About Myself.......... О себе My interest in foreign languages goes back a long way. I started English through private tutoring at the age of six. At eighteen, I had my first experience with instructional media: I was chosen to star in an English-language film. Eventually, I came to realize that teaching is in fact part acting, but only part. Teaching places much more responsibility on the teacher's shoulders. Theatergoers give an actor two hours of their time. Students entrust the development of their intellect to their teachers. Moreover, teachers of language, as Henry Higgins said, have the power to create a new person by changing their language. My early interests eventually led me to the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages (now the Moscow Linguistic University), where I received my degree in linguistics and methodology of teaching foreign languages with a minor in U.S. Government. Six years later, I arrived in the U.S. as a political refugee. When I chose teaching foreign languages as a profession, I never doubted its importance wherever I live. I was amazed to land in a country where it was not in much demand because the majority of its inhabitants do not see why they should speak anything but English. Then I found SAIS – one of the oases where foreign languages were needed prepared practitioners of international affairs. This is where I made my niche: developing a language program tailored for students whose future lies in the sphere of international relations, national security and socio-economics. Later on, I wrote five textbooks for students of Russian, a group which includes students and academics, U.S. government officials, businessmen and journalists, as well as concerned citizens who want to have a better picture of the US-Russian relations.
- Natasha Simes | 
