Tatiana

It was a pretty cold autumn in September. I put on my coat as I was getting ready to go to teach. Actually, I had been a teacher since sixteen years ago, but I was still nervous that day as I was going to teach at different school in which there were many students and teachers whom I had never met before.

I taught in Moscow International High School, which was one of the best schools in Russia. As teaching at an International school, I had to teach my students in English, although the subject I taught was History. My IELTS and TOEFL score were both very high, and as I've told you I had had 16 years experience of teaching, so it was easy for me to get a job at an International school in the capital of this country.

That morning, I entered a classroom which consisted of twenty students. Then, I introduced myself in front of them, as I had had always done in every first day of school. However, that day I had to do it in English.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Gregory Pavlov. I come from a city in Ukraine called Odessa and am going to teach you guys history until the end of this term. Do you guys have the book?" I said while showing a book titled 'The History of Europe'.

"Yes, Sir!" said all of the students.

"Great! Okay, now, please open the Chapter 1. We're discussing Ottoman history. Have any of you ever heard about it?"

My first day of teaching in that class went very well. I explained them about the history of Ottoman and there were many students who asked questions. I was glad that they were so critical and smart. At the last session of teaching, I asked them to write an essay about what they liked in the history of Ottoman and submit it at 4 P.M.

At home, I told my wife, Valeria, and my daughter, Daria, about my class that day when we were having dinner.

"I'm glad to hear that your teaching today went well, Honey," said Valeria.

"Yeah, I like the school. It has a great architectural building! You should see it, Honey." I said. "Oh, and I also really like my students! They were so excited about what I taught!"

"Do you think they like you, Dad?" asked Daria.

"Yeah, I think so! None of them looked bored or sleepy while I was teaching. In fact, they listened to me well and many of them asked me questions. They are all interested in History, Daria. Just like you,"

"Oh, it's cool then!" said Daria.

After having dinner, we went straight to our bedrooms.

"Honey, what are you doing at your desk? Sleep now. It's already 11." said Valeria.

"Later, Honey." I said. "I've got to check my students' works first. We're going to discuss them tomorrow."

"Alright," she said. "But don't awake over 1 A.M., okay?"

"Okay," I said.

I checked my students' writings one by one. They were pretty good – most of them wrote about the sons of King Suleiman and the clothes the beautiful princesses wore. There was only one student who wrote about the war, which was between the Ottoman and Hungary. His name was Petra, and his writing was very good – it can be seen from it that he really liked History and knew a lot of Ottoman one. I liked his writing, but reading it made me feel sad as it was about war. I mean, I had a bad experience related to war and that was the reason why I moved here to Moscow. Let me just tell you about my old life before moving here.

I used to live in a city called Odessa in Eastern Ukraine and had lived there since I was ten. Odessa was a very picturesque city and it had always been a safe and peaceful one, that was why I had decided to live there until I died. After getting my Master degree, I got a job in Odessa Middle School as a teacher and got engaged with Valeria, with whom I had been together since I was seventeen.