Maria Makarchenko

I am a new student to Ukrainian and to italki. From the very first «Привіт!», with her beaming smile, Maria had me hooked! Марія teaches and listens with enthusiasm, patience, and a lot of understanding. Her lessons and conversations are diverse, interesting, engaging, and we always smile and laugh along the way! 😄 With my extremely demanding schedule, our learning sessions have become a veritable oasis! We just completed another session and I already can’t wait for our next lesson (I feel that way after each lesson)! Щиро дякую, Маріє! Я так багато вивчаю кожен урок! Ти чудова вчителька! Дуже дуже дякую! 🙏

One of the best decisions I made this year was taking Ukrainian lessons with Maria. While I have little talent for learning languages, she has tons and gladly passes her experience and enthusiasm on to her students. In a relaxed and friendly environment, you will learn and practice your language skills, learn about Ukrainian culture, and be inspired to keep going. The hour will go by far too quickly, and you will be noticeably better by its end.

I have had Maria as a teacher for at least six lessons and she is excellent. She quickly assessed my level of skill in Russian, where I was strongest and what needed work on. Then she set up me up with the opportunity to do assignments (if I wished). Maria is also a great conversationalist and to my surprise had an incredibly detailed knowledge of my humble little state of South Dakota. The hour I spend with her each week just flies by. She motivates me to be better and I feel myself improving as a student -- at least my confidence is! : ) I was not a great language student back in school, but this is fun. It doesn’t feel like work at all. Notice how busy her schedule is. There is a reason: she’s good.

Maria is the best teacher in the world. Her lessons are inspirational and her motivation in teaching this beautiful language is unmatched. I highly recommend taking lessons from Maria.

Maria has a tremendous gift and ability to take broader concepts and boil them down to their essence in a way that is extremely easy to understand and to grasp. She uses her creativity, her imagination, and her broad base of knowledge to seamlessly convey what might otherwise be much more difficult to absorb were it not for her strong communication and teaching skills. We just finished another lesson and already I am taking pen to paper to further explore what we covered today! Her encouragement really fuels enthusiasm! 📖✍️

This was my first lesson in Ukrainian in a year. It was absolutely incredible. Maria is always prepared, always professional, always cheerful, and always ensures that I leave each lesson more knowledgeable than when the lesson began. Her approach to teaching is second to none. I would highly recommend her to anyone whose goal is language proficiency.