Читать книгу The English Teachers - RF Duncan-Goodwillie - Страница 34

Setting the scene: We sit in a smallish classroom on the top floor of a six-story building in Tverskaya Street just up from the Kremlin. It’s a cold day in early spring and the sky is clear. Nonetheless, I have to open a window since the central heating is on full blast. Irina sits opposite me, a woman filled with an enthusiasm which is infectious. She smiles broadly as she talks from decades of experience, every inch the confident and compassionate teacher trainer. There’s a touch of strangeness about this situation. A year ago she interviewed me to create listening material for her students. Now the tables have turned.

IG: I graduated in 1986 from Moscow Pedagogical University as an English and German teacher. I worked in two schools teaching English and German. I had more German classes. It was an ordinary school. I worked there for three years before the Perestroika. When it started, I joined commercial English courses teaching adults. I never went back to school. I met some interesting people at these courses. Somehow, I became popular because schools I had previously worked for started calling me back.

I was invited to teach teachers at the Chemistry department of MSU. Most of them were PhDs and professors. They asked me to design a course for them on the basis of Beatles’ songs, which I did. I spent a year teaching them, maybe two.

After this course at MSU, I did a very interesting teacher development course on Suggestopedia. It’s an intensive method of teaching and learning English designed by Georgy Lozanov. This course was two months long. Then I was invited to work for the centre and worked there for four years.

At some point in my life I stopped teaching and I worked for different businesses. For example, I worked for an investment company “Freemasons Capital” and a travel agency organising hiking tours in the Caucasus.

But then an interesting thing happened. A friend of mine gave me a call and suggested doing a training arranged by an Israeli company using a multimedia programme called “English Discoveries.” It was a free training.

After doing it I started looking for a teaching job. An interesting coincidence occurred. Somebody saw my work on “English Discoveries” and gave me a call. It happened to be “Lingvo Ru”, one of BKC’s schools. Working there was interesting because the school director asked me if I could design a speaking club programme for all levels for one month. I said yes and that’s how I started my cooperation with “Lingvo Ru.”

I did CELTA in 1999 and DELTA in 2001. After that I became an ADOS for satellite schools*, the head of the teacher training department.

*Note: “satellite schools” usually refer to locations outside the city centre.

RFDG: That’s a long career of teaching. Why did you decide teaching was the best career for you in the first place?

IG: This might sound strange, but I never had any other ideas. When I made my first career choice – I think I was 10 – I lived in Cuba at that time. I had a best friend. We both chose a career that we would pursue later. I don’t know why I liked English. I spoke Spanish and I lived in Cuba for six years. My best friend wanted to become a doctor and she is a doctor now.

Maybe it’s because my parents were teachers. My father was a Physics teacher, but he worked as a school principal all his life. My mom taught Russian and Literature. Many conversations at home were about school.

RFDG: But you also studied German. Did English come as a natural, unconscious choice?

IG: At some point, when I was unemployed, I decided to try teaching Russian as a foreign language. (I got a second education at Pushkin State University in Moscow.) But I didn’t enjoy it. I had to abandon my background. I had to abandon English completely which was a disaster. I was teaching native speakers and I wasn’t allowed to speak English.

I also had to think about music, poetry and cultural background, so I would feel less in context with all these realia. And it wasn’t as appealing as what I’m doing with English.

RFDG: You grew up in Moscow and got all your qualifications here, but you also lived in different countries. What made you choose Moscow as the place where you want to teach?

IG: The answer is simple. Originally, I come from a small town in the Moscow region. That’s where I taught English at school. I’m very sociable. I had a lot of friends there, I sang in a choir. Soon people started asking me about doing a course at MSU and whether I would move to Moscow. They made attempts to get me move, but they failed. These people had connections, but they didn’t help.

I ran an unofficial course with my friends and acquaintances, about 30 people, and I realised that there were no other opportunities in a small town to run something like this on a regular basis and for professional development. There are more opportunities in Moscow.

*