@Стефан Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. You make a really good point about the usefulness of native language instruction when you are learning the foundations of a language. A native speaker can teach anyone from beginners to advanced students but often we find ourselves teaching upper level language classes or in my case literature classes because this is where we are perceived to be the most helpful. This said I think that it's great fun to work beginners because you can see such big improvement in their skills in a really short time.