The English Teachers. RF Duncan-Goodwillie
I think if I were in a Latin American country it would have been easier to adapt and communicate with people.
RFDG: Are you still glad you came?
AC: Yes, I feel like I’ve been growing a lot. It’s the first time I’ve lived on my own and every time I have some kind of difficulty, trying to solve it has been great. Not only like teaching, but also in learning how to deal with problems in a language that I can’t speak.
RFDG: And has that been easy?
AC: No. The first time I went to the supermarket I bought kefir instead of milk because I didn’t know how to say milk in Russian. I learned how to say milk after that. Also, when I had to go to the optician and get new glasses it was very difficult. And talking to people. It’s difficult to meet people outside of work.
RFDG: Do you think most teachers you work with encounter the same problems?
AC: Talking about where I am based, the only other non-Russian teacher has the same issues and it’s why we got so close in such a short time. Not only are we from the same country, we have the same difficulties and it’s been nice to have someone to speak to about that.
RFDG: Why is help with a visa so important?
AC: I’m quite impulsive and when I decided to leave I wanted something fast. I thought, if I can have help with this experience maybe one day I can go to another country where they would be willing to help, not only because they should but because they like my CV.
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Nico Benger (NB)
Setting the scene: It’s a dusty afternoon in late spring at Chistye Prudy in the heart of Moscow. Nico and I have stepped into one of the rooms of a language school located close to the top floor. The glare of the sun bounces off one of the tables and occasionally into my eyes as it moves across the sky.
Nico has a coffee and I have a plastic cup filled with water next to me as my phone records our interview. He’s older than I am but he speaks with an exuberance to rival any teenager and produces such a volume of words that when I was typing I struggled to keep up. It’s good, though, as it gives us a lot to work with and I don’t hear North American accents very often so it’s great practice.
NB: I was born in France. My father is Canadian and my mother is French. I moved to Canada when I was seven or eight. I grew up on the west coast in a village. It was a tiny island of about 1,000 people. I couldn’t wait to get out of there but I got a bit stuck. I had a restaurant there which was quite successful and kept me there for years. I should have left sooner than I did.
RFDG: How did you get into teaching from there?
NB: Well, we ran the restaurant in the summer. Because it was in the north there weren’t tourists in the winter and we were able to shut down for long periods and I had the opportunity to travel. One of the first places I went to was Japan. This was back in the 90s. You didn’t need a degree, a CELTA or anything. You could walk in and get a job teaching and that was what I did. I ended up in Japan, teaching as a way to make money. The first time I did it was a couple of months before going back to Canada. While I was there I met guys doing TEFL and they were making good money and I realised it was something to get into. It took a while but that was the start of it.
At some point I went back to university and started a degree. I did it over a decade because I’d already started teaching and I went to China. I was there for a year and got a TEFL. I was also in and out of Japan for a few years. After China I went to Kazakhstan and did my CELTA in Almaty. I got the job even before my CELTA so I could do it with my own classes. It was a dream situation. International House provided the accommodation while I was there doing my CELTA.
Then I went to Indonesia. It was a long process. I also went back to Canada in that time to finish my degree. Like I say, it was over a decade so I took my time.
RFDG: So, after your degree you came to Moscow?
NB: No. Actually, I’ve been teaching so long I can’t quite remember the details (laughs). We were making a lot of money with the restaurant and I was back and forth a lot. It’s quite complicated.
If I go back to when I was in Almaty, there was a really nice group of guys there. One of them was Canadian and he was a little bit – well people said he was a bit bi-polar – and he was the first one to mention Russia to me. I had always been interested in Russia. When I was born, Russia was still part of the Soviet Union and it was always a place of fascination for lots of different reasons. Canada and Russia have hockey in common and the political system was interesting to me. The history was also interesting. It was very rich. So, I was always interested and he had been there and told me to go to any of the cities on the Volga, like Samara and Kazan.
I didn’t go at that point, though. I went to Indonesia and then back to Canada. Then finally I decided to go to Russia and I went to Kazan. I spent two years there and it was really good. At that time – it was around 2012 – it was like going to the province. We were some of the first foreigners teaching there. It was where I met Edward Crabtree and he told me about BKC in Moscow.
At that time there were about six or seven of us there. It was really nice. A very cosy place and we had a lot of fun. Many of the Russians hadn’t seen foreigners at that point and we got a great welcome wherever we went. They were very hospitable. We lived on a shoestring and there were plenty of places to hangout. Kazan was so small at that point. I lived near the Kremlin there. I was in the local newspaper because I could cycle in winter.
RFDG: And then you went to Moscow?
NB: Ha! No. Then I went back to Canada. Long story short, I went back and stayed for a year and hated it. I couldn’t stand it. We had a great season that year. I paid off all my student loans and the business collapsed. That’s when I went to Jakarta for two years. The first year was really good but the second wasn’t and Edward – who was working in Russia at the time – introduced me to BKC and that’s how I ended up here. Kind of a long story, I know.
RFDG: You said people were welcoming. Was that a surprise?
NB: No. Back then, 10 years ago, it was rare to see foreigners. For the locals it was a novelty and I had a good relationship with the shop keepers. At that time there was a central market and I would go to the same vendors all the time. I knew all my neighbours in my building. It was great.
RFDG: Do you think the proliferation of ELT qualifications has been detrimental?
NB: No, it’s been good. I remember some of the nut jobs who were teaching back then. They had no idea what they were doing and neither did I. When I was in Jakarta I saw the same thing. They were pulling kids off the street to teach as long as they were Caucasian. And they were unqualified or had some qualification, but it wasn’t good. Having said that, in Indonesia the level of teaching in the public schools is super low so you can’t expect too much. In Asia it’s different to Russia. In Russia they demand a lot more. If you go and teach in Asia – depending on where you are – the expectations are different.
In Japan it was more of a social club. They weren’t there to study grammar or get down to business. It’s something to do.
In Indonesia – especially for the rich Indonesians or the Chinese there – they do it but they aren’t serious and it’s kind of expected of them.
When I started teaching I’d never studied grammar and had no clue. I was looking at these tenses and wondering