Our interviewee is Aleksandr Shagalov, a 26-year-old teacher of Russian language and literature, who was officially acknowledged ‘the best Russian teacher’ two months ago.
Q.: Why did you choose language and literature – the subjects usually taught by women?
A.: Russian language and literature are no less ‘male’ subjects than Maths, Physics or Chemistry. The problem is that presently there are too few men working at schools. That is why many think that language and literature are ‘female subjects’ – I do not agree with that.
Q.: Was there some reference point at the beginning of your teacher’s career that helped you understand that you were a real teacher?
A.: Some may imagine a school teacher’s job as some penal servitude or circus arena, and the classroom as a cage full of tigers, and the teachers themselves as some tamers or victims… Well, my first days as a teacher were quite usual: it was my introduction to the classes and to the teaching staff and my first lessons…
Q.: Was it easy to win in the national teachers’ contest?
A.: Nothing is easy. It was hard both physically and psychologically.
Q.: Could you share your emotions and thoughts from your meeting with President Putin [who had a meeting with the champions of the teachers’ contest]?
A.: You know, you don’t meet President every day. Mr. Putin possesses a very impressive charisma. You would feel that he is a strong man, that he’s got great core strength.
Q.: Probably, a standard question for a philologist is how to teach a child to love literature? What’s your recipe?
A.: You can’t force children to love anything, especially literature – what you can is to awake their interest and amaze them. And the need to read will derive from such interest and amazement. Reading is an indispensable part of human life.
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