A Letter: Welcome to The Put'

Hi! My name is Rosti. I’m the founder of Putnik School and this wonderful new online journal, The Put’. Let me introduce you to who we are and what we do.

Long story short:
The Put’ is an online journal with one main goal: to educate through culture — which we believe encompasses language, history, and art.

Now, the long story.

I’ve been teaching the Russian language for 6 years now, and for over 3 years I’ve also worked as a kindergarten teacher here in Thailand. Hundreds of students have passed through my classes, and on the very first day I always ask them: why Russian? And why take personal classes? The picture quickly became clear. My students complained that they couldn’t find structured materials to learn Russian. They had to juggle different platforms for different goals: grammar in textbooks, flashcards on Anki, personal classes on iTalki, plus Telegram, YouTube, and so on.

Since I’m a person who craves structure, and I have experience not only in teaching but also in web design and coding, I thought: why not connect all the dots and create a unified space for language learning?

Chapter 1: The School

So, Putnik was launched. The Russian word Путник (Putnik) means traveler — but not just a tourist. It means an explorer. Learning a language is a journey.

It all started with a single, ugly landing page. Day by day I was frustrated because I couldn’t figure out how to structure it, how to make it truly useful. It took a year to build the platform.

The very first Putnik School landing page — Where it all began — the first Putnik landing page.

My main problem was that I didn’t want to create a soulless machine where students just drill grammar and memorize words. Honestly, I hate drilling grammar too — why would anyone want to do that unless they plan to teach the language? Just like a real journey, isn’t it much more fun to travel with someone else?

Today, Putnik School is an online platform made by humans, for humans. Based on my experience, I rebuilt the system I had been practicing with my students for years and made it more… autonomous. Now our students have access to thousands of flashcards built on a spaced-repetition system. But just words aren’t enough — you need phrases, so we added a phrase builder. You can learn grammar, build phrases with the words you’ve learned, and then solidify your results in our Speaking Club or personal classes.

The Putnik School learning platform today — The platform today — one place for the whole journey.

But… there is always a BUT. Let me tell you something: there is a huge difference between knowing a language and understanding it. You can learn thousands of words in Russian, but you might never be able to naturally laugh at a joke, make one yourself, or grasp those deep, untranslatable phrases connected to the bright, dark, cold and warm — all at the same time — Russian soul.

Chapter 2: The Put’

Put’ — or in Russian, Путь — means “the way.” You can’t disagree that our entire life is basically a journey of learning.

Newborns learn how to walk, and that wooden blocks aren’t actually delicious. At 5 years old they learn that sugar is sweet. At 15, they learn what disappointment is. At 30, we learn how to take care of our knees. By 50, we learn how to eat properly to have a regular stool… and until the very end of our days, we learn.

So, isn’t that the way? Long and wonderful, sometimes dark and scary, lovely and sweet, bitter and sad — it is the Put’.

When my students learn how to speak, I always try to give them something more: cultural notes. Why do we use certain words in certain situations, even if a direct translation sounds completely absurd in English? That’s why I decided to create the Put’ — an online journal dedicated to education through culture and history.

Here you will find articles not just about Russian culture and language. Honestly, you can’t imagine how huge my ambitions are; Russian is just the beginning. As a real, practicing teacher, I want to create a community for experts and other teachers to share our knowledge openly and for free. Isn’t it great to dive deep into Dostoevsky? Or uncover why the USSR really fell?

Chapter 3: The Five Pillars

Language. Articles about languages, historical notes, tips, and linguistic insights.
History. Historical articles about different countries and periods in world history.
Culture. Literature, music, ballet, theater, painting — if it’s related to culture, we are going to talk about it.
Education. Remember I mentioned a teacher’s community? I work in a real school and see what my colleagues are doing. My personal wish is to keep education safe. It is so important to educate our kids — the future generation — especially now, when a student’s first instinct is often to text an AI and copy the answer without reading. We are on the verge of forgetting how to think. So I want this space to hold articles about education: how do we teach? How do we capture kids’ attention?
Teacher’s Notes. Finally, every teacher needs a place to release their thoughts, experiences, and stories.

So! What do you think? Will this be useful to you?

And if you have any suggestions, or if you’d like to write something for us, you are always welcome to reach out to me in the DMs!