafe.  Ah, those diversely patronised Odessa cafes, vying with each other to offer mojito, lectures on the history of art, and eternal levity!  Prim and proper clubs
and multilingual summer terraces, highbrow theatres and reckless street poets and musicians, lush fairs and ripe bazaars, shady boulevards and sultry beaches, and yachts- a multitude of yachts and yacht-club moorings, yachts ready to spread their scarlet sails at your beck and call, for the most romantic episode of your life!

Yes, Odessa is the city of romance.  Here there have always abounded mad escapades in the name of love, and women have received lavish gifts: legendary ladders and bridges, or, in the worst-case scenario, just stars.  The stars in the sky above Odessa are a scattering of diamonds in the deep black velvet heavens.  And the blackness of the Odessan summer night is always pervaded by the smell of the sea and adventures.  

And in the morning birds chirping at the window, dust and gold trembling in the air, ice cream in a crunchy cone.  And, springing forth afresh:  boulevards and beaches, the lazy Odessan mid-day, attempting to envelop at a single stroke dozens of museums and hundreds of cubic metres of history.  And the architecture-- oh, the unbearable eclecticism of Odessa's architectural forms:  classicism and modernism,  Renaissance and Second Empire, Moorish style, Armenian decor, porticos, loggias, galleries!  And the dizzying names of the architects:  Boffo, Fellner and Helmer, Thomas de Thomon, Bernardazzi, Gonsiorowski…

And linen flutters in the wind amid the crumbling moulding of the balconies, recalling the rustling of silk and crinoline; and fog arises from the sea and engulfs the city, replacing the impossibly long and sunny Indian summer.  What does London know of fog?  Nothing whatsoever.  The romance of fog is also manufactured in Odessa, and Odessan artists celebrate it in a competitive chorus.  When you can no longer sunbathe or bathe in the sea, you can swim through the milky Odessa fog, and there will emerge out of the blue to meet you the trees of the park spread out above the harbour, and the benches with their lovers exchanging kisses.  And above the city floats the sound of a foghorn, summoning those who haven't yet been here:  "Come to Odessa!"