Meet the Staff: Ekaterina Zamyshliaeva Talks about her Learning Experience for Teaching

Meet the Staff: Ekaterina Zamyshliaeva Talks about her Learning Experience for Teaching

The Cult News| March 2015
By G.Cocozza.

Native of Moscow, Russia, Ekaterina has a particular passion for teaching languages. Ekaterina started teaching in Letras in 2011. She has dedicated her life to deliver a special learning experience to each one of her students. Her classes aim to offer a compelling and friendly atmosphere for students to gain more interest in the language and culture.

She developed part of her teaching style back when she was 7-years old. When her mother was about to enroll her into school, it was very popular for children to learn French. Entering the post- Soviet Union era, French was the language most politicians around Europe would speak to discuss international matters, therefore, it was expected that she first started learning French as her first foreign language . “To  my luck, my mom changed her mind after meeting with the director of this school, who seemed to perform a military-like ruling. She told me that she did not like the atmosphere,” Ekaterina remembers. She ended up attending a school number 43, located in Suschchióvskaya Ulitsa.  Besides Russian lessons, students were encouraged to take German. This institution remains a public school today, focused on the teaching of German, English and French. For her, this experience was the most nurturing one. The stigma that existed about Germans as people who were severe and stiff was mistaken; instead teachers would be filled with life and inspired to teach. They were very virtuous and were able to motivate their students to love learning.  In spite of the fact that it was a very hard-working environment, the spark of learning for fun would never disappear.

The relationship between instructors and pupils was effective, personal and engaging. “I remember our school director, greeting all his students by their names at the front gate of the school every single morning, ” she says.  Certainly, these devoted teachers in her  early life had influenced her role as a professor. She makes her classes an “experience to remember,” both for the students and herself. At the end of every class, and upon her request, students provide her with feedback. After 32 years in the field, she does not take students for granted. Teaching never becomes a routine for this professor who knows best that each student represents a different challenge.