{"id":13721,"date":"2025-11-17T21:10:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T19:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=13721"},"modified":"2025-11-28T13:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T11:58:11","slug":"proschool-kaliningrad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/proschool-kaliningrad\/","title":{"rendered":"ProSchool Kaliningrad: Can Mick Hart Make the Grade?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mick Hart goes back to school \u2026 again (Not before time!)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

17 November – ProSchool Kaliningrad: Can Mick Hart Make the Grade?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently did something that I thought I would never do: I went back to school. I didn\u2019t go back to my old school, the Prince William in Oundle. They wouldn\u2019t have me back. Besides, I was less there when I was there than I should have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English-language teacher Olga sprung this arrangement on me quite out of the blue, informing me that she had told her students that I would be coming into school \u2018next week\u2019 to say a few words to them. Words? I thought. What sort of words? Like, \u2018Don\u2019t neglect your studies, or you could end up like me, leaving school with zilch qualifications.’ Actually, the few words I would eventually say would be something along these lines, as the \u2018lecture\u2019 I would deliver would be a potted biography of my life during my years at school and after in the great beyond. “Good heavens,” I thought, “those Russian students are certainly in for a treat!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school I had been invited to is the combined primary and secondary school, Proshkola (English translation, \u2018ProSchool\u2019), which is based in Kaliningrad, Russia. You can read more about it in my previous post, Proshkola School, Kaliningrad: Inspiration in Action<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public speaking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Although I have heard people say that I am an up-to-scratch public speaker, to be honest, I don\u2019t much care for it. I do not mind the actual speaking \u2014 \u2018It will be alright on the night\u2019 is my fingers-crossed philosophy \u2014 but I\u2019m not particularly overkeen on the preparation needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time I gave anything amounting to a public address was when I was required to make three on-stage appearances over a two-day period at the 2019 international classic and vintage car festival, The Golden Shadow of K\u00f6nigsberg<\/em>. Following that event, I learnt lines for a short film in which I had a part called Last Tango in K\u00f6nigsberg<\/a><\/em>, which ironically were overdubbed in Russian at the film’s post-production stage. Since then, my only speaking roles, if we discount pub banter, have been making toasts at Russian gatherings and eulogising when asked at funerals \u2014 something I am trying not to make a habit of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did, however, gain a distinction at a public speaking event in Oundle, but that was in another time and in a different world, 1970 to be precise. Olga suggested to me that I take this \u2018historic document\u2019, my public-speaking certificate, to show to the students at school, together with some school-day photos and other props that illustrated my illustrious educational history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As the event was intended to be informal, we also took along with us various vintage cups and saucers, all bone china, of course, so that we and the students could partake of tea in the manner in which it should be enjoyed. One brave student went so far as to try tea the English way by drinking it with malacor<\/em> (milk). I cannot for the life of me drink it any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tea<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apologising in advance for having the reputation of being one of the faster talkers in the West, I promised to \u2018put the brakes on\u2019, respectfully asking my young audience not to fall asleep or, should they not be able to help themselves, to disguise it as best they could. Heckling\u2019s nothing to deal with compared to a barrage of snoring! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I prefaced my address by making what I consider to be an all-important distinction regarding my nationality and where exactly I hail from. “I am not British.” I said. “I am not from the UK. I am English. I’m from England, and that\u2019s the way I like it!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could see from the look on their faces that they understood my every word!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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