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Denis: Nice to see you Nastasha and nice to see you, our viewers, the viewers. Welcome
to Skyeng interviews! And today I'm going to speak to one of our best teachers I'd say,
Nastasha. She has been working with us for long time and I'm pretty sure you are interested
in knowing her a bit better. So hello Nastasha! Nastasha: Hi, how are you?
Denis: Yeah. Fine, thank you. And what about you?
Nastasha: I'm good, thank you. Denis: Great! So, Nastasha, can you tell me
something about you background in teaching? I mean some general stuff like where did you
get your education? What is your experience in teaching and something similar to it?
Nastasha: Sure. Okay, so I'm originally from South Africa. I lived there pretty much all
my life, although when I was 20 I moved to England for 4 years. While in England I completed
a TOEFL course, which is course that allows me to teach English as a foreign language.
Since then I have been teaching in South Africa, I taught in underprivileged school for my
teaching practice. I then moved to classroom work for a while where I was teaching classes
of about 30 to 40 students. I then moved to Israel, where I currently live. And when entering
Israel I wanted to start teaching again, as I took a few months off and I'm currently
teaching online. I teach one on one, pretty much for 50 minutes duration. And, yeah, so
this is what I've been doing for the last year.
Denis: Yeah, cool. And can you tell me how did TOEFL help? How did TOEFL help you in
building your teaching experience? Is it somehow helpful or is it waste of time?
Nastasha: Yes, definitely. So it's a year course that I did. You can do shorter ones,
there are intensified courses. This means it gives you the skills to prepare lesson
plans for foreigners, teaches you how to teach grammar and it just basically prepares you
for any situation in a foreign, I guess in..., sorry. I guess when teaching foreign language
speakers. So it's specifically to teach, to teach people from different countries.
Denis: Aha, I see. So it really helped you in building your courses, in building the
understanding of different languages, of different people so to say. And can you tell us a bit
about your way of teaching? I mean how do you usually prepare your plans and your classes?
Nastasha: Well, I like to say that I choose very interesting topics. I like to choose
topics that really get a discussion flowing. I will always speak to my students for the
majority of my lessons. Most of my lessons are discussions lessons, unless you want to
focus on grammar. I have prepared people for interviews before, I've also done business
English. But in general I would say that I focus on the students needs more than anything.
So if the students enjoy a certain topic this is obviously what I would focus on. Recently
I've been doing a lot of politics lessons actually, which I think is quite helpful because
it gives the student the general idea of how to approach a conversation about politics,
which is something quite natural to speak up about. I also try to choose topics like
I just mentioned, that are natural. So this is equipping the students for real life situations.
I also try to really get to know my students so I always begin the class by asking them
how their weekends were, how, what's going on at work? Just general relationship conversation,
which I feel like my students really, really like and knowing this we really get to know
each other. So, I like my students to feel comfortable.
Denis: Yeah, great. And you tell that you've been doing a lot of politics classes last,
well, not long ago. And so, was it students' demands or was it your idea to implement them?
Nastasha: Well, it was my idea to implement them at first. I mean this is obviously not
the early thing I do. But from time to time if there is something interesting in the news
I like to discuss this. This just brings about general, general knowledge basically of what
going on in our world. And Russians know a lot about politics actually. Well, the majority
of them, anyway. Even my younger students seem to actually be very clued up about what's
going on in the world. So I realize that this is actually one of the, one of the preferred
topics to speak about. Is also something that everybody I guess has an opinion about, too.
Denis: Yeah, yeah. So you have pretty much students from Russia now, as you work with
us with Skyeng. And maybe you can remember some, maybe interesting situations or some
specific student that you enjoyed working with and can you tell us about him, for example?
Nastasha: Okay, sure. Well all my students actually are amazing I must say. I've been
very lucky, I've had most of my students I've really enjoyed teaching. Actually most of
them I still teach but there are few that unfortunately I don't teach anymore. They
either have moved on or they have work commitments. I think one of my favorite students that I've
taught this year was a girl I worked with, Ekaterina, Katea. She was really amazing.
I feel like we were actually really friends, by the end I actually still email here and
she emails me. So we are in contact quite often, at least once a month. I haven't talked
to her for about 2 months now but she was really a bright young girl, she always knew
a lot about what's going on around her. She was very enthusiastic, her homework was always
amazing and yeah, she was just a student that I really enjoyed working with. Her understanding
really grew and her vocabulary really grew too. I think her starting level was quite,
was quite Intermediate to Upper Intermediate so this made it quite easy to speak to her.
But just in general we got along very well. So yeah...
Denis: Great. I think I'll tell her if I find her. I will also send her our conversation
as well if I find her out. So, I know that you have a pretty interesting background in
different areas, not only teaching. And I know that you are a graphical designer as
well. So can you tell me about this field of your interests? So how come you started
painting, you started designing some interesting things? And maybe you can share some of your
ideas of what a good design should be?
Nastasha: Yeah, sure. So I am also a freelance illustrator and graphic designer actually.
I do do some freelance work on aside of my teaching. It's a lot to fit in but I still
fairly enjoy it. I started design, actually my passion is textile design where I do silk
screening. So silk screening is like actual print on material. I also print on different
substances such as paper, different types of thread and also different types of canvas.
This is something that I really enjoy but I actually also work manual computer at the
moment. So a good design for me? I'm very detail orientated so I would say I really
focus on the finer lines, which is not always, is not always ideal for the design. Because
the design should be quite clean, should be quite understandable from the beginning but
this is my illustration sight coming out. So recently I just completed a design for, well,
I did the whole design file for a charity in South Africa. It's actually for a literacy
program, so it's for underprivileged children that don't have a library. So we're busy raising
funds for them. Well, I'm not personally, but I did all the design work for them. So,
it was, I designed kind of green and then did a book with a tree coming out of it because
it supposed to be kind of like growing. It came out really nicely, I think. I think a
good design yeah, it really needs to be readable, I think. You need to look at it, feel like
you are engaged to join in but and the same time it is, it's clear to understand what
you're trying to portrait basically. Denis: Yeah, cool. Thank you, thank you. And
Nastasha, I'm pretty sure that not many people live in 3 countries altogether for long time.
So can you somehow compare your livings in South Africa, in Israel and in the UK?
Nastasha: Of course. This was actually probably one of the most interesting parts of my life
so far. I have traveled quite extensively. I lived in England for 3 years. South Africa
is actually my home and obviously where you're born you feels a sense of connection to. So
I fairly miss South Africa. I always want to go back and I definitely think it brings
a, a great influence into my lessons as well as into my life. I think coming from South
Africa you really see, you really, it's incomparable basically. It's, it's a poor country and where
I'm from is obviously the city. I'm not from the wilderness. I'm from Kapetown in case
anybody is interested. But Kapetown is fairly, fairly, like absolutely breath takingly beautiful.
So, I really miss this part of nature and obviously my friends and family. I think I
took a lot of life lessons from South Africa, it toughens you. And it makes you, I think
South Africans are in general quite friendly actually I think we really adapt quite well.
As it for England, I loved England. England was very easy for me. I'm very lucky, my grandparents
are British. So I have 2 passports. So I'm able to live in Europe anywhere with my British
passport, I'm very lucky. So I, it was very easy for me. I kind of slipped in; I could
get a job very easily, I could study very easily. And to be honest I just really enjoyed
it. It was kind of, it wasn't really a culture shock besides the fact that everything run
perfectly smoothly compared to South Africa, such as trains and public transport was amazing.
I really enjoy the English culture. I think the people are grumpy in their own way but
they're also really great and the weather isn't so great. But compared to, comparing
life in South Africa and England is, I would probably choose England. It's very easy. And
Israel, well I think Israel was the biggest culture shock for me. First of all I don't
speak the language so I had to learn the language. But this also gives me insight into teaching
because learning a language obviously puts me in the same position as my students. This
broadens my mind to understanding how exactly you learn. And obviously everybody is different,
we each have different ways of learning. But I find it quite, quite eye-opening. And I'm
not the best at learning other languages actually. I might be better at teaching them but in
general I found it quite hard to adapt in the beginning. Now I can understand and I can
speak quite a lot of Hebrew (known as Ivrit by the way in case anybody doesn't know Hebrew).
But this is, this has been a big challenge for me, actually. I've been here for almost
a year now, in August would have been here a year and we're about to move actually to
a bigger place, so this is really great. A place where, you know, we have a sea view.
I live in Haifa, which is in the north of Israel. It's a really great town. Actually
there's a lot of Russian inhabitants here so this is also really great for me. It has
been very interesting, I would say. I guess that's how I can explain Israel, very interesting.
Denis: Okay. So what was the most difficult part of learning Hebrew? I mean you're still
learning and... Nastasha: Yes.
Denis: Somehow you already know what is difficult and what is less difficult in other languages.
Nastasha: I think with any language the most frustrating part is being able to express
yourself. Maybe you understand a lot of words, maybe you... Yeah, understanding I think comes
before expression or before being able to express yourself basically. So for me I think
that was the hardest part and still is the hardest part. To be able to speak fluently
and to be able to say what I want to say. I think in any language that is your mother
tongue you feel so comfortable and you become so used to the way that you speak, the way
you express yourself, your humor. This all part of you, you know. This is your characteristics.
So I understand when students for example or when people learning a different language
get frustrated about not being able to express themselves in this, in the way that they want
to. And I think that this is definitely the hardest part, in any language. And you know
this comes with time, unfortunately. I think that we all like to instantly be able to express
ourselves or be able to speak not like a child but of course this takes some time. And I'm
learning that now. I still can't express myself like I want to, but I'm getting there slowly.
So yeah... Denis: Great. So what is the most, I think
the biggest difference between teaching online, teaching by Skype and teaching in class.
Nastasha: I thing interaction, in general, like being able to read a person. Like when
you speak to somebody on Skype a lot of time you can't tell how they are feeling because
you can see them. But a lot of my students, not a lot actually, about 3 or 4 of my students
don't like to use camera so it doesn't bother me. I keep my camera on if they want. A lot
of them actually ask me to turn it off. So I'm telling: "Okay, that's fine." And that's
quite difficult for me because then I feel like I don't know how they're reacting. But
that's more comfortable for them so I don't mind. Yeah, I think definitely interaction
like I'm quite a physical person. I feel like I'm very much, I can express, I express myself
with my hands or with my movements. So I think if people can see this then... I guess they
can't see it on Skype there, I'm not too sure, you know. In the beginning maybe there was
also, I worried that connection might be a problem. But, you know, it's not usually.
Yeah, I guess just interaction, like face to face interaction, I would say is the difference.
Yeah... Denis: I see, I see. Yeah, great.
Nastasha: But in general not so much of a difference, you know. Yeah, I would say.
Denis: So basically it's quite the same, yeah, with only slight difficulties in you can't
touch someone because sitting... Nastasha: Not necessarily touch them but yeah,
like you know, I don't know, just seeing the immediate reaction like you can read more
about, you can see a person better obviously face to face. Like, you can see how their
body reacts or how they are reacting, whether they're nervous or not. But then again you
can also see this on Skype, I guess. Also Skype has a pro. And this is, I mean this
is the fact that people are comfortable, they're in their house. So, if somebody is coming
to class, there is maybe 20 students in the class, Okay, maximum. And in the class sometimes
maybe you don't get as much attention. Maybe you're a shy person, maybe you aren't, maybe
you don't feel comfortable asking a certain question in front of other people. So this
is definitely a plus side of Skype: it's that you're one on one, you're in your house at
any time when things get uncomfortable you can just, I mean I don't know, not that it's
ever happened to me, but I guess if you don't like the teacher, if you don't like the class,
you can always cancel it, you know. It's not like you have to go and say to that teacher
"Sorry, I don't want to take your classes anymore." You can just cancel it, you know.
But in general I think yeah, this is a plus, definitely. People sitting on their sofa or
on their desk, you know. So this is good. Denis: Yeah, yeah. I agree with you in these
questions. So I think we're basically finished. And the last thing I'd like to ask you is
maybe you can give some sort of advice to Russian speakers who want to learn English?
Something very basic and something that from your side, from your point of view will help
them to improve their skills very much? Nastasha: Okay. So, what I usually encourage
my students to do is, obviously it doesn't work for everybody because everybody is very
different, the best way that I have found for myself and for my students is obviously
listening. I find that listening is the most natural way to learn. Because by listening
you're subconsciously taking in words, even you don't understand them at that moment.
This, I encourage my students to watch as many documentaries or films even, or listen
to music, any kind of. I know a guy who completely learned English by listening to music because
his passion is music. So whatever you're interested in, in your native language try and transfer
this and listen to it in English. This is just a tip. Also I mean never give up, you
know, it takes time. That's something that everybody needs to realize too. It's not instant
and yeah, it's frustrating. Learning another language, but it's also rewarding at the end.
So, yeah, I hope that this is a tip that everybody can use.
Denis: Yeah, thank you very much Nastasha. And I think we are basically finished. So
we have been talking to Nastasha, one of the teachers who teaches English by Skype at Skyeng
school. And welcome to her classes, she is always ready to talk to you, to give you her
knowledge, to transfer her knowledge to you. And thank you very much once again and see
you!