A very unusual thing about my school was that we had “visiting teachers” from abroad – “zagranitza” felt unbelievably close. I remember two visiting teachers, both of them taught for a semester.
The first teacher was Mr. McCarthy, and he was from the UK. I believe I was in the sixth grade then. He rotated through all of our English “groups,” so each group had him two or three times during a semester. It is possible that he taught the upper grades more frequently, but I was in the sixth grade and didn’t care. A couple of times, he gave presentations for a bigger assembly, talking about the UK and the educational system there. I remember that somebody asked him how much he was making, and he said that that’s the same as asking a woman how old she is, but that he would respond. I do not remember the numbers now. He explained that he would make more if he taught in a public school (in contrast to the US, the UK “public schools” are private, highly selective schools.) I also remember that our English teachers were ecstatic for the opportunity to have conversations with a native speaker.’
The second one (a year later) was Mr. McFerson, and he was from the US. The arrangements were more or less the same, so we had several classes with him. I remember how he told us a Goldilocks tale, and before he started, he explained two words from this fairy tale. I still imagine him saying: porridge – kasha, Goldilocks – Masha. However, the thing which impressed us most during this class was that he sat on the teacher’s desk and lifted one of his feet, putting it almost on another knee. I also remember how on Thanksgiving (which had to be a workday for him), our group monitor presented him with a souvenir doll and said: Mr. McFerson, we congratulate you with your national holiday Thanksgiving Day!
One thing to credit to our teachers: we didn’t feel like understanding the native speakers was “too difficult.” We understood English and American accents and were not shy to talk.
My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs and what was before and after.
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