Читать книгу Russian She-bear in American and British Settings - Юлия Кузьменкова - Страница 7

We were lucky to be shown not only what is considered common knowledge but also some novelties of school education. One of our most vivid memories was connected with visiting a music lesson in an elementary school where a brilliant guitarist was introducing alphabet andl pronunciation using songs and gestures. It was also fun to see an ad announcing a students’ performance of Pedro y el lobo, a musical by Prokofiev.

We were somewhat surprised to realise that apart from developing cross-cultural awareness, eliminating illiteracy still remains a serious problem for American teachers who largely have to work hard on reading and writing skills acquisition. EL teachers in Russia tend focus more on different other competences, reading and writing skills being – ‘historically’ – better developed. This is probably the key reason for that relative ease of adaptation typical of Russian students in the English speaking countries – the general level of literacy serves as a solid background for further learning.

We had a chance to observe classes in content-based discussion and reading. The former reminded me of preparatory department classes at our universities. The tasks were exactly the same – a challenging statement like TV is a waste of time, TV is the best source of information etc. for further discussion. But what startled me most was the fact that twelve students in an international classroom could painstakingly discuss all possible variations of the theme for about fifty minutes, while with the Russian audience this would last only for five, maximum ten minutes after which there would follow a request to change either the subject or activity.

As to the latter, I was surprised to find out that the teacher’s approach left much to be desired. The students in that class (false beginners) were given two pages of a densely printed text about architectural styles in building porches; the task was reading for details. While they were working, the teacher suddenly ‘remembered’ questions for reading comprehension and left the room to fetch them. The questions given and the task explained, the group went on reading silently. After half an hour of thus sitting I risked to ask how long the students were supposed to be reading – only to learn that it would take the whole lesson and if they fail to complete the task they would have plenty of time for it at home. From the students we got to know that reading that very text had been their homework for that lesson as well! The group also told us that the class we’d visited was no exception, only on that occasion we’d missed the so called entertaining element. Other teachers would spend most of a lesson making them play How to be a millionaire or similar games, or watch a thriller.

“And what did you expect?” my inner opponent broke in.

“They say modern technologies in education have a potential to work miracles,” I answered lamely.

“A potential, yes, highly likely. But is it comparable with miracles that an experienced teacher can work?”

Eventually we concluded that our American hosts wanted to show us all – not only the brightest – aspects of college life, even at a risk of sacking their employee.