The American Home Exposed

I know what you are thinking. You want to know where exactly I work. You are a little confused. Something about a school in Russia and English classes. You're afraid there are Chechen rebels running around. You are not really sure what, precisely, I am doing here. (see I can read minds)

Let me put your fears at ease.

To your left is a lovely photo of the American Home. This is where we work/live/teach/argue/play. This is not a Russian school. It is a private organization run by a professor in Illinois, and what we will do on a given day is sometimes as much a mystery to us as it is to you.

On a basic level, we teach English, yes ~400 students a semester, with many more on a waiting list if we only had the space and staff to teach more classes. The ages, capabilites and motivations of our students are very different. In one class, my youngest student can't be much more than 9 yrs and my oldest is in his mid 40s. Many adults and university students want to improve their English to help in their job or to study abroad.

But we also help with local projects and tourism. This weekend a group of visitors arrived from Illinois to have tea with us. They all support and helped to create the American Home and wanted to learn about us and why we came to Russia. They brought gifts, important ones: coffee and peanut butter :) A few weeks ago, two of our teachers went to a local auto parts company to voiceover a commercial they were filming. On the weekend, a few more teachers played basketball on the "American team" in a local tournament. Today, 2 TV stations and a newspaper stopped by to interview Americans for a retrospective on 9/11. A few weeks ago, we met with a group of students attending an English language camp to discuss American culture. You never know what will happen next.

We end up becoming involved in our students' lives. You're the teacher, but for many, you're also their "american friend" which has certain bragging rights. Your students will invite you out to go walking and do things with them, which is not a bad way to learn more about Vladimir or Russia.