Junior · Stanford University

Elena Volkov

Comparative Literature

Born in St. Petersburg, Elena came to Stanford through the Hermitage programme. She has an unusual gift for teaching languages to very young children — through songs, stories, and poetry rather than grammar drills — and her reading programmes have produced children reading three years above their assessed level. She believes that the first language a child reads in shapes how they see the world.

"Teach a child to love reading in one language, and all others will follow as invitations."