Armenian Language Classes
ONLINE GROUP CLASSES
For the last twenty years, the Armenian Institute has proudly offered lessons in both Western and Eastern Armenian. By offering our courses online, our qualified and experienced instructors can meet you wherever you are, whatever your level, or preferred dialect. For those who work better in a classroom setting, weekly group classes are designed to foster a collaborative learning environment with other students at your level. If you prefer one-to-one lessons, our instructors offer private hourly lessons, scheduled at your convenience.
Eastern Armenian: is the official language of the Republic of Armenia and is spoken by the majority of the Armenian population there. If you are planning to visit Armenia, learning Eastern Armenian is more practical.
Western Armenian: is spoken within most of the Armenian diaspora communities. Learning Western Armenian can help you connect with this cultural heritage.
The courses run for three terms (Autumn, Winter, and Spring) and each term is ten weeks. Our courses emphasise conversational skills, alongside reading and writing simple texts. Weekly sessions are 90 minutes. Classes are conveniently accessible and take place online. A minimum of four students is required to enrol for the course to be confirmed. Our curriculum is designed to bring students to a comfortable conversational level. After 2 years, students should be able to navigate Armenian-speaking environments with ease.
Group courses cost £600 for new students. This covers a year of tuition (3 terms), paid in full at the beginning of the course. Returning students receive a discount, and pay £550. Any student enrolled at a school, college, or university receives a discount and is eligible to pay £475.
Sona Kalenderian’s course will begin on 24 September.
The classes with Dr. Lisa Gulessarian and Dr. Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian will begin on 29 September.
BEGINNER COURSE
Students will learn basic conversational skills, including vocabulary useful in making friends, speaking with family, and getting around. The course also includes an introduction to the Armenian alphabet and the essentials of grammar. From the Beginners’ level we recommend a minimum of 6 terms to acquire a basic working knowledge of the language and be able to communicate effectively in an Armenian environment.
INTERMEDIATE COURSE
Students will improve their knowledge of sentence structure and expand their vocabulary and will be encouraged to participate in role plays and conversations on a range of selected topics.
ADVANCED COURSE
Listening and reading exercises are followed by in-class discussions involving specialised vocabulary, oral presentations by students and advanced role-plays on a wide range of daily situations, current affairs and literary topics.
ONE-TO-ONE TUITION
A bespoke syllabus can be tailored to suit your needs, whether you are learning Armenian for pleasure, travel or work. The timetable (dates and times) for one-to-one tuition is more flexible and can be rescheduled provided notice is given 24 hours in advance. The fee for one-to-one tuition is £45 per hour.
OUR LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS
Dr. Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian (Librarian and Research Advisor) is also the Head of the Language Department and East Armenian teacher of the Institute. He is a retired biochemist, who has taught and led research groups at Teheran State University and University of Sheffield before moving to the private sector working in biotechnology and agribusiness across Europe. He developed the first Armenian syllabus for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and taught there over several years.
Sona Kalenderian (Western Armenian Instructor) born in Lebanon, Sona has lived in the UK for the last 33 years, working as a Librarian at the City of London Libraries for over 19 years. Alongside Sona’s work in the Library, she has taught Western Armenian to children at the Armenian Sunday school for 25 years and is now teaching adults the language at the Armenian Institute for the last 10 years.
Dr. Lisa Gulesserian (Western Armenian Instructor) developed her curriculum to teach Western Armenian at Harvard University, where she won the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize for “superb teaching by members of the Harvard faculties.” She is also the recipient of the National Less Commonly Taught Languages Resource Center’s Innovation in Language Teaching Award in 2024 for creating an engaging language assignment.
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General Requirements
All courses at the Armenian Institute are for adults. To register for any of our courses you need to be 16+.
Payment
Fees are payable in advance, and are not charged pro rata.
Fees must be paid in full by card or bank transfer only, ten days before the start date unless otherwise specified. Any enrolment received after the specified registration period is subject to a £5 administrative fee. No discount is given to students who join late in the term.
No enrollment will be processed and no student will be able to attend classes until full payment is received.
Once payment is received your place is guaranteed and a space will be reserved for you in the course. A receipt will be sent upon request.
Concessionary fees apply only to Full-Time Students. Proof is required.
Cancellation and refunds
All Students are advised to consider carefully their circumstances and personal commitments before enrolment as no cancellation or refund will be possible once the term commences.
Fees will be refunded only if a written request is received before the day the term begins. The following charges apply: £20 if cancellation note is received 15 days before the term commences, £30 if it is received between 15 days and the day before the term commences.
If the Armenian Institute cancels a course the full course fee will be fully reimbursed.
Class size/placement
Our courses have a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 students. If fewer than 4 students have registered on the starting date, we reserve the right to cancel or postpone the course. Students retain the right to move to another course or to receive a full refund of monies paid. Changes from one course to another are only possible within the enrolment period and during the first 3 weeks of the term.
Your registration can be selected and the course will be determined by a phone interview. However, if students opt to attend a course against the advice of the Armenian Institute Head of Languages then they do so at their own responsibility.
Attendance and Assessment
Students are expected to attend regularly. In the event of absence it is the student’s responsibility to find out what has been covered in the class in order to catch up as the tutor has to follow the syllabus and the class has to progress accordingly.
Holidays
There are three holiday periods: Christmas, Easter and Summer. The Armenian Institute is also closed during English Bank Holidays. Classes falling on a Bank Holiday will be rescheduled.
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General
A block of 10 hours have to be booked and paid for in advance. The scheduling of appointments must be agreed by the course tutor and must be agreed mutually at least 48 hours in advance of the session. The student must complete the 10 hours prepaid block within four months from the start day of tuition.
A trial lesson can be booked, prior to any commitment of prepaid block sessions. The fee for the trial lesson is £60. If the student decides to proceed with the tuition, then £45 of the fee paid for the trial lesson will be deducted from the session block fee.
Online one-to-one tuition fee is £45 per hour
Refunds
i) Students are advised to consider carefully their circumstances and personal commitments before enrolment as no cancellation or refund will be possible once the tuition commences.
ii) A fee refund is possible only if a written cancellation note is received before the start date stated in the contract. The following charges apply: £20 if cancellation note is received 15 days before the tuition commences, £40 if it is received between 15 days and the day before the tuition commences.
Private Tuition is available for one student and up to a maximum of 3
i) A 10 hours block booking applies to all private tuition. Pricing is available upon request.
ii) All private tuition students must attend a joint session on a mutually agreed date and time with their course tutor. Failure to attend an agreed session by a student will require the student to rebook and purchase an additional session in order to catch up on work missed through non attendance.
Private tuition for up to three students is available upon request.
Changes to the agreed method, timetable, location of tuition are possible only when there is mutual agreement between the student and tutor. The Institute needs to be informed of any such changes as a different hourly fee might apply and the student might need to pay an excess fee.
Once the lessons start the student needs to provide 48 hours notice in the event he/she cannot attend a scheduled session and needs to reschedule. The Armenian Institute does not issue refunds for sessions not attended. However, we can by mutual agreement reschedule the class.
In the rare event the Armenian Institute has to cancel a lesson but is not possible to give adequate notice (48 hour cancellation notice) the student is compensated by an extra hour added to his/her contract.
Online classes
i) The tutor will inform the student on the platform used for online lessons. At the appointed day and time, the tutor will log in. If the student fails to log in at the appointed time, the tutor will remain connected for 15 minutes. If the student does not log in within these 15 minutes, then the teacher will log off and the student will be charged for the class.
ii) If the student logs in late, the start time of the lesson is the agreed time and not the time the student logs in.
iii) In the event the connection breaks during the lesson and it is not possible to reconnect within 5 minutes, alternative arrangements will be made for any owed time.
All financial and administrative aspects of private tuition, online or in-person, are managed by the Armenian Institute.