Happy learners are good learners! A blog for and by LFM pupils in Moscow.

When I first moved to Germany, I spoke English fluently , mostly because I used to go to an English school twice a week when I still lived in Switzerland. But then I started to learn German, and while I kept improving this new language, my English started fading away. It soon became easier for me to talk German than English. But I guess that was normal since I heard and spoke this language every day, while my English was never required. However, my mother was not too pleased with this new situation. So she started asking around, looking for a new English school I could attend to. After a few unsuccessful tryouts, she finally came to hear about this supposedly excellent  private teacher, willing to come to our place once a week, on Friday evenings, for an hour, just to work on my English.

I remember when she first arrived. Rather small, with a few extra pounds, she wore her curly blond hair loose. But she was surely the most kind and energetic person I have ever met. Her eyes were blue and she was rather beautiful. All her charm came from that constant smile on her face. I don’t recall having ever seen her in a bad mood. Her name was Ute.

I quickly learnt to appreciate her and soon couldn’t wait for the two of us to have class. Because even though she was teaching me a lot of things and considerably improving my English level, she always managed, with great success, to make her lessons entertaining and fun.

The two of us also had a lot in common. For example with both loved this television show presented by Heidi Klum, called “Germany’s next Top Model”. Of course it was a German show and was running every Thursday night. She and I used to constantly comment on what had happened the day before, and I remember a lot of laughing. Once she even made me walk up and down the living room, having me pretend I was a top model running for a fashion show on a catwalk. And what was a momentary gag became a routine at the end of almost each lesson.  I used to dress up in weird clothes and put on some music while I was doing my make-believe fashion shows.

She also had a dog, a big golden retriever. It was the nicest dog ever, like a living stuffed animal. And my house was just next to a large park, where a lot of families and dog-owners took their pets out for a walk. So once, she came with her golden retriever and we had class outside, in the park, while walking her pet. I really enjoyed this lesson. It didn’t seem to me that I was learning, bur actually more like I was having a play date with one of my friends.

My mother too was very pleased with her teaching methods. At the end of each class the two of them used to talk for ages, and I think that more than once or twice, Ute even stayed for tea.                      But one day she came with some bad news. She was moving back to California. Just before her dog had died and she was now looking forwards living with her family again, which she had left behind when she came to Germany. Even though I was happy for her I really didn’t want her to go. The last day she gave me a beautiful heart shaped necklace. My mother and I also gave her a goodbye present. For a while we kept contact.

Since then I never had another private English teacher. I spent one year without taking English classes before I finally moved to Russia. I could never forget Ute because while I was having the best time I could possibly have with a teacher, she really helped me improve my English. After two years, thanks to her, I was fluent in English again, and was even able to read and to write without too many spelling mistakes.