Ivan Kozhedub

 The horror of war… Those who once went through it will never forget what havoc it causes and how many lives it takes.  That is the reason why we should never obliterate Soviet soldiers who were fighting in World War II trying to bring peace to their nation.  One of those brave men who stood up for the country was a military aviator Ivan Kozhedub, a three-time Hero of the Soviet Union.

  Kozhedub was born on June 8, 1920 in the village Obrazhiyivka, Shostka district of the Sumy region. When the war broke out, he was at the Chuguyev military aviation school.  After he graduated as an aviation instructor Kozhedub wanted to enlist in the army. However, he was prevented from going to war because at that time he was more useful for preparing pilots to the military operations.

  His first combat was on March 26, 1943. Unfortunately, he lost his first battle. His plane was badly damaged, so after that dismal failure he conducted flights on rather old airplanes for a few months.

  On July 6, 1943 the young pilot gained his first victory by forcing down a Nazi Ju-87 bomber.  The next day he gained a new victory by bringing down another Ju-87. By October 1943 Senior Lieutenant Kozhedub had made 146 fighting starts and personally brought down 20 enemy planes. By that time he made good progress and was fighting as an equal with German air experts.  Kozhedub skillfully combined his piloting technique with firing skills making his plane a lethal weapon for enemies.

  His crowning achievement was when in 10 days of fierce fighting, he personally brought down 11 enemy planes. For that he was awarded with the order of the Hero of the Soviet Union on February 4, 1944. In May 1944 Kozhedub was promoted to captain and was given the right to command a squadron.

  During the war Kozhedub made a vast number of flights and each of them was a brilliant success. He personally brought down 62 enemy planes.

  After the war, Kozhedub continued to serve in the Air Forces. During the Korean War (1950 – 1953) he commanded the 324th Aviation Division, which gained 239 victories.  He was made an Aviation Marshal in 1985.

 The legendary pilot passed away on August 8, 1991. Ivan Kozhedub died as a hero who had won the respect of millions of people.

Dear Victoria,

 How are you my beloved friend? I hope you remember me. I’m Theresa Gallo from Italy.

 I am writing to thank you for everything that you’ve done for my family and also to tell you my story.

 It was 1916. Life in my native country was very hard. It was the world of poverty and diseases, unemployment and tyranny. At that time my family decided to get away from our country and seek refuge in America. There were millions of economic migrants who had faith in a better life abroad, just like our family. I was only 12 years old and had no desire to leave my home, but my mother said that it would only do us good. We took the most necessary things like clothes, shoes and food and set out.  We were sailing for 3 weeks and we had to pass through health and legal inspections at Ellis Island before we docked in New-York. I was a little scared, especially when the «eye man» was examining me, but it was over quickly. After we finally disembarked, we went to our destination which was the Lower East Side. It was very crowded and vibrant place, but not so thriving. There were a lot of people of diverse ethnic groups: Austrians, Greeks and Jews. We were lucky to meet you. You helped us to get accustomed to living in new conditions. I remember that you and your family came to America in 1913 and by 1916 your father had his own workshop where he was making aprons.

 From the first days of living in New-York I had to undergo dramatic changes. First of all, my parents decided that I should go to work instead of school because my family needed money. You told me that the same happened to you. You left school and started working at the workshop as a finisher. While my two brothers were selling newspapers, my elder sister and I were working at the factory making clothes. I got the hang of my work fast, although it was very hard. Besides that, I had a lot of housework too. Everyone in our family did their bit with cooking and cleaning. My chores were sweeping and mopping the floors and helping my mother with laundry.

 Our apartment had only three rooms: bedroom, kitchen and parlor. There weren’t enough beds for all of us, so I was sleeping in parlor on the crates.

 My family decided that the first thing we needed to buy was a stove to have heat and cook. Cooking was one of the most important things. It was such a pleasure to eat my favorite bumuelos with honey.

 You also told us about things we could do for fun if we wanted to unwind a little bit. Although I didn’t have much time, I was at Nickelodeon once or twice. However, what I liked the most was my visit to Coney Island. The island was stunning and there were many fun things to do. I liked being in the open air, walking on the beach and swimming in the Atlantic Ocean.

 My family had been through some rough times at first, but we had never lost our hope that someday our lives would change for better.

 Hope to hear from you soon.

 Kind regards,

 Theresa

  

 News travels fast

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Woody Allen

    

    It’s common knowledge that education is a base for better life. Having a good education everyone can meet the requirements for their dream job and reach all goals they have set.  However, there is still room for improvement in today’s system of education and that is the reason for so many educators brainstorming ideas for making it better. 

   Listening to the speeches of Sugata Mitra and Sir Ken Robinson made me put my thinking cap on and consider the ways of improving the standards of our education mainly because I’m studying for a degree now and this question is extremely important to me.  

  To begin with, I completely agree that many schools are producing identical people who do their clerical jobs.  All of this is because the creativity of pupils is limited. Teachers think that the best way to give pupils an education is to make them learn everything by heart or better to say cram. This way doesn’t allow pupils to develop their own way of thinking, express their own ideas. What is more, with the help of computers and the Internet children usually do copycat work just rewriting already done homework.  They no longer can do something by themselves.  That is how education is becoming boring for them; they lose their interest, start getting low marks and can even drop out of school. Due to this the main aim now is to make lessons interesting and evoke a thirst for knowledge in children.

   Secondly, the idea with «grannies» is wonderful. It shows how the encouragement helps in studying process.  Even if a child is not a straight A student, it is better to concentrate on progress that he or she is doing in studying than on some shortcomings. I honestly think that parents’ support and small doses of praise can make a child hit the books and make the grade just to prove that he or she is actually worth parents’ admiration and praise.

   Finally, it is my firm conviction that Ken Robinson is completely right about teachers being the lifeblood of the success of schools. I take the view that being a teacher is not as easy as ABC. It’s teacher’s responsibility to do everything to make the subject interesting. It’s also teacher’s responsibility to treat all pupils equally and avoid the situation when somebody is a teacher’s pet while others envy this child. Teacher also should take care that there are no pupils who are having trouble keeping up with the rest of the class. Only someone who likes this job and feel like it’s his vocation should be a teacher.

   I believe that all children are gifted and learning should help them find their hidden talents and develop them. That is what system of education should do: develop mental agility and help acquire knowledge that pupils will need in their future.