Thank you, Connie!
It was winter of 2011 when we heard the exciting news about the arrival of our new teacher from the U.S. She came as a Peace Corps Volunteer and her name was Connie Postelli. That was the only piece of information that we had. Later on, we learned that Connie is a successful Chicago lawyer, who worked for General Motors, one of the largest automobile manufactures in the U.S.A. We found out, that she left her previous life behind in search of new enriching experiences. Connie joined Peace Corps as a way to help people outside the United States to understand American culture; and promote better understanding of the Ukrainian culture in American. Our new faculty member has introduced innovative teaching methodologies, encouraged critical thinking in the classroom, and integrated ideas about environmental and social awareness into our classes.
However, Connie is more than a teacher. She is a kind, generous, sweet and big-hearted person as well as a strong and independent woman. I consider her to be a mentor and inspiration as well as a loyal and supportive friend. Moreover, she is a happy owner of the living Ukrainian “souvenir” (that’s how she jokingly calls her dog Maddie –soon- to- be a proud citizen of the U.S.A.)
I would also like to say that Connie has a big heart. As I mentioned previously, she will go home not alone, but with a new friend a pooch, that she found in the street on her way home after seeing the opera “Madame Butterfly”(Connie named the dog after the opera – Maddie is short for Madame). At first, Connie thought the puppy was dead, but luckily she was alive. She’s been living with Connie ever since. Maddie is very well-behaved and she is bilingual. I have personally witnessed myself, that there are some commands that the dog understand in English and others only in Russian. Despite, the difficulties that occur when one travels with a pet overseas, the paper works, the bureaucracy connected with all the necessary shots and documents, Connie and Maddie are both excited and are ready for the next adventure
On multiple occasions I get asked about the benefits of having a native English speaker as a teacher. Those benefits usually include the improvements in pronunciation and the general level of language knowledge, which is certainly, true; Connie did help many of us to improve our skills. For instance, last year as a part of our classes, we worked very hard on our diction and fluency. Connie gave us a list of tongue twisters, each week we had to work through five of them and to learn the most tormenting one. Furthermore, to make it more fun, Connie turned it into a competition, we won American prizes and she motivated us in every way possible and we did our best.
However, this is only the small part of activities that we had in class. There were plenty of other interesting and exciting assignments. We discussed many controversial issues such as gender and rights equality, double standards in society, existing stereotypes prejudices and body image. We watched and later talked over movies about race conflicts, social status of minorities and members of LGBT community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) as well as women’s place in the modern world. Connie is a vocal advocate for women’s empowerment through education. She never fails to remind us, that we are the ones who can make a change in the world. In fact it is our duty as citizens. As the younger generations we are responsible for the improvements and creating a future, not only for ourselves and the loved ones, but for the whole nation, perhaps, even the world.
As the time of departure for Connie is nearing, I would like to take the liberty of expressing the sincere and deep gratitude on behalf of all the students that have been in Connie’s classes. She has touched many hearts, and inspired us with her thought-provoking ideas. She has always been bold, fierce and honest. Connie has never backed down, she always tells like it is, gives us the reality check as well as some guidance. She has helped students to find their own voice and develop leadership within ourselves. What is more important she’s taught us to dream.
In conclusion I would to quote an American journalist and the news anchor Dan Rather: “The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth”. Connie has been that teacher for us.
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| List of Honour | Goodbye, Connie! | Remember Kharkiv |
