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Носитель английского языка Truman

Друзья! Познакомьтесь с нашим преподавателем - носителем английского языка Труманом. 

1. How old are you and where are from?

I'm old.  I was born in 1963 in Texas.  I have also lived in Washington state, Oregon, Colorado, and California.  My last job in America was at a hospital in Beverly Hills, California (Cedars Sinai hospital).  My American Accent is somewhere between Seattle and Los Angeles.

2. Is English your native language? If not where and when did you learn it?

Yes.  I've been speaking English for about 50 years.  

3. Do you have any teaching diploma? If yes, when did you get it and what is it?

No, I do not.  My only university degree is in nursing (Surgical Technology). When I first came to Russia to teach English in 2009 there was such a high demand for native speakers that the schools I worked for were willing to instruct me on how to teach English.  They sent me to training seminars and even made me read books on teaching theory.  But the simple fact is that experience is the best teacher, and I have that now.  I plan to get a TESOL certificate soon, but only as a formality.

4.When did you start teaching and why?

That is a very complicated question to answer. Suffice it to say that teaching is in my blood. Half of my ancestors are teachers, the other half are doctors.

I began teaching English in 2009. Before that I precepted (taught in clinical settings) nursing students specializing in surgery as early as 1992. My earliest teaching experience goes back to 1978 when at the age of 15 I worked as an assistant teacher at a school for 'mentally challenged' children. These children had a variety of neurological/genetic disorders such as Downs Syndrome, Autism, traumatic brain injuries and even schizophrenia. Once I was even mistaken for one of the students. The truth is that I probably learned more from them than they learned from me. at it.

5. How many students have you taught in general?

About 150.  I would say that about 20% of my students have been individual students, 30% were in groups of 2 to 4 and  %50 were in groups of 5 to 12.

6.What techniques, methods,  and materials do you use in your classes?

That depends entirely on the student and the student's needs.  I have used a large variety of textbooks, but I like to stick with what, in my opinion, are the best.  For teenagers I like to use the 'Upstream' series of textbooks, and for adults I prefer the 'New English File' series of textbooks.  For Grammar I use the Raymond Murphy series of Grammar books.  The Murphy series of Grammar texts is without question the gold standard.

7. Tell as much as you can about your experience.

Currently my students range from a little girl who just turned 5 years old that I have been with for 6 months to a student that is an English teacher herself from Russia and teaches advanced English in Western Europe.  She has asked me to help her brush up on her own English skills before the new school year begins in September.

I have worked at 8 different schools in the Volgograd region.  Last year I worked at 4 different schools at the same time!  In fact, last year I was spending as much as 14 hours per week commuting back and forth to my various teaching assignment which is precisely why I would like to concentrate most of my time to teaching English via Skype this year.

The most prestigious school that I have worked at is the Russian-American school here in Volzhsky, Russia.  I only recently learned that it is considered one of the top 10 English schools in Russia.

The most challenging teaching job that I have had to date  was teaching an intensive intermediate course to a group of 8 adults last year (6 academic hours per week).  My seal of approval is that most of them want to continue this year.

Most of my adult students tend to be either software developers, attorneys  or business professionals.  

8.  Describe your greatest achievement or your most memorable event in the field of teaching.

My most memorable moment was about a year ago when 9 year old 'Daniel' sheepishly showed me an award that he had just won at school in the English competition 'British Bulldog'. I told him that I was very proud of him of course.  Then I looked at the diploma more closely because I wanted to know more precisely what the award was for.  This is what it said:

Дипломом награждается Марусев Даниил -  Ученик 3 класса МБОУ СОШ no 37 - г. Волжского Волгоградской области, занявший 1 место среди учащихся 3-х классов (из 105957 участников) в России.


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