The main problems of teaching the course “Introduction to Linguistics” to foreign students are as follows: insufficient level of knowledge of the Russian language, different academic levels of students, polylingual nature of the audience, lecture as a form of teaching of the basic course contents, unavailability of textbooks adapted for foreigners. To organ ize efficient mastering of complicated linguistic terminology a comprehensive strategy of organization of auditorium classes is required. Use of electronic slide presentations allows to combine two forms of learning – listening comprehension and reading. An effective form of organization of independent work is the use of a set of crosswords (including electronic ones) which stimulate interest in learning the language theory.