It’s a Saturday, but that doesn’t mean that I get to sleep in. In fact, my alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m.
I lead a virtual book club for high school students in Russia, so the eight hour time difference between Moscow and East Lansing, and the even larger time difference with Western areas of Russia, lends itself to meeting early in the morning.
I got this position through the U.S.Department of State’s Virtual Student Federal Service program, which places undergraduate and graduate students in remote volunteer internships with federal government agencies. My placement is through EducationUSA, the Department of State’s network of centers advising students across the globe about how they can pursue higher education in the United States. EducationUSA’s center in Russia takes a handful of interns each year to lead lessons on different topics for Russian students to improve their English, from a current events discussion group to the book club I lead.
Leading this book club has been a very interesting experience for me. Of course, the geopolitical situation with Russia has impacted it. For one of the first lessons, I prepared a Kahoot on facts about the book’s author, with the hope that using this online game would make the lesson more interactive and engaging. However, I had forgotten to check to make sure that Kahoot was available in Russia, and of course, the company suspended the offering of all services in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. Also, just a few months into the year, the person overseeing my internship changed, as EducationUSA Russia’s physical location moved outside of Russia.
Because of Russia’s laws against so-called “gay propaganda,” the other interns and I were warned in training not to discuss or use materials that reference the LGBTQIA2S+ community, out of fear that EducationUSA would be banned in Russia if we did so.
Despite the constraints that geopolitics has placed on this experience, I have greatly enjoyed developing genuine connections with my students. We are reading the book Fahrenheit 451, which creates many opportunities to discuss history, technology, and the future. It is interesting how discussing this text can expose similarities and differences between American and Russian culture. For example, in one scene, a character in the book named Clarisse rubs a dandelion on her chin and claims that if the pollen rubs off, it indicates that she is in love, and a student commented that they have a similar belief in Russia regarding daisies.
Overall, I am extremely grateful to have secured an internship with the U.S. Department of State so early in my academic career. In the future, I hope to build upon the skills I have built through this experience and teach English abroad, such as through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants program or the Peace Corps.