English

The main thought, I think, I have already conveyed to the reading public. Listening must be put in first, honourable place in the study of a foreign language. Precisely now this is available to everyone: films, cartoons, songs and the words to songs can be found on the computer. By the way, about songs. Now it has somehow become unpopular to sing songs, or, if they do sing, one sometimes wants to cry. I mean learning songs in a foreign language for oneself. Well, all right! I will not give advice. ...

Since I write everything from memory, I may allow some slight inaccuracies. The first textbook that left an indelible impression in my memory and later influenced my late teaching career (I have already written that by the will of fate I became an “Englishwoman” at school at the age of 45). In 1967 a textbook came out by a real Englishman, Richard Richardovich Dixon. Now we all know that abroad they do not use patronymics, so it sounds funny. ...

At school we almost had no listening. (listening in English). And where would it have come from? Sometimes Riola Mikhailovna could bring a modest record player with a worn record. “How do you do? How are you? I get up at seven o’clock every morning. I wash and dress myself and do my morning exercise, then I have breakfast and go to school” — came from the record. Perhaps it was English speech, and perhaps not. Simply good English pronunciation of a Soviet person. ...

Riola Mikhailovna turned out to be the person in whose person I could somehow imagine “foreign life.” I still remember her clothes….. not outfits!, but precisely elegant clothes. Every lesson she looked “anew” wonderful! I remember exactly, we did not learn dialogues. But we learned topics. Of course the first topic was called “About myself.” The topics had to be learned by heart, which I did with success. One topic stuck in my memory for life. It began like this: “People of good will, all over the world, want peace. They say: ‘No war’” (People of good will, all over the world, want peace. They say: “No to war”). I learned that topic more than 50 years ago! And the topic has not lost its relevance to this day.

I decided for a time to tear myself away from “my native Moscow region” and “smoothly” move to the present moment. It seems not much previous material has been written, but I experienced enormous emotional tension. I will try now to recharge, telling a favourite theme. I began studying English at ordinary Kiev school number 90, which is now considered not very ordinary, with a “cool slant.” Our 5-B class was divided into two groups: English and German. I remember I was offended, landing in the English group (I wanted to study German). Apparently I was strongly influenced by Soviet films about intelligence officers who spoke German fluently. ...