Читать книгу The English Teachers - RF Duncan-Goodwillie - Страница 31

Setting the scene: In school I never thought about the teachers having lives or wives or husbands. So often we only see one side of people and have to remind ourselves of the fact that they do have lives outside of work. The smiling young Russian-American couple sitting opposite me are a welcome reminder that teachers can and do find love. On the surface, they look very different. Gary with his dark hair and sharp features. Polina with her lighter hair and softer features. When they get talking, though, both speak with equal passion.

GK: I studied Linguistics and Sociology at university. I wanted to become a professor, but I got lost in studying languages and thought it might be a good idea to get a certification in teaching English to teach aboard. I was a big fan of travelling so it was a perfect mix for me. I got my certification and went to Costa Rica first, then South Korea and now here in Russia. I’ve been teaching for a couple of years and I really like it.

PP: I’m from Russia and I graduated here. I’ve been working as a teacher for more than three years. I basically did my best to educate myself to be a better professional and actually studying English.

RFDG: Polina, Russia seems like an obvious choice for you, but why Moscow in particular?

PP: My family moved here when I was 13 and I didn’t particularly like the idea of leaving my family and friends to go elsewhere. And Moscow is a capital city. There are more opportunities to find a job here and the salaries are better. I wouldn’t go back to my native town and work there.

RFDG: Gary, what about you? Why Russia and Moscow?

GK: I was teaching in South Korea for a good deal of money and I thought it was great because I could save up a lot and pay off my college debt, but I ran into some problems in terms of the work environment and housing situation. So, I decided to leave and cut my stay short by six months. I was offered a position with a school in Kazan before I went to live in South Korea, but I turned it down because I wasn’t sure I wanted to live in Kazan.

RFDG: Why not?

GK: It was a smaller city and I was hoping for something more like a big metropolis. When I suggested St Petersburg or Moscow, they explained only Kazan was available so I turned them down for South Korea. Six months later I decided to try another chain of schools and took a position there in Moscow.

RFDG: What made you choose teaching?

PP: I was actually going to become a philologist, but my language skills didn’t allow me to go into a linguistic university and being a teacher wasn’t a very popular profession. The competition for linguistics was higher than for teaching and I didn’t have enough points to go there. So I went into a teaching university and I found I liked it and had a lot of ideas for teaching. I saw a lot of bad teachers at university and a couple of good ones. I compared them and understood how not to teach and which direction to move in. I took it as a challenge and thought I could do it well.

RFDG: Who had a stronger influence, the bad role models or the good ones?

She laughs.

PP: The bad ones. I blame my German teacher for not using the right strategy to teach me German. It stopped me from going into the linguistic university. Had I known that they weren’t good, I might have chosen another one and I might have gotten into where I wanted to. So, I thought if I had this skill maybe I could change the world for someone and they could get into the right university!

RFDG: Gary, why teaching for you?

GK: I’ve been an activist for a long time. I was always focused primarily on the notion of deepening democracy. I joined lots of political groups and took part in some campaigning. I thought it would be possible to change the world, or at least my own country. But I noticed that when I worked for a third party campaign in the United States – it was for a guy called Ralph Nader – I would go door-to-door talking to people and they would say, “I agree with what he stands for, but it’s not possible to get him into office because no-one else will vote for him because they don’t believe it’s possible.”

The point is that I realised just campaigning isn’t going to change the system since people don’t understand how the system works and how to interact with other people. So, I thought that maybe it has to start from education and instead of going to protests I would learn how to teach. In the end I hope to start my own school and make changes that way by teaching people how to communicate better and understand the system in which they live.

RFDG: So, for you it’s not that you’ve arrived at the destination, it’s more like this is part of the way there on your journey?

GK: Well, I don’t think the journey ever really ends, but yes.

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