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Mission & Outreach

Interview with Andrew Urbanowicz, a 94-year-old ESL teacher – Part 1

ESL Link: Hello Andrew. Thank you for chatting with us. I know that you are not originally from Canada. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

AU: I’m from Poland. During WWII I was a soldier in the Polish Underground Army fighting the Nazis. I experienced Nazi occupation. In 1944 I took part in the Warsaw Uprising. I was a prisoner of War. That was my trip to the West. I never moved back. In all I spent 5 years in the army.

ESL Link: What happened after that?

AU: After the war ended, I was able to join the Polish army in Italy. The Polish army was on the Allied side, so we were part of the British army. Eventually we got to England. I was able to finish university. I worked 3 years in England, then came to Canada. In 1957, at the age of 30, I came to Canada, and worked 35 years for the Ministry of Transportation and Communication. I worked hard.

ESL Link: How old are you and how do you feel about your age?

AU: I just turned 94. I’m a young man in an old body. I never changed. I always look at life as a challenge. I’m old but I’m still young in mind.

ESL Link: How long have you been teaching ESL, and how did you start doing that?

AU: In the late fall of 2015 Tom McCormick introduced ESL to our church. I was involved with ESL from the very beginning. I have taught now for 6 years. I look at it as an opportunity to connect with other people.

ESL Link: How many students do you have now, and how many days do you teach?

AU: I have 12 students. I teach every day. Some days I teach 3 times. I always teach 2 hours. I teach one student at a time.

ESL Link: So one on one, 2 or 3 sessions a day and each session is 2 hours. That’s a lot.

AU: I’m in a retirement home and I have nothing to do. This keeps me busy. On top of that I correct homework. So like 7 hours a day of work. I even teach on Sundays because I have some family members that I teach. I have 1 student in Germany and 2 students in Poland: that’s my sister’s family. I’m in great demand because I’m cheap. I don’t charge.

ESL Link: Thank you for working so much, doing much more than many of us are doing.

AU: Yes, but you have other responsibilities. I don’t. Before I got into this, I wrote 5 books about my life. They’re on the internet, on my daughter’s site: www.tinamichele.com, including “God’s Leading on My Life”, “My Spiritual Journey”. But now I finished writing books.

So yes, I teach every day, basically 3 slots of time: 9-11, 1-3, 8-10. Some days I teach twice, other days I teach 3 times.

ESL Link: You’re very organized. It’s all organized into a schedule. What materials do you use?

AU: I’m very flexible. I don’t have a problem. My materials: I’m using grammar books, Word by Word picture dictionary, short stories. I have a lot of short stories. So we read short stories. But it all varies, because I have students who don’t want any teaching, they just want to talk. They talk, sometimes we read, so I’m very flexible, whatever they want to get. I don’t consider myself a teacher; I’m a helper. I get along with people and help them in their use of the English language. So sometimes they’d be writing sentences, and I’m correcting them on the spot.

ESL Link: Do you ever get tired?

AU: All the time.

ESL Link: But you still keep going.

AU: Between lessons I lie down and sleep. It takes some energy out of me.

ESL Link: Your students: some are from your family; the others are from church?

AU: I’m in contact with a lady who teaches ESL in our church. And whenever students ask for help, they call the church. I’m in contact with her, so whenever I have time to take somebody, I take them. Once they get me, they don’t want to go away. I have one student who takes 3 lessons a week – 6 hours. Other students take 2 lessons. It works.

ESL Link: It’s very helpful because students can have more practice.

AU: So we talk, we do all kinds of things. I find correlations between words, pronunciation – I’ve a dictionary on the computer that pronounces the word.

ESL Link: Why do you keep doing this?

AU: To keep busy, yes, to keep my mind sharp. If I just sit here and watch TV, I won’t be able to speak anymore. So I’d like to keep my mind sharp. And I have young granddaughters, I have to set an example for them: the old man is working. So don’t lazy around, you have to work, work, work.

[To be continued in the next issue]

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