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ELE History overview
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ELE Previous Speakers List
Chekhov's Library
ELE group on Facebook
Home
ELE History overview
ELE Location
Photos 'n' Feelings
ELE Previous Speakers List
Chekhov's Library
English Language Evenings is an independent, open, public English-language lecture forum in Moscow, having hosted more than 250 meetings and ~200 different speakers since starting in 1998.
Meeting usually twice a month from September/October to late May, ELE hosts (mostly) native English speakers, often prominent and/or interesting individuals from Moscow's greater English-language and/or foreign-resident community, visitors, et al, giving lectures on topics of their own choosing.
Among the PURPOSES of ELE is the providing of an intelligent-intellectual evening in Moscow in English, the presentation of a wide variety of topics and speakers, and the promotion of more personal contacts between the speakers and Russians in Moscow. ELE is, in the context of Moscow, a kind of distant descendent of the Lyceum Movement started in 19th century America, and a direct one of "Penny University" in Santa Cruz, California.
All visitors, Russians and "expats" are welcome!
Due to new restrictions to be implemented by Yahoo from October, 28 we’re moving to Gmail.
TO BE ON THE FREE EMAILING LIST AND TO AUTOMATICALLY BE NOTIFIED OF UPCOMING ELE MEETINGS, CHANGES, ETC, SIMPLY SEND AN EMAIL TO OUR NEW ADDRESS: englanevemoscow@gmail.com
N.B. The first email from our new address may get into your spam folder, so please, add us to your address book!
The hosts of ELE III are Oksana Konstantinova and Colin Ward.
Oksana Konstantinova: having worked as a translator and English teacher in secondary and language schools in Russia, she is now settled as an administrative assistant. She enjoys teaching English to her friends and is also an avid traveller to English-speaking countries. She has come to ELE since 2011.
Colin Ward is a poet and teacher who after a time in Moscow in the 1990s, has lived in Moscow since 2013. He has been visiting ELE since 2016 and became a co-host since 2020.
Dr. Oksana Danchevskaya, a Cultural Studies specialist, a teacher of English and an Associate Professor at Moscow State Pedagogical University is on temporary leave. Some of her presentations including an ELE lecture on North American Indians are available here. Has been an ELE member since 2000 and a co-host since 2017.
John Harrison has retired as a host of ELE II at the end of the 20th season (2017/2018).
The founder of ELE Stephen Lapeyrouse has moved on to further activities in the USA. Stephen is the author of "Towards the Spiritual Convergence of America and Russia", "В поисках "Американской мечты" - Избранные эссе", and his website can be found at AmericanReflections.net.
ELE has now hosted 300+ meetings with ~230 SPEAKERS from many countries: from astronauts to adventurers, ambassadors and attaches of various embassies; Fulbright scholars; visiting and resident professors; well-known Moscow journalists (from the Moscow Times, Moscow News, Russia Journal, etc.) and international TV and radio correspondents (BBC, VOA, Sky News); social activists; heads of institutions (e.g. AmCham, Moscow Carnegie Center, Amnesty International), and just interesting individuals, et al, on a wide variety of lecture topics. To view a full list of previous speakers/lectures, click here.
Lectures, travelers, writers, adventurers, et al! If you would like to give a public lecture in Moscow, contact the hosts of ELE III. Contact: englanevemoscow@gmail.com
Lectures are held in the Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6 (building 2), Moscow. Just north of the Metro Chekhovskaya street exit -- somewhat across from the large cinema at Pushkin Square -- look for the "6" on the building; go under the arch, through the tunnel to the sign "Чеховский Культурный Центр" ("Cheknov Cultural Center"). Click here for map!
Here you can find a link to Chekhov Library web site, and this is a link to Library page on Facebook
Meetings are usually, but not always, Fridays, so pay close attention to dates! Lectures usually start at 19:00, followed by Q&As, discussion, comments, etc; and ending about 21:00.
English Language Evenings on Wikipedia
The article in Moscow Expat Life magazine 'The Chekhov Library: A Mission of Freedom'
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January 21, 7 pm 'The Art of Time Management'Abdullah Rizk Abdullah Rizk, an Electronics Engineer born in Syria 1968, who moved to Azerbaijan in 1996 and since then has been living and working in the former Soviet Republics. He established “ARP” Ltd. in Azerbaijan in 1998, “ARP Solution” in Kazakhstan and finally “ARP Service” in Russia 2017. His main area of expertise are contracting and the construction of infrastructure systems. He has been involved in various types of businesses including restaurants and the beauty sector as well as International consultancy for investors in various sectors of the economy, with a strong multilingual presence, being able to speak 5 languages, he is also an active contributor to various online sites. Time is the most precious asset we have, but are we using it properly? Can we make a to do list and do what we planned to do? Are we always running behind the time and getting late? We have to learn how to manage our time if we want to succeed in our daily life. At our next lecture we will scratch the surface of time management, but surely everyone will leave the lecture with benefit. Due to latest COVID numbers, we have to move tonight's talk online. It is still happening, so do come along at 19.00 via this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83053804879... Meeting ID: 830 5380 4879 Passcode: 851678 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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January 14, 7 pm 'Coping with stress'Katerina Panfilova Katerina Panfilova is Creative trainer, English teacher and edupreneur. She runs SELF, a project and a community for anti-burnout. The theory behind ‘sressology’ is based upon a massive block of data gathered by big companies and research institutions. Yet, how applicable is this knowledge in our daily lives? See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 N.B. Due to new sanitary regulations, the library capacity has been decreased to 40 guests and we have to set up a registration system. If you'd like to attend the event, please send an e-mail to englanevemoscow@gmail.com. And don't forget to cancel your registration if you aren't able to attend the event. Please add this email address to your address book to avoid our newsletters from going into your spam folder. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87000634070... Meeting ID: 870 0063 4070 Passcode: 336479 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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December 17, 7 pm 'The Primacy of Play in Early Years Education'Adrian Niro The idea that play is of fundamental importance for a child's development is a generally accepted idea in popular opinion, but its primacy may be underestimated and is certainly not reflective of most mainstream Early Years educational programmes. Jean Piaget, the Swiss Psychologist responsible for much of the literature on cognitive development, contends that the foundation for all cognitive and linguistic development can only be facilitated by a healthy play regime. If this is true then much of the foundation of most educational programmes are wrong-headed, putting the emphasis on core academic skills before basic cognitive functions have been developed. Taking a survey through the relevant academic literature will challenge orthodox ideas of how best to educate our youngest learners and perhaps give us pause to reflect on what we understand at all by the notion of "education". The primacy of play in early years education is a discussion not to be missed by professionals in the field, parents, grand-parents or anyone with any interest in cognitive science and the mechanisms by which we are able to learn. See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83086365315... Meeting ID: 830 8636 5315 Passcode: 679914 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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December 10, 7 pm 'Soundtrack of the Twentieth Century - Part Two: Jazz'Peter Beck Born in England and educated in Canada, Peter Beck is a teacher and journalist on Arts and Culture who currently lives in Moscow. "In the second of a series of lectures about the relationship between popular music and society at large, we'll trace the development of jazz music from its origins in New Orleans through its spread across America and around the world in the heady days of the "Jazz Age". It's the story of the dedicated artists who pioneered the sound that was a driving force of both entertainment and social change in the first half of the century; the story of where the music came from, how it evolved, and what it meant to both the players and the public." See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2
URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT! |
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November 19, 7 pm 'The Importance of Living with the Dead'Colin Ward Join us for a talk I gave a couple of years ago. It is so important to talk and listen. See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81948592534... Meeting ID: 819 4859 2534 Passcode: 071756 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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October 8, 7 pm 'From Hollywood to Moscow. Cultural observations and thoughts on theatre.' + onlineNathan Ford The opening of a new season of ELE talks starts with a wonderful speaker/entertainer, Nathan Ford; he is a master of his subject. Before Nathan moved to Moscow to teach film and theatre, he spent 8 years in Los Angeles; whilst there he did some commercials, produced a couple of short films, some standup comedy, as well as writing and performing with a sketch-comedy group Unmentionables. He had 6 years of acting lessons and 3 years of voice lessons before being asked to Northern California to direct and produce a web series for a local card company. He has spent the last 5 years wandering amongst Moscow’s English theatre community, most notably with MESS and MIDAS. See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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May 28, 7 pm 'Burnout. What is it and how to deal with it?'Katerina Panfilova Katerina Panfilova is Creative trainer, English teacher and edupreneur. She runs SELF, a project and a community for anti-burnout. Why do professionals burn out? For a number of reasons, but there are three basic ones: emotional, professional and personal. The worst happens when they intersect. Modern people don’t know how to deal with their emotions. What’s more, what we have is not enough. The self-positioning has changed, and we cannot compare with previous generations of people who burned out seldom. At this meet-up we’ll take a look at how people have changed and what we can do for anti-burnout. Can we avoid it? Should we prevent it? What soft skills must we develop? You’ll get your answers. The knowledge of anti-burnout techniques is important now, not only for ourselves but for the people around us, too. We have to learn the signs of burn-out and know what to do. This is the way to make our society more people-oriented and maybe even turn it into a community. See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 N.B. Due to new sanitary regulations, the library capacity has been decreased to 40 guests and we have to set up a registration system. If you'd like to attend the event, please send an e-mail to englanevemoscow@gmail.com. If you've already registered via google forms, please still email us. |
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May 14, 7 pm 'Orson Welles' (online)Daniel Medvedev Daniel Medvedev is returning to tell us all about the life and times of Hollywood's most famous outsider - author of the renowned Citizen Kane - Orson Welles Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82245652260... Meeting ID: 822 4565 2260 Password: 792835 N.B. In case the first link isn't working, please use this link; if you're thrown out of the conference, use it to reconnect too: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78676093305... Meeting ID: 786 7609 3305 Password: 140521 |
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April 23, 7 pm 'The power of the word. How language shapes our view of the world' + onlineMalcolm Rogers Rev Canon Malcolm Rogers is the chaplain of St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Moscow. He lived first in Russia with his wife Alison in 1993-1995, and they returned 4 years ago, when Malcolm was appointed to St Andrew’s. He has been a priest in the Church of England for over 30 years, working mainly as a vicar in London and Bury St Edmunds. He has 3 sons. See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center, Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 N.B. Due to new sanitary regulations, the library capacity has been decreased to 40 guests and we have to set up a registration system. If you'd like to attend the event, please send an e-mail to englanevemoscow@gmail.com. If you've already registered via google forms, please still email us. REGISTRATION FOR THE MEETING IN THE LIBRARY IS OBLIGATORY! Also, we're going to test Facebook live stream to see if it's going to work out to make it available for those who can't attend our events in person but don't want to miss them. So stay tuned and join in tonight at 7pm Moscow time!Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89891549435... Meeting ID: 898 9154 9435 Passcode: 096495 |
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April 9, 7 pm 'How one event in Red Square led to 24 years of living and working in Russia' + onlineAlan Broach I was born in Singapore but my family moved to the UK (Bournemouth) when I was 5 years old. After school I went to college in London (South Bank University) for 3 years. My career in accountancy started in with what is now called Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in London. I progressed from there into accounting firms in London, ending up as a partner in Deloitte, specializing in the entertainment industry. From Deloitte I moved into music television production, later to children’s TV and then back into the accounting profession in Moscow, firstly with Deloitte and finally as a tax partner with PwC in White Square. I first came to Moscow in 1997 to produce shows for the Moscow 850th anniversary celebration and have lived full time in Russia since 2004. I have been married to my Russian wife (Polina Philippova) for 21 years and between us we have 4 children and 5 grandchildren (so far). My autobiography “Tales of a Wandering Accountant” is available on Amazon as is my new novel “MUFFINS by Alan Broach”. This is a fictional story about how one small incident can have serious consequences. I am currently working on an anthology of short stories. See you at 7p.m. at Chekhov Library/Cultural Center, Strastnoi Bulvar, 6/2 Also, we're going to test facebook live stream to see if it's going to work out to make it available for those who can't attend our events in person but don't want to miss them. So stay tuned and join in tonight at 7pm Moscow time! N.B. Due to new sanitary regulations, the library capacity has been decreased to 40 guests and we have to set up a registration system. If you'd like to attend the event, please send an e-mail to englanevemoscow@gmail.com. If you've already registered via google forms, please still email us. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84820297856... Meeting ID: 848 2029 7856 Passcode: 348962 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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March 26, 7 pm 'Evolution of a Cold War Warrior' (online)Bruce Bean We are delighted to welcome Bruce Bean from U.S., who will talk about his career from Vietnam service to legal practice in Moscow during the 1990s. A very experienced practitioner, who will give us some great insights to life during the second half of the 20th Century. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89176180725?pwd=YWptWW5lOUpVMnkrSDloM3pXUE1OUT09 Meeting ID: 891 7618 0725 Passcode: 077595 |
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March 12, 7 pm 'From Athlone to Moscow. The arrival of the Irish in Russia's capital city' (online)Avril Conroy As part of the lead in to Irish Week in Moscow, Avril Conroy, who has been living and working in Moscow since the 1990s, will tell us about the close relationship, which has blossomed over the years, between the Irish and the Russian people. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89069449909?pwd=bEFod2lQM0tGTU9wd2tMU3JiMGNwdz09 Meeting ID: 890 6944 9909 Passcode: 529580 |
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February 26, 7 pm 'Working in theatre and film in England and Russia' (online)Simon Hubbard Simon Hubbard works as the drama teacher in a top school here in Moscow; his work embraces physical theatre, as well as online over the past year. Simon is an experienced actor and theatre director, with several starring roles in films and plays over the years. He is going to talk with us about working with writers, actors and other theatre staff and what he looks for. He will also compare working in England with his experience here in Russia. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83661706986... Meeting ID: 836 6170 6986 Passcode: 952468 |
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February 12, 7 pm 'From the Bolshoi Ballet Academy to English National Ballet' (online)Tala Lee-Turton Tala is a professional freelance classical dancer from South Yorkshire. She trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy from 16 years old, and has worked with companies such as English National Ballet since graduation. She is now based in London, where she produces her own productions. COVID has brought challenges to her industry and her productions directly tackle these obstacles, alongside an overdue reassessment of classical dance industry traditions and norms in terms of inclusion, access and diversity. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87994483794... Meeting ID: 879 9448 3794 Passcode: 575199 |
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January 29, 7 pm 'Russian exporting across the world and its great potential' (online)Alan Thompson Alan Thompson a former director of Russo-British Chamber of Commerce in Moscow will talk about ‘Russian exporting across the world and its great potential. In particular small and medium-size businesses’. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85260534787... Meeting ID: 852 6053 4787 Passcode: 471408 |
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January 15, 7 pm "The Russian Years." Life abroad captured then and now in writing" by Nicky Torode (online)Nicky Torode Nicky introduces the practice of writing for wellbeing. She describes how her personal writing (diaries, poems and newspaper articles) during her time in Moscow and Ekaterinburg in the mid 90s/early 2000s was a tool for adapting to expat life. She gives tips on how to mine your memories to write stories from the heart. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89270350358... Meeting ID: 892 7035 0358 Passcode: 529197 |
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December 18, 7 pm 'Frank Sinatra. Through the Prism of his Songs (online)'Daniel Medvedev A lecture / concert about the life and times of Frank Sinatra through the prism of his songs and the famous biography “Sinatra: Behind the Legend”. The evening will be hosted by the accomplished Moscow based actor-singer Daniel Medvedev with Victor Smirnov on piano. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82615697537... Meeting ID: 826 1569 7537 Passcode: 446419 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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December 11, 7 pm 'Voices From Russia, 1970s-2000. Witnesses To Change (online)'John Harrison I will be taking the wonderful opportunity of speaking at ELE to talk about a book that I have written; which is about to be published called: ‘Voices From Russia, 1970s-2000. Witnesses To Change.’ This is a book of 22 in-depth interviews with Russians and foreigners who lived in Russia during all of part of that period. Some of the interviews may be considered shocking for western readers who did not experience that ‘time of changes.’ Readers may be interested in the juxtaposition of foreigners’ and Russians’ experiences, which point out the importance of the culture in which we spend our childhoods in the context of forming expectations. During my lecture I will attempt to explain why I undertook this project, why I chose an interview format, as well as mentioning a few of the most interesting (to me) themes which surfaced during the interviews. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81120618115... Meeting ID: 811 2061 8115 Passcode: 289720 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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November 27, 7 pm 'The Power of the English Voice (online)'Bruce Grant Bruce Grant will be talking about his experiences working with the Russian Film, Entertainment and Gaming industries as a Voice Artist. Bruce arrived in Moscow in 1994 and has had various jobs in the communications industry. He has worked with more than 37 studios across the city and will be telling us about his interesting experiences both humorous and painful. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83602946488... Meeting ID: 836 0294 6488 Passcode: 459892 We'll also be streaming live on Facebook. |
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November 13, 7 pm 'A British man's guide to visiting (real) Scotland (online)'Andrew Rayton "Whenever I ask Russian people "have you ever visited England?", the usual answer is either "yes" or "no... but I would like to". My usual follow-up question is "Oh really, where did you go or where would you like to go?", to which 90% of people answer London. Another 9% mention Cambridge or Oxford, and the remaining 1% are usually a bit more adventurous and have been as far as Bath or even Stonehenge. But I say to all of those people, "You have not really experienced England..." If you really want to experience England, then you need to go off the foreign tourist trail and go to where the English go on their holidays. There are many many interesting and beautiful places to visit in England that are not crowded with American, Chinese or even Russian tourists. Allow me to take you on a journey to the places I have visited in my life, places that you might not find in most tourist guides and on "top place to visit" websites. Places steeped in history and beauty and which I thoroughly recommend you visit, should you get the chance. Then and only then can you truly say that you have been to England." Andrew Rayton was born in Coventry in the United Kingdom. He attended Warwick and Manchester universities, where he graduated in business and economics and gained a post-graduate certificate in education. He has served his country in both the Royal Navy and as a police constable in Nottingham City, he is a patriotic and loyal British subject. He worked as a teacher in English secondary schools before moving to Moscow, Russia in 2015 to teach English to adults and teenagers. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82788069314... Meeting ID: 827 8806 9314 Passcode: 061161 |
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October 23, 7 pm 'Sir Isaac Newton. "Standing upon the shoulders of giants" (+ online)'James Newton
Dear ELErs, Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89928591754... Meeting ID: 899 2859 1754 Passcode: 193195 |
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October 9, 7 pm 'EVERYONE IS AMAZING … Confessions of a TV Anchor by Mike Gibson' (+Facebook live streaming and Zoom)Mike Gibson From tea with Admirals to feeding elephants with zoologists, from ringing the bells of Christ the Saviour to discovering the secrets of Moscow water … Mike will tell stories of his experience as an anchor for the bilingual TV show Capital Ideas Life, how to calm people before TV interviews and why filming TV is like going through the looking glass. N.B. Due to new sanitary regulations, the library capacity has been decreased to 35 guests and we have to set up a registration system. If you'd like to attend the event, please complete the registration form: https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLScS95ibFms.../viewform... Zoom meeting: Topic: English Language Evening. 'Everyone is Amazing' by Michael Gibson Time: Oct 9, 2020 19:00 Moscow Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88604446317?pwd=L1RTU01FZ2g1K1RDa2puSUFPRXVJdz09 Meeting ID: 886 0444 6317 Passcode: 628322 |
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September 25, 7 pm 'Oats and beans and barley grow...'James Newton Some insights into the way plants sense the world around them, make choices, shape their environment and communicate with each other with the help of other species from other natural kingdoms, all without a brain. I might even propose some answers to intriguing questions like "where does the mass of a tree come from?", "which plants have been the most successful at manipulating humans?" and "what is life anyway?" The title is from an English nursery rhyme, which continues "... but not you nor I nor does anyone know how oats and beans and barley grow". James wanted to be a poet or a watchmaker when he was younger, and then learnt that he could do both by writing elegant lines of computer code that work together in intricate ways. He is currently developing a web site where learners of English and Russian can play language games with each other and with their teachers, all from a safe social distance. The slides for this talk are hosted on his site, and as the result, he can control the slide show from his mobile phone. His interest in biology stems from the realization that the chemical clockwork that plants run on is so much more intricate and elegant than words can begin to describe. N.B. Due to new sanitary regulations, the library capacity has been decreased to 35 guests and we have to set up a registration system. If you'd like to attend the event, please complete the registration form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgnUOxfv1ePXTG-CCvkoTT_NdYMTzLPtcb-Vw67OnzXaQq5Q/viewform?usp=sf_link |
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September 11, 7 pm 'A British Tourist at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980'Peter Williams Peter Willlams has been fascinated with Russia ever since his grandmother told him about her encounter in 1900 with a ‘charming' young Russian military officer in London. This interest has been strong ever since and his visit to Moscow in 1980 for the Olympic Games was a highlight. He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in History. He lived and worked in Moscow in the early 2000s and has a continuing affection for Russia and the Russians. See you at 7 p.m. at our ELE-nar in Zoom. The link to the Zoom conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81506064469?pwd=WlFTaEtreWE2N2Z5R2IzTW10U2RZZz09 Meeting ID: 815 0606 4469 Passcode: 846753 Here's a video instruction on how to install Zoom and join the ELE-nar: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting |
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May 29, 7 pm 'The Ancient History of Syria: Сorrection and Liberation'Abdullah Rizk Today, Syria, the country with the richest history in the world, is being torn apart in a proxy war, supported and financed by international powers. This lecture will shine a spot light on the hidden history, which has suffered huge forgery and falsification in an attempt to steal the truth and of credit other nations and sometimes delete the real contributors from the history. The lecture will take you into a mixed world of History, Myth, Policy, Languages and facts leading to revealing a part of the truth which might contradict everything you think you know. Hoping to trigger the hunger for knowledge, research, and curiosity and to question every single piece of information presented so far by the majority of historians about this region of the world. The Sun will rise again, and as the Phoenix reborn from ashes, thus its grandkids descendants will shake off the dust from their History. Abdullah Rizk, an Electronics Engineer born in Syria 1968, who moved to Azerbaijan in 1996 and since then has been living and working in the former Soviet Republics. He established “ARP” Ltd. in Azerbaijan in 1998, “ARP Solution” in Kazakhstan and finally “ARP Service” in Russia 2017. His main ares of expertise are contracting and the construction of infrastructure systems. He has been involved in various types of businesses including restaurants and the beauty sector as well as International consultancy for investors in various sectors of the economy, with a strong multilingual presence, being able to speak 5 languages, he is also an active contributor to various online sites. |
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May 15, 7 pm 'Fun and Joy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets'Daniel Medvedev To quote Oscar Wilde: “He made me see what Life is, and what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both.” Daniel Medvedev is a Russian born American actor, musician, educator, voice-over artist living in Moscow since 2008. Represents Flying Banana Theatre Group and Banana Drama Studio (www.flyingbananas.ru). |
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April 24, 7 pm 'Farewells and the retention of the memory of loved ones'Colin Ward Following on from his lecture last year about ‘Dealing with early death’, Colin will address the challenging topic of ‘Farewells and the retention of the memory of loved ones’. Once again through poetry and reflection. Colin Ward is a British owner of a small Russian business in Moscow. |
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April 10, 7 pm 'How to make an effective presentation'Daniel Brooks My presentation is about how to make an effective presentation. I've worked with corporations since 1987 and have been involved in making and hearing presentations during that time. I've been trained in effective public speaking and have provided instruction to others. My objective is to pass on some of the things I've learned by talking about effective speeches I've heard, the training I have had and my own thoughts on the subject. The outline of the speech is the following: 1. The introduction of the presentation, the best ways to make one. 2. Ways to keep the audience interested. 3. The content of the presentation, how much to present and strategies to make it memorable. 4. Reaching a conclusion. 5. Other suggestions including eye contact, tempo of the speech, powerpoint presentations and other points of interest. 6. Opening the presentation to questions, how to respond. Daniel is a life-long student of Russian and Russia. He is a specialist in coffee, business management, investing and fast moving consumer goods. Daniel acted as General Manager, Vice President and CEO for several corporations over a 25 year span, including Tchibo, Nabisco, Tata and others. His other favorite activities are writing, cooking, good conversation, public speaking and spending time with family and friends. |
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March 27, 7 pm 'Introduction to NLP'Rifat Cicek Due to changes connected with coronavirus threat, our scheduled speaker cannot deliver his speech at stated time and date, but, as promised, we'll have a talk-workshop "Introduction to NLP" by Rifat Cicek, Licensed Trainer of NLP, this Friday. People want to have control, as well as to be in charge of their mind. NLP™ opens the gate to a world of efficient techniques. Welcome to a sightseeing tour about Neuro-Linguistic Programming™. During the introduction workshop, we will gain insights into the following: - perception and physiology - change techniques - communication models - efficient communicating You may access additional information about NLP™ by clicking www.nlpeast.ru. |
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March 13, 7 pm 'Inside the translation'Michele A. Berdy, journalist, author and translator Michele A. Berdy, best-known for her column on Russian language and translation, the Word’s Worth at The Moscow Times, has been translating and interpreting — simultaneous and consecutive — for nearly four decades. Sometimes it’s fun, like making up songs for a children’s film script. Sometimes it’s exhilarating, like interpreting for presidents, first ladies, and rock stars. Sometimes it’s exhausting, like sitting under a blanket simultaneously interpreting a film interview for hours. She’ll share some stories from her work as an interpreter and some of the challenges of literary and other written translation. Michele A. Berdy has lived and worked in Moscow for over 40 years. After graduating from Amherst College, she did post-graduate work at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow, followed by work as a translator and editor in the Soviet Union. In addition to working as an interpreter, she has translated several books, hundreds of articles and short stories, and sub-titled over 50 films. She has taught at Moscow State University and conducts master classes and workshops on translation and intercultural communication. Following a decade-long career producing content for American and Russian television, she worked with communications programs in Russia and the region, specializing in health and public service. Ms. Berdy is Arts Editor of The Moscow Times, where she writes a weekly column on language and translation as well as feature stories about Moscow and Russian culture. Her articles appear in Russian and English-language press. She was the lead or sole writer of four guidebooks on Russia, and co-author of a Russian-English dictionary. A collection of her columns, “The Russian Word’s Worth,” which compiled columns from 2002-2006, was published in 2010. She is working two more volumes of her columns from the years 2007-2017. |
Attention! On March 13 instead of the lecture 'Introduction to NLP' by Rifat Cicek we'll have 'Inside the Translation Kitchen' by Michele A. Berdy.
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February 28, 7 pm 'How did writing evolve?'James Newton James Newton learned to write his own name at the age of 4. At the age of 42, he published a book about writing code to create virtual worlds. Somewhere in between, he became fascinated by the way writing allows our voices to travel across the world and from generation to generation. Reading and writing are activities that we think of as completely natural. Writing developed spontaneously in many different cultures, and people from every culture can learn to read and write, as soon as a writing system is designed for their language. It would seem that we are all born with a genetic ability to learn these skills. But how did such an ability arise in the first place? |
We’re very sorry to inform you that our next planned lecture 'Inside the Translation Kitchen' by Michele A. Berdy had to be CANCELLED due to unexpected circumstances. Instead of it on February 28 we'll have our regular speaker James Newton with very interesting lecture 'How did writing evolve?'
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February 14, 7 pm 'Statecraft & Religion: the historical and contemporary roles of Proselytism'Dr. Christopher Korten Religion as an aspect of Statecraft is not an unknown concept but neither has it been covered in depth. This lecture will focus on one aspect of religion, that of proselytizing or converting non-believers; it will look at the roles that proselytizing has played historically as well as today in forming political policy of nations and empires. Chris is a Professor at MGIMO in the faculty of International Relations; he also holds a position at UAM in Poznan, Poland. His is currently researching an aspect of diplomatic history under Tsar Nicholas I. Attention! On February 14 ELE lecture will take place NOT in the Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library Reading room on the 2nd floor (from the main entrance back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door with the sign "Библиотека имени А. П. Чехова 2 этаж", go upstairs to the second floor). |
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January 31, 7 pm 'Who do you think you are?'James Newton Thanks to the scientific revolution we now have refrigerators, interstellar probes, ball-point pens, smartphones and Candy Crush. The scientific method is a way of asking questions that lead to a deeper understanding of our world. With the new knowledge it gives us, we can now create things that our grandparents could never have imagined. But science is only useful for certain types of questions. We still have no clear picture about how our brains function, or where our sense of "self" comes from. Using the scientific method to explore the mind leads some researchers to believe that our sense of self is simply an illusion created by our brains to help us interact with others. Are we just high-functioning zombies? And does language help or hinder us from seeing how the magic works? As you may have noticed, James Newton has been to every ELE meeting since last September. He wanted to be a poet or a watchmaker when he was younger, and then learnt that he could do both by writing elegant lines of computer code that work together in intricate ways. Here in Moscow, he earns all he needs through talking in English to 4-year-old children and to executives from multinational companies, so that he can have enough time to work on his second book, entitled "Vampires with Alzheimer's". |
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January 17, 7 pm 'The Geology of a Frightening yellow stone'Bill Mateo Four years ago a Russian friend of mine told me he had seen a documentary on Russian TV reporting about a discovered yellow stone deep underground in the western USA that is rising in power daily and will explode. It will wipe out all life in North American and disable Europe back to the middle ages and cause a global dark winter. I had to investigate it, and I did. I’ll share it with you. William Mateo has been living in Moscow since 1992 when he was sent from Atlanta, Georgia to Moscow to help establish the Coca-Cola Company’s first distribution and manufacturing in Russia. He later lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2002 to 2005 when he returned to Moscow. He has been the General Manager or CEO of Russian operating entities that are owned by multinational companies. William has spent the last 14 years in the luxury spirits business managing a large Russian luxury/foreign spirits distributor with national reach, and now is principal of Mateo Partners which continues commercial work with foreign companies in Russia in the luxury consumer goods sector. William has a full time MBA from The University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in finance and operations management and an undergraduate degree in American History. William lives in Moscow with his Russian wife and his Russian-American daughter is finishing college in Boston. |
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December 13, 7 pm 'A Strange Interdependence: Bellota Pigs, Dehesa Acorns, Spanish Sherry and The finest single malt Scotch whiskey in the World'Bill Mateo In this talk we will examine three seemingly unrelated activities in two nearly opposite countries that are actually inescapably intertwined. Curiously, the finest quality of each could not easily be produced without the others. We will look at contemporary changes that are uncoupling these activities (at the expense of quality) except for one Group determined to hold it together for the sake same of producing the best quality single malt whisky in the world. William Mateo has been living in Moscow since 1992 when he was sent from Atlanta, Georgia to Moscow to help establish the Coca-Cola Company’s first distribution and manufacturing in Russia. He later lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2002 to 2005 when he returned to Moscow. He has been the General Manager or CEO of Russian operating entities that are owned by multinational companies. William has spent the last 14 years in the luxury spirits business managing a large Russian luxury/foreign spirits distributor with national reach, and now is principal of Mateo Partners which continues commercial work with foreign companies in Russia in the luxury consumer goods sector. William has a full time MBA from The University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management in finance and operations management and an undergraduate degree in American History. William lives in Moscow with his Russian wife and his Russian-American daughter is finishing college in Boston. THE FINAL LECTURE IN 2019 FOLLOWED BY OUR TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PARTY!
Our traditional Christmas party will start after the lecture (TBA shortly) on December 13th. |
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December 6, 7 pm 'The "Boy Crisis" in Education'Adrian Niro ABSTRACT: Conventional wisdom might dictate that boys and girls perform equally in education or, as is often the case, that boys are at an advantage, especially in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). However, recent data and studies reveal a very different picture. The High School and University Graduate rate among boys in Europe, The United States and Canada lag significantly behind that of girls. The development at which boys develop literacy compared to that of girls is sizeable (in favour of girls). All of this data has lead many scholars to regard this as a serious problem in mainstream education and has lead author and scholar Dr. Warren Farrel to term it as "The Boy Crisis". I would like to trace this phenomenon through the studies and literature over the past half century as well as to open a discussion regarding possible policy changes in mainstream education to address this problem. Adrian Niro is a Canadian born expat living and working in Moscow. Before coming to Russia he studied at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada earning a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a Specialization in English Literature. He then proceeded to study at the University of Leuven in Belgium, earning a Master of Arts and Humanities in Critical Theory and a Master of Science in Social and Cultural Anthropology. He taught at the International Language Academy of Canada in Toronto before embarking on a new adventure: Russia! With nearly 15 years of experience in the performing arts, spanning two continents, it was only in Russia where he began to receive some recognition: two guest lectures at Moscow State University, two appearances on Russian television, voice acting and radio appearances. He has been releasing video blogs about his time in Russia since 2016 and is a regular performer at Moscow's various Standup Comedy venues. In 2018 his humorous anecdotes about life in Russia were presented on a tour through his native Canada, Finland, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands (the latter satirically titled: "Famous in Russia"). Attention! On December 6 ELE lecture will take place NOT in the Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library Reading room on the 2nd floor (from the main entrance back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door with the sign "Библиотека имени А. П. Чехова 2 этаж", go upstairs to the second floor). |
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November 22, 7 pm 'Soundtrack of the Twentieth Century - Part Two: Jazz (The Beginning to the Jazz Age)'Peter Beck Born in England and educated in Canada, Peter Beck is a teacher and journalist on Arts and Culture who currently lives in Moscow. In the second of a series of lectures about the relationship between popular music and society at large, we'll trace the development of jazz music from its origins in New Orleans through its spread across America and around the world in the heady days of the "Jazz Age". It's the story of the dedicated artists who pioneered the sound that was a driving force of both entertainment and social change in the first half of the century; the story of where the music came from, how it evolved, and what it meant to both the players and the public. |
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November 8, 7 pm 'Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)'Leticia Medina In this talk, Leticia Medina, an English Language Fellow at NUST MISiS, will discuss her personal experiences with this wildly popular and beloved holiday, which focuses on celebrating the lives of our dearly departed. Día De Los Muertos weaves together Aztec and Catholic traditions as we prepare to welcome our beloved when they travel back from the land of the dead to the land of the living for two nights of celebration and remembrance. Leticia will discuss cultural artifacts such as the food, decorations, and music involved in the celebrations. Though Día De Los Muertos originated in México, it is now a recognized holiday throughout Latin America and the United States. Participants are encouraged to share stories about their own cultural traditions and artifacts. |
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October 18, 7 pm 'An Englishman's Guide to Visiting (Real) England. Part 2'Andrew Rayton "Whenever I ask Russian people "have you ever visited England?", the usual answer is either "yes" or "no... but I would like to". My usual follow-up question is "Oh really, where did you go or where would you like to go?", to which 90% of people answer London. Another 9% mention Cambridge or Oxford, and the remaining 1% are usually a bit more adventurous and have been as far as Bath or even Stonehenge. But I say to all of those people, "You have not really experienced England..." If you really want to experience England, then you need to go off the foreign tourist trail and go to where the English go on their holidays. There are many many interesting and beautiful places to visit in England that are not crowded with American, Chinese or even Russian tourists. Allow me to take you on a journey to the places I have visited in my life, places that you might not find in most tourist guides and on "top place to visit" websites. Places steeped in history and beauty and which I thoroughly recommend you visit, should you get the chance. Then and only then can you truly say that you have been to England." Andrew Rayton was born in Coventry in the United Kingdom. He attended Warwick and Manchester universities, where he graduated in business and economics and gained a post-graduate certificate in education. He has served his country in both the Royal Navy and as a police constable in Nottingham City, he is a patriotic and loyal British subject. He worked as a teacher in English secondary schools before moving to Moscow, Russia in 2015 to teach English to adults and teenagers. |
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October 11, 7 pm 'Habits, Compulsions, Obsessions and Addictions'David Wansbrough Of course it is a good habit to regularly come to the Chekhov Library for ELE. But on the way we can look at those in the metro compulsively interacting with their phones. (That should get a "like" response.) How can a person live with themself in what seems to be one of the loneliest periods in history...? When face to face we may talk about the weather. Why? It is one of the few times when we cannot lie. What is an addiction? How can an addiction be treated? How can we break habits? How can we be us? David Wansbrough, an Australian poet, writer, artist and philosopher, is one of our most popular speakers. |
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September 27, 7 pm 'How I have continued to learn from Anna Karenina, War and Peace, and Onegin since I was in high school/ college in the 1990s'Elif Batuman Elif Batuman was born in New York in 1977. As a teenager, she read English translations of Eugene Onegin and Anna Karenina, and fell in love with Russian literature. She studied Russian at Harvard, and then started a PhD in comparative and Russian literature at Stanford University. Secretly, she wanted to be a novelist, and even wrote an autobiographical novel “for the drawer,” about some strange experience she had in college. While she was still a graduate student, Elif started writing essays and reported stories for American magazines, including the New Yorker. In 2010, she published a book of comic interconnected essays, called The Possessed, about different “adventures” she had while pursuing the study of Russian literature. (For example, the summer she spent in Samarkand, where she studied the Uzbek language and literature, and learned 100 different words for “crying.”) Not even the publisher expected very many Americans to buy this book. However, it briefly ended up on the New York Times bestseller list. The Russian translation was published this year by AST. From 2010 to 2013, Elif was a writer-in-residence at Koç University in Istanbul. During this time, she also reported about Turkey—her parents’ country of origin—for the New Yorker, where she is now a staff writer. Her most recent story for the New Yorker, about the “rental relative industry” in Japan, won a 2019 National Magazine Award. In 2017, Elif finally published the autobiographical novel she wrote “for the drawer.” By now, it was a historical novel: the setting is 1995. Because it is a book about someone who is mistaken in many things, she gave it the title, The Idiot. (In Russian, it will be Идиотка.) This novel was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2018. Starting in 2016, Elif started going through a political awakening. She is working on a new book about how novels and romance have been used politically to aestheticize unfreedom—to make constraints seem “complicated,” interesting, and unavoidable. She has concluded, reluctantly, that many of her favorite novelists, including Pushkin and Tolstoy, unwittingly helped perpetuate ideologies that have disenfranchised women and children. She is thinking and writing about how and whether the novel tradition may be readapted in order to increase human freedom. |
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September 13, 7 pm 'Tibenuk and Chuji: Status Attainment and Collective Action in Egalitarian Settings'Dr. Richard J. Chacon This research documents how incipient social inequality in egalitarian settings arises and serves to foster collective action. This investigation outlines the strategy by which a Western Dani individual seeks and obtains big man status. This work also documents how an Amazonian Achuar (Shiwiar) man uses his elevated social status to assertively and effectively coordinate collective action in a time of crisis. The findings of this investigation support the "Status Theory of Collective Action" (Willer 2009) which contends that status allocation motivates individuals to solve collective action problems. This research offers insight into the social processes that may have fostered the rise of social complexity cross-culturally. Dr. Richard J. Chacon is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Winthrop University who conducts anthropological investigations throughout the Americas. He documented the subsistence patterns and belief systems of the Yanomamö of Venezuela, the Yora of Peru and the Achuar (Shiwiar) of Ecuador. Additionally, he studied the traditional belief patterns of the Kuna of Panama. He currently investigates ritual violence among the Otavalo and Cotacachi Indians of Highland Ecuador along with the Haida of British Columbia focusing on the emergence of social inequality in transegalitarian societies. His specializations are in optimal foraging theory, subsistence strategies, conservation, natural resource utilization, warfare, ritual violence, native beliefs, leadership, collective action, the development of social complexity, long distance exchange, secret societies, ethnohistory and the effects of globalization in addition to analyzing the impacts of missionization on indigenous peoples. He has a special interest in encouraging members of minority communities to pursue higher education. He currently serves as Editor for Springer's Anthropology and Ethics Series. He co-organizes the "Warfare, Environment, Social Inequality and Pro-Sociability" (WESIPS) Biennial Conference in Seville, Spain. |
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May 31, 7 pm 'In Search of a Richer Life: A Canadian Expat's Tales of Adventure, Confusion, Validating Triumphs, Humbling Defeats (and an Insatiable Desire for More)'Adrian Niro Adrian Niro is a Canadian born expat living and working in Moscow. Before coming to Russia he studied at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada earning a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a Specialization in English Literature. He then proceeded to study at the University of Leuven in Belgium, earning a Master of Arts and Humanities in Critical Theory and a Master of Science in Social and Cultural Anthropology. He taught at the International Language Academy of Canada in Toronto before embarking on a new adventure: Russia! With nearly 15 years of experience in the performing arts, spanning two continents, it was only in Russia where he began to receive some recognition: two guest lectures at Moscow State University, two appearances on Russian television, voice acting and radio appearances. He has been releasing video blogs about his time in Russia since 2016 and is a regular performer at Moscow's various Standup Comedy venues. In 2018 his humorous anecdotes about life in Russia were presented on a tour through his native Canada, Finland, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands (the latter satirically titled: "Famous in Russia"). This is going to be the final lecture of the 21st season! Then we're going on holidays till September. |
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May 24, 7 pm 'Gone with the Wind'David Goldfield The American South has always been different – slavery, secession, poverty, rural, and segregated – seemingly the reverse of American ideals. As novelist William Faulkner noted, in the South, the past is not even past, as the recent conflict over Confederate monuments attests. Why is this so? How have other regions in the U.S. contributed to the Southern mixture of myth and history? And what does its persistence say about the nation? David Goldfield is the Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, a position he has held since 1982. A native of Memphis, he grew up in Brooklyn and attended the University of Maryland. He is the author or editor of sixteen books including two, "Cotton Fields and Skyscrapers" (1982) and "Black, White, and Southern" (1991), nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in history. His most recently published books are "America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation" (2011), "Still Fighting the Civil War" (2013), and "The Gifted Generation: When Government Was Good" (2017). Goldfield is also the Editor of the Journal of Urban History, and serves as Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, as and as an expert witness in voting rights and capital punishment cases. He is Past President of the Southern Historical Association (2012-2013). Goldfield serves on the Advisory Board of the human rights organization, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, and on the Board of the North Carolina Civil War and Reconstruction History Center. His hobbies include reading southern novels, watching baseball, and listening to the music of Gustav Mahler and Buddy Holly. |
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May 17, 7 pm 'An Englishman's Guide to Visiting (Real) England'Andrew Rayton "Whenever I ask Russian people "have you ever visited England?", the usual answer is either "yes" or "no... but I would like to". My usual follow-up question is "Oh really, where did you go or where would you like to go?", to which 90% of people answer London. Another 9% mention Cambridge or Oxford, and the remaining 1% are usually a bit more adventurous and have been as far as Bath or even Stonehenge. But I say to all of those people, "You have not really experienced England..." If you really want to experience England, then you need to go off the foreign tourist trail and go to where the English go on their holidays. There are many many interesting and beautiful places to visit in England that are not crowded with American, Chinese or even Russian tourists. Allow me to take you on a journey to the places I have visited in my life, places that you might not find in most tourist guides and on "top place to visit" websites. Places steeped in history and beauty and which I thoroughly recommend you visit, should you get the chance. Then and only then can you truly say that you have been to England." Andrew Rayton was born in Coventry in the United Kingdom. He attended Warwick and Manchester universities, where he graduated in business and economics and gained a post-graduate certificate in education. He has served his country in both the Royal Navy and as a police constable in Nottingham City, he is a patriotic and loyal British subject. He worked as a teacher in English secondary schools before moving to Moscow, Russia in 2015 to teach English to adults and teenagers. |
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April 26, 7 pm 'Economic Development and Interesting Facts about India. Friendly Indo-Russian Connections'Leena Sareen India is the country of the largest democracy and the fastest developing country in the world with a seamless picture of unity in diversity and more than a hundred languages, different religions and about two million gods, great-grandmother of tradition, 5000 years old Vedas, yoga, and Ayurveda... Relations between India and Russia are rooted in history which was recorded since the 15th c. when the first Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin visited India, followed by famous Russian artists like Vasily Vereshchagin in the 19th c. and Nicholas Roerich in the 20th c. Rabindranath Tagore’s "Geetanjali" was like a revelation in the USSR and, in its turn, Russian culture left a deep imprint on Tagore. Russia has been a pillar of strength for India, having co-operation in various sectors like space, defence, economics, etc. Both countries have 70 years of diplomatic relations. Dr. Leena Sareen teaches Theory of Intercultural Communication at the Department of Psychology of Moscow Region State University. Leena has 10 years of experience in multinational companies as a coordinator between Russia and India. She has received awards from both countries for her merits in strengthening Russian-Indian cultural cooperation. |
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April 12, 7 pm 'The Birds and the Bees'David Wansbrough “We use the word "Honey" as a term of affection. Summer days at the dacha are full of the warm whirring of wings as bees are busy going from flower to flower. In New Zealand the tui bird's curved beak reaches the nectar from among the masses of stamens in Rata flowers. The neck of the bird has two tufts of white feathers that are covered with pollen. How could the bird or the tree have evolved without each other? Can bees be studied in Isolation? Bees are wonderful and essential. David Wansbrough, a past student in beekeeping of James Freeman and Sir Edmund Hillary, was the recipient of the 2013 World Eco Brand Person of the Year Award. From his observations he has developed a simple but strange theory about the nature of bee keeping that may explain the death of hives. As bee keepers say, if you can't bee good, bee careful...” David Wansbrough, an Australian poet, writer, artist and philosopher, is one of ELE's most loved speakers. |
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March 29, 7 pm 'The Soundtrack of the 20th Century: Part One - The Blues'Peter Beck The tale of a musical form that was born in the American south, migrated north to Chicago, crossed the Atlantic, and then was transformed and exported around the world. Born in England and educated in Canada, Peter Beck is a teacher and journalist on Arts and Culture who currently lives in Moscow. "There is no way to tell this story in any depth in an hour, of course, so I'll stick to the anecdotes and highlights that I think will be most entertaining." |
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March 15, 7 pm 'The Importance of Living with the Dead'Colin Ward Colin discusses through a mixture of poetry and reflection the importance of the relationship between those who die ‘too early’ and the living. Both before and especially after death. It is a subject which is too often not discussed, but it can be liberating and also helpful when people do indeed open up to their feelings. He will share his experience of how poetry can be of assistance to those struggling to come to terms with the death of a loved one or someone close to them, particularly when the death is seen as not a ‘natural’ end to life. Colin Ward is a British owner of a small Russian business in Moscow. Attention! On March 15, 2019 ELE lecture will take place NOT in the Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library Reading room on the 2nd floor (from the main entrance back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door with the sign "Библиотека имени А. П. Чехова 2 этаж", go upstairs to the second floor). |
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March 1, 7 pm 'Artificial Intelligence?'James Newton In 1946, ENIAC, the first digital computer, cost the equivalent of $6M in today's money and could run 50,000 operations per second. It was used to solve the equations that led to the design of nuclear power stations. The smartphone almost all of us carry today costs less than $600 dollars, runs over 5 billion operations per second, and connects us instantly to computers all over the world. Using models of how the brain works, we are developing software that can play games, recognize faces, read handwriting, drive cars, and even distinguish between different breeds of dogs. With all this computing power available to us now, can we hope that computers will think like humans in the near future? And what can we learn from computers about what it means to be human? As you may have noticed, James Newton has been to every ELE meeting since last September. He wanted to be a poet or a watchmaker when he was younger, and then learnt that he could do both by writing elegant lines of computer code that work together in intricate ways. Here in Moscow, he earns all he needs through talking in English to 4-year-old children and to executives from multinational companies, so that he can have enough time to work on his second book, entitled "Vampires with Alzheimer's". |
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February 15, 7 pm SORRY, EVENT CANCELLED!We’re very sorry to inform you that our next planned lecture for February 15 had to be cancelled due to the problems with the library - as it turned out, despite our prior agreement, all their halls will be occupied that day… So, enjoy your Friday evening and see you at our next lecture which will take place on March 1 and will be announced later. |
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February 1, 7 pm 'Oops! - What am I doing in front of the camera…'Michael Gibson "Working in Advertising and making TV commercials has seen me cast many actors over the years. Then one fateful day, while filming a Nescafe commercial, Timour Bekhmanbetouv (before he was famous) ran out of cast and the next thing I knew I was on the wrong side of the camera, blinded by lights, being shouted at by Timour, 'hold the cup higher, no lower, no higher, smile a bit, now a bit less …' This was novel, receiving instructions as opposed to giving them. Over the years I have casually ended up in a few productions, from secret agents to idiot 80s Music producer (a guy who turned down a Nirvana deal), I've even been in a sex scene (we are still good friends) … So, in this ELE talk I will share a few anecdotes about acting, the secrets to casting and why chemistry is everything." Mike is one of our most popular speakers with several very interesting talks in the previous years. He is an Executive Creative Director in Advertising and a Creative Consultant. Attention! On February 1, 2019 ELE lecture will take place NOT in the Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library Reading room on the 2nd floor (from the main entrance back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door with the sign "Библиотека имени А. П. Чехова 2 этаж", go upstairs to the second floor). |
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January 18, 7 pm 'The Cultural Revolution'John Harrison 'Like the red sun rising in the east, the unprecedented Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is illuminating the land with its brilliant rays,' one editorial in a Chinese newspaper read in 1966. read. 52 years ago, one of the bloodiest eras in Chinese modern history began, in which as many as two million people died. Its bewildering complexity and almost unfathomable brutality was such that to this day historians struggle to make sense of everything that occurred during the period. When the mass mobilisation kicked off, Party newspapers depicted it as an epochal struggle that would inject new life into the communist cause. In fact, the Cultural Revolution crippled the economy, ruined millions of lives and thrust China into 10 years of turmoil, bloodshed, hunger and stagnation. Who started it and what was it for? This lecture will focus on the Cultural Revolution and try to answer these questions. At the end of the lecture, there will be a short presentation of the book 'Trapped Between Cultures' which is partly about the effects of the Cultural Revolution on the mind sets of Chinese growing up in the 1950s-70s. The speaker is our dear former host (ELE-II) John Harrison, a journalist, writer and an artist |
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December 21, 7 pm '12 London Surprises'Charles Goddard In honour of the 12 days of Christmas, an exploration of 12 less well known things to see and do the next time you are in London. These include where to find a real Diagon Alley (useful for Harry Potter fans) and where you can find a Russian poetess beneath your feet. Born in the UK, Charles Goddard is both a Chartered Architect and a Chartered Arbitrator with a specialisation in commercial and construction law. He first came to Russia in 2002 when he helped deliver new offices and housing for Exxon Mobil on Sakhalin Island. Since then, his building projects have included FC Shakhtar Donetsk, masterplanning the building and infrastructure works for the Sochi Winter Olympics, the Sochi Olympics Large Ice Palace as well as numerous commercial projects. A true “Englishman In Moscow”, Charles thinks he begins to understand some Russian humour and culture, the symbiosis between fools and roads, and finds New Year incomplete without "Ирония Судьбы". He is proud to have learnt to drink tea without taking the teaspoon out of the glass. |
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December 7, 7 pm 'Back to Earth'Frank Williams Frank Williams has been a professional artist since the late 1960's. In his lecture he will discuss his life as an American Cold War survivor, anti-war proponent/activist and political junky in the pursuit of international understanding. He has worked and exhibited globally and for the last 26 years while residing in Moscow. He will touch on topics in his career as a curator, organizer, teacher, artist diplomat and a plethora of pursuits melded to form his person and his artistic expressions. His lecture, titled "BACK TO EARTH" emphasizes his use of re-cycled materials, i.e. found objects. Currently Williams' emphasis is on the necessity to create less from newly produced elements and concentrate on statements involving components brought back to relevance by inclusion in his compositions. A list of exhibitions and credits can be found at: www.frankwilliams.ru/eng/biography.htm |
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November 30, 7 pm 'Why Russia?'Andrej Starčević and Louis-Charles Beyeler "Why Russia?" is a familiar question that foreigners are greeted with in Russia. Moving to Russia invariably demands a certain degree of self-exile: a willingness to break with the past and a desire to uncover not only a world unknown but also something about the self. It paradoxically opens a myriad of challenges and surprises, but is also a seemingly futile, never-ending pursuit. Any attempt to answer the notorious "Why Russia?" question necessarily requires an appreciation of this starting point. In our lecture we will be sharing some of our experiences in Russia and of our attempt to understand the incomprehensible. Andrej Starčević is a Master's student studying Global Politics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The son of Serbian immigrants to Australia, he completed his Bachelor's in History from the University of Sydney. He moved to Russia where he has been teaching English and studying since 2016. Louis-Charles Beyeler is a Frenchman and Master's student studying Diplomacy at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He completed his Bachelor's in International Relations from ICES in France before moving to Russia in 2017 to continue his studies. |
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November 16, 7 pm 'You've got to be kidding: How one expat navigates the unfamiliar terrain of Russia (with astonishing ineptitude)'Johanna Campbell A professional expat educator now living and working in Moscow shares her stories of impressive feats of ineptitude at this whole life-in-Russia thing. She wishes to apologize for her monolingualism, but were she sufficiently adept in this way, this lecture's audience would be deprived of her stories, as she would not have any. Johanna Campbell is an English language teacher, trainer and curriculum developer with extensive field experience across the US and overseas. Her expertise includes teaching intensive academic English with top-tier American universities (7 years), language program instruction and administration in US-based colleges in the Middle East (2 years), training, tutoring, writing center coaching, and presenting at myriad professional engagements (14 years). She has spoken on such varied topics as cultural influence on English teaching and learning, civic resource use to generate language production, and student learning beyond the classroom. Her research interests include how culture shapes language, learner-centered oral fluency skills, and sociolinguistics. She has traveled, lived and taught in the central and southern United States, across Western Europe, and in the Gulf region. She holds an MA in Applied English Linguistics from the University of Houston and a BA in Politics and Government with a Spanish minor. Currently, she is serving as an English Language Fellow in Moscow, Russia. |
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November 2, 7 pm 'Fake News - a historical perspective'Dr. Christopher Korten Fake news is in our midst and often mentioned, especially in the political sphere. However, it is not an unusual phenomenon, nor strictly the provenance of politics. Deliberately misleading an adversary, a competitor or the reading 'public' is nothing new. This short lecture will discuss noteworthy examples over the last millennium in order to gain perspective about the 'popularity' of Fake news today. Chris has recently taken up the position of Professor at MGIMO in the faculty of International Relations; he also holds a position at UAM in Poznan, Poland. He is currently researching an aspect of diplomatic history under Tsar Nicholas I. |
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October 19, 7 pm 'A New Zealand Childhood'David Wansbrough David Wansbrough will speak about New Zealand in the 1950s and 60s. In Auckland at the time the social structure was affected by the loss of the men in World War Two, and yet remarkable individuals influenced his life. Sir Edmund Hillary taught him bee keeping, and Miss Winifred Huggins planted the seedlings of New Zealand native trees on waste land. But the volcanic islands were small and seemed to be at the edge of the world. In Darby Lane David discovered a Soviet book shop. From Progressive Books for mere pennies he bought beautiful Russian children's books, 'Vasilisa the Beautiful', 'Finist the Bright Falcon', 'The Tsarevitch, the Bird of Light, the Grey Wolf', and 'The Lay of Igor'. The beauty of the illustrations and the poetry of 'The Old Fisherman and the Golden Fish', changed his life... |
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October 5, 7 pm 'The Other America. Downshifters, eco-culturists and escapists'A personal story of volunteering for an eco- (ex-hippie) community Lyubov Zolotova We are happy to invite you to a very special talk about America and Americans. For many people around the world America embodies prosperity, progress, and freedom. However, there are people in the States who are seriously concerned about the state of the American society: its overconsumption, the power of corporations, the ecological risks of postindustrial economy. These Americans have made a conscious (and very difficult) choice to live a different life. Our guest, Lyubov Zolotova, a Russian-American living in Moscow, will share her experience of living among such people, talk about their life philosophy, their values, and the challenges of their lifestyle. Lyubov spent a month living in Shannon Farm community, VA. She stayed with the family of Virginia Dawnswir, a typical representative of American downshifters and eco-culturists. This will be a very honest story. This is no Hollywood America but a different side of American life. You will find out: • Who can afford to become a downshifter in America • How capitalism and socialism coexist in this local community • How Americans try to stand up against corporate power and what comes out of it • What is wrong with “organic” products and what “beyond organic” means … and much more! |
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September 21, 7 pm 'Close Encounters of the Cross-Cultural Kind'Paul Anthony Byrne Paul will give a brief account of his travels wherein he recounts several accounts of misunderstandings and preconceived beliefs that occurred in Western Europe and Russia. An open discussion with the theme 'Does Elimination of Cross Cultural barriers promote peace in our world?' Paul Anthony Byrne about himself: Born in Ireland in 1954 and educated in Dublin's DIT and later East London University in 1992 with a MSc. In Post graduate Diploma in Management Studies. Have managed and opened businesses in Ireland, United Kingdom and France in my past; prior to working with the Educational sector as a consultant in Russia from 2005 to 2015. I have been actively involved in the past to promoting Irish/Russian links in History Music and Folk dance. I have come back to Russia since 2015 and intend to work on my writing projects and other possible realisations of aspirations. I am married (separated) with a 22-year-old daughter, two cats and a dog. |
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May 11, 7 pm 'A Short History of Russian Advertising'Mike Gibson Michael has worked as a Creative Director in the Russian advertising and communication industry for over 20 years. He created many big TV campaigns for brands like Nescafe, Visa, MrProper. He is a regular speaker on branding and creativity. He is married to Naira and has one son Davide. |
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April 27, 7 pm 'The Aesthetic Experience'David Wansbrough Are the silly vulgar sparkling lights around Moscow meant to distract us from real experiences? What is essential to life? Since ancient times some have written about Goodness, Truth and Beauty, but how do we discern these when we are caught up in the banality of travelling to and from work in the metro? Are these relevant in a digital age? (Click, Like). How can we get beyond egotism and solipsism, to experience the reality of others? David Wansbrough, ELE's most frequent speaker, will attempt to show that in spite of changes of awareness, there are deep and enduring perceptions that may shake us out of our habitual paradigms. Let us risk the vulnerability of Love and Tragedy and feel the symptoms of heightened awareness, and sense the Russian need for cultural nurture, well beyond the Western notion of, 'Have a nice day.' On April 27, 2018 ELE lecture will take place in the main hall of Chekhov cultural center as usual. Here are direction photos |
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April 13, 7 pm 'Brexit - different perceptions from a divided country!'Luke Conner Brexit has been the most divisive political and constitutional matter in the U.K. for generations, splitting public opinion right down the middle like nothing since the Abdication Crisis. This lecture will look at the background to Brexit, what has happened, what we anticipate will happen, the different arguments for and against Brexit, and the various categories of British voters and the factors that shape their opinion. All are welcome - 'Leavers' and 'Remainers' as well as those not sure what this is all about! A graduate of the University of Manchester and Nottingham Law School, Luke Conner trained in the City of London. He first came to Moscow in 2004 for a six-month secondment. Following qualification as a solicitor, Luke then returned to London to work on banking and finance transactions and M&A to develop his skill set, before moving back to Moscow in January 2008, where he has remained ever since. In January 2017, Luke became the President of the British Business Club in Russia, an organisation that promotes cooperation between Russian and British businesses and supports business people living and working in Russia, having an interest in trade and business development in and with the United Kingdom. Attention! On April 13, 2018 ELE lecture will take place NOT in the main hall of Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library Reading room on the 2nd floor (back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door, go upstairs to the second floor). |
URGENT!
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March 30, 7 pm 'The Space Shuttle'Kevin Mellet We welcome Kevin back to ELE on March 30th to talk about ground processing and launch of the American Space Shuttle, and a brief comparison between the Space Shuttle and the Soviet Union's Buran vehicle. Kevin entered the US Air Force after graduating College in 1982, worked on Space Launch Systems in California. He joined NASA at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1990, worked on Space Shuttle and International Space Station. He moved to Moscow in 2015. URGENT!
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March 16, 7 pm 'Headmasters have no friends: Cause or Effect?'Reflections on four decades at the chalkface. Ross Hunter Thoughts about 1. Education, 2. Management and 3 the (mis)use of the English language. Lots of true anecdotes, and maybe antidotes. |
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March 2, 7 pm 'The Role of an American Citizen Services Officer - You Can't Make this Stuff UP!'Richard Hanrahan "...I will discuss the role and responsibilities of the American Citizen Services unit at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and how the Embassy assists U.S. citizens in Russia. I will also talk a little about my career with the U.S. Department of State." Richard Hanrahan joined the U.S. Department of State in November of 2002. His first assignment was in New Delhi, India, where he was a Line Officer in the Immigrant Visa Unit, the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit, and the American Citizen Services Unit. Richard then served in Kyiv, Ukraine in the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit and in the Political Section. He has also served overseas in Baghdad, Nicosia, and Calgary. Richard served domestically in the Office of International Health and Biodefense. Richard has been assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow since July of 2016 and heads the American Citizen Services unit. Prior to joining the Foreign Service Richard worked as a Biostatistician at Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, Illinois. He is a graduate of the Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. |
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February 9, 7 pm 'American Indians after Columbus'Dr Oksana Danchevskaya The lecture will give a short account of the most important events of American Indian history and American-Indian relations, and an overview of the major aspects of Native American cultures and religion. You will also hear the true stories of some of the long-ago romanticised American Indian figures and learn about the present-day life of the native population of North America - which, in most cases, differs from common stereotypes. Dr. Oksana Danchevskaya, an Associate Professor of Moscow State Pedagogical University, specialises in American Indian Studies, Cultural Studies and Cross-Cultural Communication. She is the author of several books including 'American Indians in the U.S. Socio-Cultural Policies in the Late XXth - Early XXIst Centuries' and 'Native American Mythology in Modern American Literature', university courses along with 'History and Culture of North American Indians' and more. Attention! This ELE lecture will take place NOT in the main hall of Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library reading room on the 2nd floor (back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door, go upstairs to the second floor). |
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January 26, 7 pm 'How to Be a Coffee Aficionado'Daniel Brooks This lecture will be about where coffee comes from, the differences between the kinds of coffee grown in various regions around the world, how coffee is roasted and ways to prepare coffee at home. Overall coffee consumption trends will also be described briefly. The outcome will be hopefully to show the audience how to become coffee aficionados. Daniel Brooks has been in the coffee business since 1995. He was General Manager for Tchibo GmbH starting in 1995 and was also CEO with Tata Global Beverages. In addition, he held general manager roles with Supervalu and Nabisco and has done business in the CIS, Europe, US, Asia and Latin America. Attention! This ELE lecture will take place NOT in the main hall of Chekhov cultural center as usual but in the Chekhov's library reading room on the 2nd floor (back to metro "Chekhovskaya", go under the arch and through the tunnel to the yard, pass Chekhov cultural center, go on ~20 meters, enter the brown metal door, go upstairs to the second floor). |
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January 12, 7 pm "The Art of Revolution" - the creative contribution to Russia's improbable eruptions 1905-30.Ross Hunter Earlier ELE presentations have shown how revolutions can only happen when many well known necessary preconditions are in place. This presentation hypothesises that the events of the revolutionary period were both aided and made possible by insurgent and iconoclastic innovations in all the arts. Russia rushed from generally follower to astonishing leader - avant garde - in fine art, theatre, ballet, music and literature between (about) 1880 and (precisely) 1932. This is an unproven theory, and is presented to ELE for your critical analysis. Ross Hunter Experienced schoolmaster. Serially failed retiree. A dozen years in Moscow on and off. Now helping to set up ESS Lefortovo, a new bilingual school. Amateur (art) historian; recreational cyclist, French wine/goats' cheese taster, magazine feature writer. |
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December 22, 7 pm '20 years of financial education and financial experience: what's a Canadian CFA doing in Moscow?'PLUS ELE's 20th Anniversary Party Neil Withers Neil Withers CFA is a Canadian who was sent here for a three year banking project in 1997 - and after the financial crisis in '98 decided it was much more interesting to stay. Toronto is very nice, but a bit boring; most of the big decisions have already been made there. Neil is also President of the CFA Association Russia, part of a global professional organization whose mission is to improve financial markets for the benefit of investors and society. Neil will give a perspective (from a Canadian point of view) of what financial professional education is and how financial culture and capital markets have changed and are developing in Moscow. After the lecture, ELE will be celebrating not only the fact that it still exists, Christmas and the New Year, but also the club's 20th Anniversary! You are very welcome to attend and bring your friends, but we ask if you come, can you can kindly contribute to the evening's proceedings by bringing a bottle of wine (better two) and some food (home cooked if possible). Moscow may never be the same! |
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December 15, 7 pm 'Legacy of Revolutions'Doran Doeh This wide ranging lecture will take a comparative look at the English, American, French and Russian revolutions, as we are now in the centenary year following the Russian revolution. Doran was educated in London and Oxford, and advises on virtually all areas of law relating to energy and natural resources including a very wide range of corporate and financing transactions. |
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December 8, 7 pm 'The International Space Station (ISS)'Kevin Mellett Fifteen different countries are represented in ISS Program. Its greatest accomplishment is as much a human achievement as it is a technological one - how best to plan, coordinate, and monitor the varied activities of the Program's many organizations. Construction, assembly and operation of the International Space Station requires the support of facilities on the Earth managed by all of the international partner agencies and countries involved in the program. The ISS Program brings together international flight crews, multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed launch, operations, training, engineering, and development facilities; communications networks, and the international scientific research community. Kevin entered the US Air Force after graduating College in 1982, worked on Space Launch Systems in California. He joined NASA at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1990, worked on Space Shuttle and International Space Station. He moved to Moscow in 2015. |
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December 1, 7 pm 'Global Health Challenges in the 21st Century.'Nina Murray Nina Murray will talk about global health challenges broadly, and how global health trends may affect individuals. Nina Murray is responsible for supporting U.S.-Russia cooperation in public health and medical research. Prior to serving in Moscow, she worked in Toronto, Canada, and Vilnius, Lithuania. Before joining the diplomatic services, she worked as a grant writer for the Core for Applied Genomic and Ecology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this capacity, she helped secure more than one million dollars in NIH and USDA research funding for the Core's research projects. She is also a literary translator from the Russian and Ukrainian languages, and a poet. |
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November 17, 7 pm 'AN INTRODUCTION TO IMPACT INVESTING: THE REVOLUTION IN SOLVING MAJOR GLOBAL SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS'John Rosser This lively talk will centre around the newly branded term 'Impact Investing' and how (on a global basis) Impact Investing will be transforming societies, economies & businesses whilst possibly also solving some of the most deep-seated social and environmental challenges of our time, including climate change. John will be leading an interactive discussion of how Russia will be participating within the global community in this regard, and what this directly means for all of us. John Rosser is one of the world's leading authorities on impact and sustainability investment issues, including smart cities, climate change and sea level rise. He has spoken at several leading conferences around the world during the past decade, including alongside former president Bill Clinton and, separately, on request of the government of Chile. |
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November 3, 7 pm 'Yorkshire'David Morley David, who is a true Yorkshire man will be telling all about Britain's largest county. All are welcome (even if you are from Lancashire). |
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October 20, 7 pm 'THE WOSTOK JOURNEY OF PEACE, SPACETRAVEL AND LEMONADE'Mike Gibson What do you do when your oldest friend rings and says, 'I have 70,000 bottles of Lemonade in my basement - Help!'. The answer is invest. Joris had for many years fantasized about making Lemonade, but like most fantasies, Mike never expected it to actually happen. What ensued was a Lemonade journey of fizzy discovery, as Joris with help from Mike, and neither with any experience in the soda business created the WOSTOK brand, based on Soviet iconography. Next year they aim to sell 5 million bottles in 19 countries. As for that first 70,000 bottle - they were delivered by students using skate boards to every local bar, cafe and restaurant. That was Kreuzberg, Berlin, 2009. Since then Wostok has gone a long way, and what a ride it's been. Michael has worked as a Creative Director in the Russian advertising and communication industry for over 20 years. He created many big TV campaigns for brands like Nescafe, Visa, MrProper. He is a regular speaker on branding and creativity. He is married to Naira and has one son Davide. |
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October 6, 7 pm 'The Life of a Foreign Correspondent in Russia and Current US-Russia Relations'Fred Weir Fred Weir is a Canadian journalist who lives in Moscow and specializes in Russian affairs. He is a Moscow correspondent for the Boston-based daily The Christian Science Monitor, and for the monthly Chicago magazine In These Times. He has been a regular contributor from Moscow to The Independent, South China Morning Post and The Canadian Press. He was also for 20 years the Moscow correspondent of Hindustan Times an Indian, English-language, daily newspaper based in Delhi. Weir is the co-author, along with David Michael Kotz, of Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System, published in 1996, which provides a new interpretation and research for the disintegration of the USSR. Weir studied Russian and Soviet history at the University of Toronto. He lived on a kibbutz in Israel in 1973-74, traveled extensively around the Middle East, the USSR and Eastern Europe, before choosing to move to the Soviet Union to live and work as a journalist in 1986. He married Mariam Shaumian, a Russian-Armenian, in 1987. They have two children: Tanya, born in 1988, and Charlie, born in 2000. |
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September 22, 7 pm 'Legal and Business English'Luke Conner This lecture will provide a brief guide to the English language within the context of English legal history, the legal system in England and Wales, and the U.K. constitution. It also includes some pointers for future legal draftsmen and those working with legal letters and contracts in the English language. Luke Conner, an English qualified solicitor and runs his own law firm here: Conner & Co. |
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September 8, 19:00-21:00 'Why Am I In Russia'Simon Green Executive English teacher Simon Green will be talking about why he chose to live in Moscow rather than London, and what are the advantages here compared to living and working in his native country. What does he miss about good old "Blighty?" Simon has lived in Moscow for over 15 years and has been an English teacher for 8 of them. He was educated in one of the finest private schools in the UK and was also a chorister in Canterbury cathedral. He is widely travelled, having visited some 74 counties and lived in around 20. His hobbies include music (I played the piano and flute), sport, writing, cooking (I cook at dinner parties, specializing in Indian cuisine) and wining and dining. |
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May 19, 7 pm 'The History of the International Oil Industry'Doran Doeh Doran was educated in London and Oxford, and advises on virtually all areas of law relating to energy and natural resources including a very wide range of corporate and financing transactions. |
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May 5, 7 pm 'It takes a fool to praise Fools and Folly, but... 'David Wansbrough The role of idiots, the naive, and the innocent, and their humour in changing how we see reality. |
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April 21, 7 pm 'The Big Questions'David Wansbrough Please note! This lecture will be held in the Chekhov Library Reading Room the door for which is ~20 metres further into the yard from Chekhov Cultural Centre where we usually meet. The entrance will be sign posted clearly from 6.30 pm that evening. |
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April 7, 7 pm 'The Last of the Mohicans Is Still Alive'Andrew Wiget From time to time, television presents us with stories and images of American Indians and other indigenous peoples. How should we think about such stories? What does it means for us as contemporary Euroamericans that indigenous peoples continue to exist in our societies? The presentation will compare the histories and present status of American Indians and Siberian indigenous peoples. Along the way, the presentation will take up the ways in which indigenous peoples have shaped our most fundamental concepts, like culture, nature, society, tradition, ethnicity, modernity and progress. Andrew Wiget is Professor Emeritus from New Mexico State University, where he taught for 28 years. For most of that time he worked as a folklorist among American Indian tribes. In 1992, he began working with his wife and colleague, Olga Balalaeva, among the indigenous Khanty people of western Siberia, a work that continues up to the present. For the past several years, he has lectured at the Ethnology Chair of the History Faculty at Moscow State University. |
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March 31, 7 pm Yablochkova str, 12-C, Saint-Petersburg,Sportivnaya metro station, Unix Education Center www.unixedu.ru 'The Effect of Russian Culture on Foreigners Living in Russia' John Harrison |
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March 24, 7 pm 'Learning To Fly In Russia'Michael Gibson Learning to fly has been a dream ever since I was a teenager. On waking up one morning to discover my teenage son flying in Air Force trainers, I realised it was now or never. 'Now' meant learning in Russia, a country with a bright and illustrious aviation history as well as some of the world's most legendary aircraft. It also meant learning to fly the Russian way in specific Russian flying conditions that arguably make Russian pilots the best in the world. I will take you on a flying journey and show how flying is nothing short of a miracle - a miracle that 3 billion people who fly annually, take for granted. ______________________ Michael has worked as a Creative Director in the Russian advertising and communication industry for over 20 years. He created many large scale TV campaigns for brands like Nescafe, Visa, MrProper. He is a regular speaker on branding and creativity. He is married to Naira and has one son Davide. |
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March 10, 7 pm 'Buddhist statues and architecture, and what they mean.'Ross Hunter Ross was the Founding Head, EIS Moscow, Malvern College Qingdao, China. Retired several times; now Founding Development Director 'The English School of Sciences', Lefortovo, Moscow. He describes himself as an addicted traveller, and has visited over 50 countries. Married to Sue (Art and PE teacher, Boarding House Mum, artist, Churchwarden), children working in Nice and London. His interests: Travel, Art History, especially Russian 1880-1932; Buddhist art and iconography; cycling & swimming; restoring old houses; chainsaw gardening; books - reading, writing, colouring in. He holds an MA (Cambridge) in Geography. |
Lecture by Omar Saif Ghobash, the UAE Ambassador to the Russian Federation, was postponed to a later date!
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February 24, 7 pm 'Mithra-The Saviour. The Succession of the Sacred Saviours throughout Human History.'Bashir Arshadi |
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February 10, 7 pm 'Sailing Through Russia'Maxine Maters and John Vallentine This lecture is the story of how Maxine and skipper John sailed through Russia from the Arctic to the Black Sea, in the first foreign-flagged vessel to traverse Russia's Volga and Don rivers. For more info visit the website sailinginrussia.org Maxine Maters is an ex-publisher of The Moscow Times. |
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January 27, 7 pm 'East vs. West from point of view of a long term British expat'This lecture will be delivered by Luc Jones, a successful British expat, who is the author of the popular book: 'Why Russians Don't Smile.' |
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January 13, 7 pm 'Human Spaceflight: Should we leave earth?'Professor Rupert Gerzer Professor Gerzer is one Germany's eminent scientists and has moved to Moscow about a year ago. He is currently the Provost (Prorector) of Skoltech, a new University at the Skolkovo Innovation Center. Professor Gerzer was the Director of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Professor and Chairman of the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Aachen, Germany, from 1992 until 2015. |
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December 16, 7 pm Green Building (r)evolution in Russia - An Englishman's contribution to a greener RussiaGuy Eames, General Director of Green Building Council Russia |
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December 9, 7 pm 'Stand Up and Boast'David Lowder is the headmaster of the 'English International School' in Moscow. Stand up and Boast is about self-confidence, self-esteem and how we as individuals tend to be very modest and shy and don't overly promote ourselves when we should. So how can we change this approach? Can we project our skills to other people without being perceived as being arrogant? How do we identify what skills we have? |
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November 25, 7 pm 'Habsburg Lessons for Europe'His Excellency, the Ambassador of Austria, Dr Brix Apart from his outstanding diplomatic career, Dr Brix has a doctorship in European politics of the 19th and early 20th century, with a particular interest in the decline of empires in Europe. |
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November 11, 7 pm The impact of culture on geopolitics.John Harrison, M.A., Msc. This lecture will aim to identify the importance of culture in geopolitics. Such a discussion is not new. Thucydides wrote about: 'modes of life,' Mamdani discussed: 'Culture Talk'. With the rise of modern day 'security theory' however, culture has not, (it is argued) been given appropriate attention. The Copenhagen School identified the 'societal' as being as important as other aspects of security, and discussed 'securitisation' through the speech act, which, as will be pointed out in the lecture, is only possible with the support of localised culture. As a case study, John Harrison researched the change in political orientation of western expatriates living in Moscow over time. |
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October 28, 7 pm "Recurring themes on contemporary Surrealism"Lucio Giuliodori, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Aesthetics, Moscow State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Arts The lecture aims to explore some of the main concepts exposed by surrealist painters. Being the only Avantgarde still alive, Surrealism is nowadays a very eclectic and active movement which still hasn't found what is (was) looking for: the unconscious. This perennial search is what makes it deeply interesting, philosophically and socially. The lecture will then go through the essential entanglement between psychoanalysis and art featuring the ontological matrix of this kind of art: an ineluctable thirst of inner knowledge. |
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October 14, 7 pm 'The Getting of Wisdom'David Wansbrough |
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September 30, 7 pm 'The Art Of Stand Up Comedy'Steven Foreman Steven Foreman came to Russia 7 years ago. One of his main activities here is hosting the Moscow Comedy Bar once a week on the Arbat. He, and Russian guest comedians he introduces do Stand Up Comedy routines, a fairly new genre in Russia, in English. How is Brit humour accepted here? How does Russian humour work from the point of view of a foreigner? What is the difference between British humour and Russian humour? Is humour as important or less important here? How do you make Russians laugh? How do you survive on a stage with hard eyes demanding a laugh? These are all themes that Steven will hopefully talk about on the 30th. |
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September 16, 7 pm 'To Animals, We Are The Devil Incarnate'James Hogan James Hogan, a London-based animal welfare campaigner, will lecture on what William Ralph Inge might say about our treatment of animals in the 21st century if he were able to come back today and review how animals are faring in the world now, nearly 100 years since Dean Inge first spoke those words in 1920. |
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