Joining us for the first spotlight of the academic year with Artie Kotov.

– blog post by Amira Ghazy, LTS Student

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background!

My name is Artem but my preferred name is Artie. Fun facts: My first name is Greek, it is derived from the name of the Greek goddess Artemis and my last name is derived from the Russian word кот — kot which means cat. However, I am not Greek and I am a dog person.

I was born in Moscow, Russia, and when I was around 1 year of age my parents and I moved to the U.S. My parents worked at Ringling Brothers Circus and Cirque du Soleil. I grew up speaking both Russian and English and consider them both my first languages. When I was about 5 my parents and I moved back to Russia where I went to elementary, middle, and high school. In middle school, I took a French class for one year and German for three years. I was a very active kid in school, I founded a student council at my school and I also volunteered a lot and participated in many leadership camps. In 8th grade (2014), I was nominated to represent Russia in the Lions Clubs International youth exchange program in Landau, Germany where I had the chance to learn from my peers about the work of LEO Clubs while also practicing my German. In 9th grade (2015),

 I got my first job and I worked as a Program Coordinator at the Volunteer Tourist Center of Moscow, a program aimed at providing informational and language support to foreign and domestic tourists in Moscow. From August 2016 to November 2021, I served as a Youth Programming Facilitator at the American Center, U.S. Embassy Moscow, and have initiated and facilitated programs like monthly sessions of the Children’s Club, Kids Fun Hour, TED-Ed Club, Teens Advisory Committee, Family Club: Yesterday’s Tomorrows, Celebrate! U.S. Holidays for Kids, Discover America for Teens, weekly English Classes for Kids, and annual two-week-long English summer camps for kids. Over the course of 5 years, the programs that I have facilitated were attended by about 25,000 participants.

I got my Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics (Translation and Interpreting Studies) in Moscow, Russia. While I was doing my undergraduate studies I also worked as an English and German tutor and worked with more than 25 students over the period of 4 years. I also worked as an English and German interpreter at various conferences, conventions, and official visits. ​​ I even had the chance to go on my first business trip to Ingolstadt, Germany, where I worked as an interpreter at Bürgerfest. From September 2019 to December 2021 I also worked as a German instructor at the Russian-German House in Moscow where I taught A1-A2 German to young and adult learners.

What brought you to language teaching?

I would say my previous experiences, especially the fact of being bilingual and facilitating programs at the American Center in Moscow brought me to language teaching. I had the opportunity to talk about American culture, the history, geography, and traditions of the U.S., while also teaching some aspects of the English language. I remember vividly how I implemented various language-teaching approaches while organizing both annual summer camps and some of my other programs without having much knowledge of language teaching. I browsed a lot of information online and asked many professionals what they thought about my ideas. But I wanted to learn more about language teaching, how people acquire languages, and so on. I noticed that when I was explaining something and sharing what I knew brought so much energy and my students reciprocated that. I saw learners smile, I saw my students have fun, I saw my learners progress in the language, I had parents and guardians come up to me and thank me for what I was doing — these were the moments when I felt I was doing something right and it got me thinking about pursuing degree either in linguistics or in language teaching studies.

Why the UO? Is it nature? Is it the people? Is it Nike?

Nike and Ken Kesey, of course! (I’m kidding but it’s also true) I chose UO to become part of the flock because I have participated in the Camp Fundamentals in Youth Recreation in English (CampFYRE) with Lara Ravitch where I learned a lot about teaching English and making camp programs more structured. I loved the supportive and safe environment even though the course was online. I noticed how well-organized and practical the materials were. Some of the knowledge from the course has helped in my studies and teaching. I remember vividly that the LTS program was also the program that I saw on the website and it was the moment when I realized that I wanted to become a member of the cohort since the program would meet my professional and personal goals.

What have some of your past experiences been with language teaching? Do you have any specifically fond memories?

I taught English and German as a foreign language to learners of various backgrounds in Moscow, Russia both as a formal instructor and as a tutor. I also have some experience in teaching Russian at the University of New Hampshire.
I am also currently teaching English as a Second Language as a tutor and in Samantha Smith‘s Group NGO (online.) One of my recent fond memories of teaching ESL was back in February 2022 when my student participated in her first-ever open mic/improv, she used some vocabulary from class and even joked about us reading Dr. Seuss’s books together. I was proud (still am) of my student and I even shed tears of joy.

What has been the highlight of your time in the program so far?

My program highlight would definitely be our Talking with Ducks classes that we facilitate at the American English Institute as part of our LT 537 Language Teaching Practice class with Trish Pashby. I get to learn a lot from my peers while also trying out some of my ideas. The Halloween and Unusual Holidays classes that I facilitated with Iris were a hit! Iris and I tried using the station rotation format and it turned out to be engaging and fun! With the help of other ducks (a.k.a. my fellow LTS flock), both sessions went really well.

How do you hope to work in the language teaching field in the future?

I would like to continue my work in teaching ESL to refugees and asylees/asylum seekers here in the U.S. while also embarking on the journey of teaching Russian. I see myself working either at a middle or high school, college, or an adult learning center (however, I also like working with young learners.) To accomplish these goals I would later apply to relevant PhD programs and some professional development programs, e.g., STARTALK at Middlebury College.

What is something outside of language teaching that you are passionate about? A fun fact about yourself that others may not know?

I have been lifting weights for more than a year now. Surprisingly it helps me with my work as a teacher as well — as it puts me in the position of a novice learner a lot of times. One fact that not everyone knows about me is that I am very good at singing (humble, I know.)