RF Duncan-Goodwillie - The English Teachers

So, I went to Germany and did teaching.

RFDG: So, why didn’t you go back to being an interpreter? Why did you stay being a teacher?

F: I don’t know. I just never got around to it.

She laughs.

RFDG: And then you came here. Why did you pick Moscow?

F: Because I wanted to do DELTA – God knows why – but I wanted to do it here because in Germany at that time, at the end of the 1990s and 2000s, CELTA was virtually unknown. DELTA was problematic. There was no DELTA school in Germany. I was working in a university context and if you’re not an academic on an academic track in the university context in Germany, they don’t care what you do as long as your students don’t complain. There is no in-service training. There’s nothing.

So, I had to leave the country and I went to IH because that’s where I did my initial training. IH means something. I interviewed for Prague and for Moscow, and I had students who were here in Moscow that year, so I came to Moscow.

RFDG: That was the only thing that influenced your decision to choose here and not Prague?

F: Well, that and the fact you got much better pay here in Moscow. Well, it was then and in fairness it still is. It’s better than most of Europe. Let’s be honest about this.

RFDG: But you stayed.

F: Yeah.

RFDG: Why?

F: Haven’t got around to leaving yet?

RFDG: Surely that can’t be the only reason.

F: No, I assure you it is. In fairness, I have more opportunities here than pretty much anywhere else in Europe.

RFDG: What kind of opportunities do you enjoy?

F: I enjoy teacher training. I think in Germany, certainly, I would never have been in that context. I know there are CELTA centres now and I’m going to inspect one of them at the end of April, but it’s still in Germany. The population is reluctant to pay for its own education and it’s a very difficult market.

South of Europe is a much bigger market, but the pay is really bad and there’s still not so much opportunity in terms of teacher training. And also here because of the opening up of the Cambridge Exam market and the IELTS* exam market. That’s just really taken off in the last 10 to 15 years. I have had lots of opportunities to work as a presenter for Cambridge Assessment English**. And it’s good because it’s teacher training and it gets me out of the city.

*Note: IELTS – The International English Language Testing System. An international standardised test of English.

**Note: Cambridge Assessment English – a Cambridge Exam board.

RFDG: Is it particularly important to be away from Moscow?

F: No, but I like travelling.

*

Setting the scene: We sit in an office shared by several academic managers, though Chee-way is not one (yet). The chairs are more comfortable here, the windows larger and there’s an airy feeling in the room, covered as it is by mountains of books and piles of CDs and teaching aids. Despite the appearance of barely-organised chaos, Chee-way seems at ease here, often laughing in the not-quite-manic way I have come to see as one of her trademark features.

CWS: I was born in America BUTmy dad is South American Peruvian and my mum is Chinese. BUTI am also Canadian because my mum left the States to go to Canada. That’s how I’m also a Canadian citizen. Then I began to travel with my dad. I went to China with him. After that I went back to the States and Europe, and was in Latvia for about 13 years. I basically grew up there as a teen and a young adult.

RFDG: Why did you choose teaching?

CWS: My dad is a professor in university. I wanted to be a psychiatrist, but my dad discouraged me because he said if I knew what people think I’d be depressed all the time. He’s quite pessimistic. Then I wanted to be a teacher, but Dad wanted me to be a musician. But I didn’t pass the music exam (thank goodness) because I never studied.

She giggles. Sometimes teachers make the worst students.

He thought I was studying but I was just pretending. So, I failed and I went to a primary school teaching programme. We had practice in schools. They would send us to schools and kindergartens and after that I decided to find a job. At first I worked in a kindergarten, but I felt the salary wasn’t good enough. My best friend was working in IH Riga and she introduced me to the main boss there and, after an interview, I became an English teacher.

RFDG: And you came to Moscow?

CWS: No, I was in Latvia for sometime in IH Riga and then my family moved to Ireland. I left Riga because it was a lot of work for me and my family left, so I wasn’t sure what was there besides work. After a year I decided to go to Vietnam.

RFDG: And then you came to Moscow.

CWS: No.

She laughs at my repeated failures to find connections.

We will get there! I actually applied to Moscow when I was in Vietnam, but the visa procedure in Vietnam wasn’t successful so I went to Canada. Then I realised I was missing some Canadian documents and without them I couldn’t really complete the procedure so I ended up staying there for one and a half years.

At first I couldn’t work without the documents so I volunteered for a month in IH Vancouver so I wouldn’t’ be bored waiting for my papers. Then they arrived and in December 2017. I emailed IH again after seeing the job post.

RFDG: And then you still didn’t come?

CWS: Yeah, they said they had enough teachers. And then that was postponed until the next year.

RFDG: So, you went through hell to come to Moscow. Why?

CWS: I don’t know. I just feel like there is something here I have to come for.

RFDG: That’s an awful lot of effort for just a feeling.

CWS: I know! It’s interesting.

RFDG: If you had to go anywhere else where would that be?

CWS: Maybe Italy or Spain because the food is great and I usually go for the food… except for Moscow. I don’t find that interesting after growing up in Latvia.

*

Setting the scene: It’s another blue-sky, cold-air day in the centre of the Moscow school where I sit with Carlos. He always seems to have a light manner about him that matches his big smile and floppy black hair which sits across his forehead at a slight angle. He speaks in a way that matches his demeanour: calm, clear and relaxed.

CM: I studied English literature at university because I wanted to be a literary translator, but then I thought, “How can I travel the world and learn other languages?” I could sooner do it by teaching than by translating. So, I started and I really enjoyed it. I began teaching in a private university, then in the national university and then I started teaching Spanish in some very improved schools. And then I started teaching privately. Then I came here.

RFDG: Did you go straight from Mexico to Russia?

CM: I did my CELTA in London. I was there for three months. I think it was only there I really started speaking English.

He laughs a little.

RFDG: So, it was only for the travel aspects?