Читать книгу The English Teachers - RF Duncan-Goodwillie - Страница 18

Setting the scene: Lisa is almost the same age as me but appears to be in possession of a wisdom that far exceeds her years. She is quiet and her words are carefully considered. She’s very much in control of what she says and does in this interview, speaking with a confidence and clarity that makes talking with her a very pleasant experience. She’s wearing dungarees and has a tattoo on her arm showing the mischievous side of her personality.

LS: I’ve been teaching for about eight years. I have a degree in International Tourist Management. Five years ago I did CELTA and I have all four TKT modules. I completed a course in teaching Very Young Learners* and I’ve worked in Tver, St Petersburg and Moscow.

*Note: Very Young Learners (VYL) are students aged less than 5—6 years old.

RFDG: Why did you go into teaching?

LS: That was just a matter of luck. When I graduated from university I realised the profession I chose was absolutely boring and I couldn’t do anything useful for society and for the world with it.

RFDG: What had you chosen?

LS: It was International Tourist Management. I didn’t even want to try and get a job in this sphere, but I was really interested in working with people. I spent a year working as an HR manager at an HR agency which was absolutely boring. It was so weird because the only thing I had to do was lie. Lie and smile which wasn’t a pleasant thing to do. During that time I was having 1-2-1 classes with a teacher and I’d been studying English for about 15 years. One day I was so disappointed with my profession that I came to my class and told my teacher how awful everything was.

And he offered me a job.

He asked if I wanted to try and if I could deal with teaching. I started with primary school kids mostly. It was quite risky since I didn’t have a degree in psychology or linguistics, or working with kids. So, everything I did at the very beginning was experimenting and being honest with myself. If it was terrible I had to talk to myself about why it was terrible.

After a couple of months I realised it was something I loved doing and I still love it no matter how tough the job is in general. I had my last day at this school quite recently and when I said goodbye to my students and saw their reaction, I realised I was still doing something useful… and that I was a terrible person who was leaving them.

She laughs.

RFDG: Why did you choose to come to Moscow?

LS: It just turned out that I had to. I never wanted to live here. I prefer St Petersburg. In Russia it’s like a saying that we have two kinds of people: people who love Moscow and people who love St Petersburg. I’m more a St Petersburg kind of person.

RFDG: In what sense?

LS: Well, it’s not that crowded and the city itself is beautiful. Moscow is not. I’m sorry to have to say that but it’s not. The atmosphere in Moscow is about money and hard work, and trying to achieve all these goals that people want to have like having a high position, getting promoted all the time and so on. But St Petersburg is more about inspiration and a sense of freedom. I was never money-oriented.

I spent four months working in St Petersburg and I met my boyfriend. He was working in Moscow at the time and we spent a year in a long-distance relationship which was so tough and finally we decided we had to move to Moscow. Even though I’ve spent three years here, I still hate this city!

She laughs at the irony of it all.

But I’ve met a lot of really lovely people and I’ve gained so much experience here. I’d like to come here for a weekend, spend time just walking around and enjoying a beautiful summer day and meet my friends and then go back home to the peace and quiet.

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