A Truly Significant Holiday - Passport magazine

City Beat
The Gift of the Gab
text Peter Mellis
The World recession may halve the number of English classes in Moscow
but students are being increasingly resourceful in keeping their
language abilities up to speed out of school. For expats in the capital,
it’s never been a better time to socialize with its citizens.
Talk is no longer cheap. The number
of Muscovites studying English could be
slashed as a result of the economic crisis.
So suggests Michael Bondarev, Director
of BKC International House, the largest
language school in Moscow. “The market
for English language courses in the
city could go down by thirty to fifty percent,”
he said.
“Unfortunately, for students and their
teachers there’s going to be some pain.
But we have an expression in Russia:
what doesn’t kill us makes
us stronger.” Bondarev’s
school survived the economic
crisis of the 1990s
but he fears that, like then,
smaller establishments may
go bust.
Yet language learning
remains a priority for many
Muscovites. “In the economic
crisis, people first stop spending
on luxuries – holidays and meals in
restaurants – but English lessons are one
of the last to go,” Bondarev says. “In a
30
March 2009
competitive market, proficiency in English
gives people an advantage when
applying for, and keeping a job.”
The city is being imaginative in keeping
language skills sharp out of the classroom;
it’s a rich mix of lectures, reading,
debate, discussion, oratory and song.
For expats they offer interesting and fun
opportunities to get to know and understand
Moscow’s citizens.
“Students in Moscow are much more
aware how important English is, in con-
trast to areas of Russia away from the
capital,” says Amara Telleen, Director
of the American Center. “They understand
the necessity of the language in
the global economy and they value the
opportunity to practice their English with
native speakers.”
The center, on Nickoloyamskaya Naberezhnaya,
organizes a busy schedule
of talks, debates and cultural events,
none of which costs its patrons a kopeck.
Recent lectures have included
an insider’s view of the FBI, an appreciation
of the Russian community in the
States and a look at the new Obama
administration from the Deputy Chief
of Mission at the US Embassy.
Regular events include film nights,
English workshops and a “Writers on
America” literature group. Its library
is also popular. “You can find
books about philosophy and
politics which would be difficult
to find in the shops,”
says Inna Gulyazhinova, a
22-year-old translator who
regularly uses the Center.
“It’s fascinating to see how
people relate to each other
in different Countries.”
One-to-one sessions are
available with American diplomats
and native speaker
volunteers, where you can
simply chew the cud
or thrash out the best
way to approach a
vital job application.
Given gratis, they
are understandably
popular and there’s
a waiting list but for
the enterprising, another
route to free
speech is language
exchange.
The web site expat.
ru0 has many postings