About Me
My education; my teaching, academic, professional and writing experience and goals
Education
Undergraduate and PostgraduateI have graduated from Sholokhov Moscow State University for Humanitiesw in 2010, the topic of my thesis being Education System in Great Britain with emphasis on collaboration between institutes and business. My qualification is Scholar of Language / Teacher with specialisation in Foreign languages and cultures teaching theory and methodology, which basically means a degree in linguistics with English (which is my first foreign language) and French (second foreign language) that I can teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
After graduating I have continued my postgraduate studies at the same university working on the topic Distinctive Features of Irish and English Folklore, focusing primarily on the Irish sagas about Diarmuid and Gráinnew. I have left the university after three years, in 2013, due to lack of funding, almost getting my Kandidat Naukw degree.
Postgraduate (UK)
During 2019-2020 I studied on MSc Medieval Literatures and Cultures programme at the University of Edinburgh, successfully getting my MSc degree on November, 11th.
PhD (UK)
I was accepted for the English PhD programme at Bangor University to work on The Functions of Heroes and Heroism in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur under the supervision of Prof Raluca Radulescu. I also held an offer from The University of Bristol to study under the supervision of Dr Kate McClune and Professor Helen Fulton. I had to postpone my study due to the situation with COVID-19 and no available funding. However, I continue working with the topic of the nature of heroism and its depiction in literature as an independent scholar.
Languages
My native language is Russianw, an East Slavic language from Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Due to my Ukranian origins and the similarities between East Slavic languages, I can understand Ukranianw. Currently I am improving my level of Ukrainian to reach reading fluency, which I need for my research activity, and to reach comparative fluency in spoken communication.My first foreign language is Englishw, which is de-facto my first language since 2018 with more than half of personal and professional communications being held in English.
My second foreign language is Frenchw, which I can officially teach to underdraduate students at Russian universities. However, due to inactive use of French language in the recent years, I would now score only at A2-B1 level according to the CEFR scale. To improve it, I am intending to use Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, Premium Third Edition textbook. I have picked it based on numerous reviews of it as the best all-round tool for brushing up and improving French. My goal is to make sure my French is B2 level until the end of 2024.
I would like to start learning a third foreign language and take it to the B1-B2 level of proficiency according to the CEFR. The most possible candidate for the role is Arabic language, due to its wide applicability and it being one of the most ancient West Semitic Languagesw.
I am also fond of dead languagesw, which I use to continue my academic research and for overall amusement. I can read Old Slavicw, Latinw and Middle Englishw, and I have basic knowledge of Ancient Greekw. From time to time I use Wheelock's Latin to brush up my Latin.
Fiction Writing
Recently I had four short-stories published in top literary magazines in Russian, and three short-stories in English. My latest short-story, written in English, was published at 3:AM Magazine, it is called ‘You see, I am perfectly fine’.Writers, whose style I admire and who taught me a lot about this craft: Anton Chekhovw, Jorge Luis Borgesw, Vladimir Nabokovw, Ernest Hemingwayw, John R. R. Tolkienw.
Teaching
I have experience of about 350 hours of 1-on-1 language coaching sessions with Intermediate to Advanced level of English proficiency students.Also, during my postgraduate studies in 2011-2012 I was teaching two classes for undegraduate students at Sholokhov Moscow State University for Humanities:
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Introduction to Linguistic Studies, for 1st year students
- History of English Language, for 4th year students