In Russia, there is a strong tradition of learning foreign languages. This has led to the development of specialized foreign languages school. In many ways, these schools are similar to other Russian public schools. They are comparable in one very important way : the students do not have to pay for their education. The schools also teach similar subjects. However, their differences are quite noticeable. One major difference is that most of the school subjects are taught in a foreign languages (French, German, or English). Second, the students are different. Unlike the students in regular Russian-language schools, students are selected to attend these schools. Quite often they come from families with higher levels of education.The greatest difference lies in the language abilities of the students. In contrast to other Russian children, they learn to experess themselves fluently in a foreign language.