Irina Lutsenko

Sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes when I read students' exam answers, I achieve the state "I don't have any questions or comments." I want to share an example of a C2 Proficiency Writing Task 2 answer that I like so much I don't know what to correct or comment on. The answer is written by my student, the amazing Anastasia Glebova . What is particularly worthy of admiration is that this is an answer to a very tricky prompt: "An international leisure magazine is running a series on comedy programmes shown on television around the world. It has asked readers to send in reports on comedy programmes in their countries. You decide to send in a report on a television comedy programme from your country in which you briefly describe the programme. You should also explain what it is about the characters in the programme that makes the comedy appeal to many people in your country." ( Source: Proficiency 1 ) So it's about a comedy program, yet it's not ...

This is my second piece about Dublin (third overall) written for the creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow . What can I say, I love this city. ♡ ✽✽✽ “St Stephen's Green. Alight here for the Grafton Street shopping district." I decide to alight here and walk across the O’Connell bridge. I'm walking to "Chapters," the best bookstore in the city. The best bookstore in the city is located in arguably the worst place - amid modern, shiny, cookie-cutter shopping centers. Not on the ground floor of a quintessentially Irish house, not next to the Temple Bar pub, not across the road from Trinity College. I've checked them all. I can testify to their inferiority. I swiftly navigate the busy streets full of shoppers with branded paper bags, diving in and out of small pockets of free space. Agonizing over countless book choices, debating back and forth, I buy two, well aware I would have to carry them around all day. None of these books are Oscar Wilde, b...

This is the second piece I wrote for the the "Good Night, Moscow" creative writing contest by  American Center in Moscow . In this piece, I wanted to sing my love to Dublin, but also let my imagination run wild. The result is this fairy tale. Enjoy! ✽✽✽ As the airport bus whisks me to the city, I try not to doze off. It’s been a long day. Fields, trees, shrubs, hedges that are 50 shades of green flash by as I lean my forehead on the cold window. It’ll stop me from dozing off. Goosebumps gradually cover my body, the contagion spread by the window. One thing about Ireland is how surprisingly lightly people are dressed. The bus is standing at the crossroads, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, and what do I see, wearing my northern sweater and trying to contain the spread of goosebumps? Teenagers wearing shorts and t-shirts. It’s +2. I get even more goosebumps at the sight. The traffic lights turn green. Entering the city. Crossing the O’Connell Bridge. More traffic li...

This is the piece I wrote for the "Good Night, Moscow" creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow . Before doing so, I told Timur Khamzin "I don't care about winning. I can always publish my piece in my community." The time has come to publish my piece " Good Night, St Petersburg " in my community. Enjoy! ✽✽✽ The morning is ruined by the blocked nose. Coffee and nasal spray do the trick, but I rummage in the cupboard for tissues anyway. I know I will have the sniffles for the rest of the day, so better safe than sorry. Pockets full of tissues, I sink into a metro seat. Achoo. -  Bless you. Fighting the sniffles? Talking to a stranger on the metro? He can't be local. -  Yep. A never-ending fight in this city. -  You must really love it if you are willing to fight the never-ending fight. -  I do. It was love at first sight. The bridges, the embankments, the buildings that are one kilometer long… I came for the romance, but the romance co...

  Have you ever tried learning three languages at the same time? Do you think it's doable? At the risk of incurring the curse from polyglots and other magicians, Ekaterina Kachalova shares her experience in this amazing post written in my " Write for Real " course. ✽✽✽ It was too much. I could not reconcile the hordes of Spanish, English and German words that lived rent-free in my head. They refused to settle down. Quite the opposite, they acted as if they were squatters littering a once neat one-bedroom apartment reserved for language learning in my mind. They were living with the constant fear of eviction. Only, I invited them myself. I was young and ambitious as many of us are. I would grasp at every chance to learn as much as possible, so I took a Spanish course on top of English and German that I was already studying. I was inspired by the all-too-talented classmates mastering five languages at once. I tried to be diligent, but I was exhausted. I tried to cram the w...