In talks with the teacher

Name and surname: Ludmila S. Baurdina

Short description of the function in the Vishenky Center: Teacher

Interviewer: Denisa Grozea

1. What motivates you to learn English? Why did you choose to learn this foreign language and not others?

Communication with guests like volunteers and others is my motivation to study English. It was my decision to learn English because I liked English and USA literature and music so much. I also liked to know about Europe countries.

2. How often do you have the opportunity to communicate with someone in a language other than Russian? In which context?

Some years ago I had more possibilities to communicate with people from UK and USA. Now it is not so often, but regularly. It depends on my job. It concernes volunteers’ practice in our center (Vishenky Center).

3. How useful do you consider your interaction with foreigners (non-Russian speakers)? From cultural, professional, personal etc. points of view.

Yes, it is very useful for me to interact with foreigners, non-Russian speakers from cultural, professional, personal and other points of view. It helps me not forget English.

4. What kind of volunteering do you consider to be the most popular in your community: civic, ecological, cultural or the volunteering related to social services?

In my opinion all kinds of volunteering are necessary and popular in civic community. But the most popular kind of volunteering in my community, for my point of view, is the cultural one.

5. How important seems to you the age of a volunteer to his/her activity? What about his/her cultural background? To what degree can these be impediments or advantages?

I think that the age of a volunteer is not so important to this activity, not more than the result of it. It also concernes his cultural and human background, the level of education.

6. How do you evaluate your work experience with volunteers (both Russian and foreign, both in the center of Vishenky Center and from the perspective of other interactions with them in other contexts)?

I believe that practicing and communicating with the volunteers is the perspective form of mutual aid all over the world: to help one is to save the mankind. Thank you!