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Well, I ended up specialising in teacher training and we have a big training department that allows me to do not just CELTA but other courses.

      RFDG: Are there other good things about it?

      HB: I like my colleagues. That’s quite important.

      RFDG: For different reasons or do they share common features?

      HB: They’re all quite enthusiastic. Working in a private language school the wages are not particularly impressive. People are here because they generally like teaching and they like to improve teaching and the quality of it. I work in teacher support rather than the straight end of teaching.

      RFDG: Are there any downsides to where you work?

      HB: It’s not well-paid. Long-term security and a lot of the protections you would normally have from your working environment are not there, so it’s inherently not very stable. It’s inherently part of the gig economy which I don’t really approve of. I mean TEFL has always been like that, so it’s always funny to read and hear people talking about how dreadful the rise of the gig economy is because that’s what TEFL has always been like, at least in the private sector.

      I worked in the state sector side of things. In the UK there was a marked difference between what you can expect if you get a full-time job and a contract in that environment, and what it’s like working in the private sector for TEFL.

      RFDG: So, the low pay is more a feature of the broader context rather than the company you work for?

      HB: Yes, because private language school teaching in London is not well paid.

      RFDG: You mention there are more courses for you to teach here which is obviously good.

      HB: More training courses that I’m interested in teaching.

      We laugh. It’s an important clarification.

      RFDG: Are there other opportunities you’ve benefited from?

      HB: Obviously, to live in Moscow. This is why we came back to be honest. It wasn’t the job, it was to live in Moscow with my husband and children, and they can experience life in Russia.

      RFDG: Is that more important than experiencing life in the UK?

      HB: Yes.

      RFDG: May I ask why?

      She sighs theatrically.

      HB: It’s to do with the trials and tribulations of being stuck between two cultures and trying to decide which to prioritise and which aspects to deal with. For example, the language aspect and so on to work on with your children. I don’t know yet if we made the right decision. We’ll see.

      She laughs.

      RFDG: Hopefully, it’ll pan out.

      HB: Well, it’s always a choice isn’t it? There are issues to do with school and issues to do with minority language issues and bilingualism.

      RFDG: And it’s easier to do that here?

      HB: Well, sort of, yes… ish. It’s also connected to living in London. Personally, I don’t like living in London very much. I like living in Moscow and my husband has family here.

      *

      Christopher James Leckenby (CJL)

      RFDG: Why did you choose the school you work in?

      CJL: I had done an interview with another school in Moscow, they offered me a job and I accepted. This was pre-CELTA. This was just before I started doing CELTA. On the one hand I was thrilled, but I also had misgivings because I was not terribly impressed with the interview process. I had a lot of doubts in my mind and they weren’t terribly reliable when it came to keeping in touch with me, when I had questions and stuff.

      I remember finding this school’s advertisement page on one of the ESL job websites and it looked, on the surface, a lot more organised than the one I had seen for my first choice. That was one thing that caught my eye and the fact that they required a higher level of training, and there were more standards in place for employment. I thought, “OK, well that’s usually a good sign.”

      When I wrote to the school again, after I had finished CELTA, they remembered me. I was encouraged by that. I was not expecting anyone to remember my initial query before I did CELTA. The fact they had actually remembered and then going through the interview process, I just felt a lot more secure with this choice. It just seemed like a smarter decision. This school would be able to offer me more if I agreed and if I passed the selection process.

      RFDG: If you could describe where you work now, very briefly, what would you say?

      CJL: The short answer is I love it. I think overall I tend to get pretty attached to where I work, regardless of where that is. When I first came over, I became ensconced quite quickly in a particular area of the city and a particular school. I was very, very devoted to that school and to those students, and just generally to that area. I’m still in that area generally, but circumstances forced me to change schools. (Chris’s present school has multiple locations which are referred to as “schools.”)

      I’m even happier there because it’s just such a nice place to work. It’s a nice size of school. It’s not as cramped as the previous school. It’s a more comfortable environment to work in. It’s more modern. The administrative staff are wonderful to work with – that’s probably my favourite bit. I love my students. There are always resources on hand that I need, so it’s always well stocked.

      Because teachers are coming and going all the time, I’m the most senior teacher there. I’m really the only one who’s there all the time, so that really gives me a sense of security that, assuming they’re happy with my work, I can always sort of go back there and I will always have classes. I really, really like working there.

      RFDG: Is that what makes you stay, despite the fact you have all these other places you’d like to visit and live?

      CJL: That is a big reason. I think the people in general and the people I have met since I first arrived here, that is a big reason why I’ve wanted to stay. Part of it also is just the comfort of the routine. As I said, I get attached to things easily. I tend to kind of fall into a routine and it’s difficult to kind of break that once you accept it.

      It is kind of refreshing, when I look at my entire experience of Russia. It started out positive and it’s only become more positive in terms of the environment I work in; the people I work with, the quality of the work I think I do and that I’m enabled to do through the support networks. So, yeah, that is a big reason why I continue to come back.

      RFDG: What’s so good about the people you work with? Is there any common set of features, or is it different reasons?

      CJL: I suppose as far as colleagues are concerned, as I said, the administrators are wonderful. They’re very supportive and very helpful. You can see they actually invest themselves in their job, which makes it very easy to work with them. I know I can turn to them if I need help. I can rely on them in the event that I need to. They’re both very good at what they do anyway and they have lots of other skills outside of administrating, which means they can manage the school well and it enables me to feel comfortable when I do my job.

      I enjoy working with different people, generally. There have been a lot of new teachers who have arrived at the school and who have worked with me since I’ve been there. I’ve enjoyed working alongside

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