Podcast outlining my thoughts and anecdotes from my motherhood on teaching my kiddos English 🔼

01:02 When we started reading to Artur

03:40 Why I stopped teaching Artur when he was 2 years old

04:55 The format of our “classes”

05:35 The books I got for a more formal instruction

06:30 Artur and school’s Starlight

08:30 What I am doing with my little son

09:15 How I’m dealing with Russian

11:30 My plans for Artur’s English

13:05 Over to you! How do you use English in your household?


More on the topic: Do I speak English with my kids?

😀😀😀😀 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀


How to set safe environment while teaching YL online… and stay sane:


00:13 Who is Maria Shishkina?
06:04 When did cyberschooling start?
7:40 Talking about online format
8:22 The safety of our health while teaching online
9:35 Acknowledging students as part of a routine and safety building
12:55 The importance of routines for YL
14:05 How does the reflection happen in a YL class?
16:05 How to get YL to be honest in their feedback
17:55 How do you cope with teaching YL?
20:41 Any trash stories for us?))
22:36 Advice for people working with YL
26:12 Final wisdom from Maria


Check out Maria’s channel for parents

Maria’s social media channel

🔗my podcast on teaching English to my own kids

A SoCaler from Nizhny!

That’s James Stuart Black
(but some people call him Yasha 😄)

What do I know about James?

1⃣Born and bred in Los Angeles, he got his BA in Russian history in the US, then came for a while and … stayed)

2⃣Married, 3 kids (every two years, guys!!)

3⃣Professional teacher, obtained an MA in applied Linguistics

4⃣Conference Speaker

5⃣Resides in Nizhny Novgorod - and that’s where I had the pleasure to meet him - at a Business Breakfast for NETworking Community. (Was well worth the trip!)

6⃣He loves cooking!

Now, James is very into much professional teaching, which I dig!

That’s what we’re going to discuss with him this Wednesday at 11:00 Moscow time.

🟡What distinguishes a professional teacher (from a charlatan)
🟢How much pros charge
🟡What troubles we face as pros
🟢And how we can all benefit from a community

Are you going to come to our live?

Okay, classics are classics, and Home Alone is definitely the most popular! 🤩

But that’s boring!

Who wants a fresher movie list?

Let’s vote! 🤩

Once again, thank you James!

So grateful I’ve found a like-minded person who’s very concerned with the state of professionalism in ELT industry - and the level of decent income that we as teachers can obtain.


Time codes:
00:22 Facts about James: education, family, kids, church
05:28 What defines a professional teacher of English?
06:26 Native speaker conversationalists
08:39 Russian teachers who are not up to standard
09:15 When teachers can speak the language but have no idea about methodology
09:52 Why knowledge of methodology is so crucial nowadays
10:07 Problems of older teachers
11:19 Does James have a problem with some older teachers?
11:59 When James learned a new idiom
14:05 When a teacher asked James if he was gay
15:29 Russian teachers must be perfect in the classroom
17:21 Financial side of being a professional teacher
20:00 Direct correlation between the money you charge and you self-respect
21:25 Pricing mindset
24:30 Community of professionals instead of mindless competition among teachers/language schools
30:24 What teachers can do once they’ve reached the ceiling price-wise
32:34 What’s NETworking?


Your questions, comments and any feedback is welcome and will be highly appreciated 🌸

Feel free to reach out directly to me @IELTS_tutor_nb or James @jbteach with questions

Here’s the link to James’s community


🤩 PhD journey with Leyla Goyusheva

🤩 Setting safe environment while teaching YL online with Maria Shishkina

🤩 Enigma Drama Theatre

🤩Neurofitness with Alexandra Kondratieva from StickmenEDU