Anna Oskolkova

Story 1 Influence of informal leader

At the beginning of my teaching career I had a group of foreign language students (3
rd
year)
whom I taught the methods of teaching English. At first, everything was great until they
declared a war to my way of working with me and me personally. There was one leader who
inspired the whole group for actions. The examples of their unacceptable behavior were the
following: asking stupid questions, laughing at my words, telling me what to do, doing flash
mobs, etc. Such behavior made me think about my possible faults or incompetence that I might
have had at that time of my work. I tried to talk to them face-to-face personally, but they
pretended that everything was ok. I thought that it was me who panicked and blamed myself for
the whole situation. They did not want to change the situation. Everything was getting worse. So
the only solution for me was to appoint lecturers among them and let them give lectures to their
group, as one of the reasons was their misunderstanding of my explanations. The rest of the
course was read by them during classes which I also attended and monitored. I switched from
Learner mindset to Judger mindset by letting my students using their scenario and being
responsible for the circumstances for that.
Story 2 Teachers rage
Being a 4
th
-year student I was taking my school internship. Once I was giving a German
lesson to 2
nd
-year school students. The school teacher of the group attended and monitored the
lesson. I felt really nervous. Suddenly in the middle of the lesson one of the girls started crying
and ran out of the room. I didnt know what to do, so I decided to continue the lesson. When the
girl came into the classroom the teacher became furious. He even moved away the desk he was
sitting at. You should have seen me at that time. I was trembling with fear. If he had punished
her or hit her, I would have never forgiven myself for it. The teacher spoke to the girl as if she
was an adult. He was really telling her off. Then she calmed down. The lesson went on. After the
class the teacher gave me some recommendations, one of which was to get your student back in
the room. That lesson was one of the most memorable ones.
Story 3 Wishful thinking
I cannot say that it is a complete story. I can call it sharing experience. I have got a special
book (a note-book) for warm wishes and happy thoughts. My graduating students write their
wishes, memories and comments on our classes and activities. I started that note-book when I,
myself, was a university student. I read it regularly from time to time, especially when I need
something to raise my spirits. One of the last things I did with my graduate students was writing
letters to each other for the occasion of 10
th
year-old group reunion. Or if we cannot be so patient
we will celebrate and read them in a 5-year period. Sharing thoughts and ideas, letting your
students read the writings of each other and your own ones prove a value of personality.



Anna Oskolkova
Leader of change
Story 1 Classroom activities
It was a group of 1
st
year students (a major of Translation skills). I was teaching them the
culture of communication in English. After several classes one of the students asked me to
change the activities that we usually did in the class. Translation of dialogues, acting them out,
discussing the questions from the communicative situations all of those tasks they found boring
and ineffective. Their challenge was accepted by me. I reviewed my lesson plans and decided to
practice different activities TOEFL preparatory exercises (for professional use of the
language), community building assignments (as both students of American and Kazakhstani
programs studied together in my group) and some physical activities (in order not to let them feel
bored). Eventually, it went down well. The teacher and the students were satisfied with the above
mentioned changes.
Story 2 Change of attitude
One of the character traits that I look for in other people is our common sense of humor and,
as a result, better mutual understanding. There was a girl with whom we studied together at
university. We met from time to time. We were not close friends, first of all, because of different
senses of humor I did not understand her humor and she was distracted by jokes and funny
stories. She could not understand when I was serious and when I was joking.
Everything changed after her coming back from the USA where she had been studying for a
bachelor degree of foreign languages. Our common friends and fellow-students initiated to
arrange a book club in English. The mission of the book club was to read one book, discuss it,
cook something tasty and watch a movie if the time allowed. I cannot tell now what the reason
was, but our relationships with that girl became better. She changed her attitude to my jokes, so
we started to laugh together at the same things. I focused my attention not only on her sense of
humor, but also at other features such as kindness, intelligence and desire to help other people.
Story 3 National stereotypes
Due to my trips to America and England my attitude to the people living there has changed.
One case is when you teach another language and culture by taking the information from the
books and the Internet, and the different case is when you travel to the home countries of English
native speakers and experience all the peculiarities of their lifestyle. I always tell my students
(especially the students of foreign languages) that they should visit the country of native
speakers in order to learn more about their culture and mentality. The media sources are not able
to transmit all the fascinating colors of life in HD format. Travelling is a good way to meet new
people and discover their outlook and world view of yours.



Anna Oskolkova
Freedom and empowerment
Story 1 Freedom of thought
One day our foreign teacher of English, Jay Chen, decided to have a class outside. We were
asked to take our stuff and choose a comfortable place in the yard next to the university building.
We sat in a line, our teacher sat before us. We had to work with a new list of advanced
vocabulary of English. At first, we read the list, worked out the meaning, translated the
sentences. Then our teacher gave a task to create a story or a poem where we would include all
the new words that we were working on. Our teacher gave us the freedom of thought and
creativity. We worked in mini-groups. My group relied on my creative skills and celebrated the
following result:
If love is an aberration,
How mad and crazy could be our generation.
If love is an elusive thing (One should be a good hunter),
Ones eyesight must be very good and keen.
A virulent trepidation may devour your imagination.
If you dont have a composure,
Let this love come to you closer.
Please, let this love extol your aspiration.
But be precocious, my dear,
As this inscrutable feeling may break your heart in a year!
A congenital love is above all, and dont be afraid of this formidable life at all.

Story 2 Songs and lyrics (freedom of action)
During my first years of work I used to sing a lot of English songs with my students. I chose
different songs of different topics, levels of English and difficulty for my students. I designed the
tasks by myself. When I couldnt find an appropriate song I asked my students to help me with
searching the lyrics and working out the assignments for them. Later I asked them to make a list
of their favorite English songs (they had to write the title of the song or the lines from it, the
singer or the group). Sometimes we even made video clips after singing a song several times.
Now I meet my former groups (who are seniors already) and they say that they miss the times of
our singing together and having lots of fun.
Story 3 Freedom of choice
Another example of freedom that our students empowered with is academic mobility. For
example, non-linguistic students can choose their English group that they and their teacher find
appropriate for their level of the language. When there is a new course in a big group, the
students choose the teacher they would like to work with. When they choose their second foreign
language, they rely on their preferences and interests in a foreign culture and mentality. Giving
students the freedom to choose we empower them with responsibility that they must follow ad
fulfill. Taking responsibility at university prepares them to much more serious responsible tasks
in the future.