A South African in Russia tries to understand why Victory Day feels so huge here. From tanks and parades to family stories and grief, this episode looks at 9 May through foreign eyes.

I talk about growing up with almost no emotional connection to World War II, what changed when I met Victory Day in Moscow, and how symbols like the Immortal Regiment, St. George ribbons, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier shifted my sense of history and memory. Along the way I share what I’ve learned (and still don’t know) about the Soviet and South African roles in the war, and why I think many of us were never really taught this story at school.

You can listen on the website, YouTube, RuTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Yandex Music, and wherever you get your podcasts:

Website: https://teewchantelle.com/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-english-experiment/id1869215100

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/282HmOFNdHADDforUoarKU?si=d0941609ea744dbc

Yandex Music: https://music.yandex.ru/album/40403862

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TEEwChantelle RuTube: https://rutube.ru/channel/68411939/

You can also connect with me here:

Telegram: https://t.me/teewchantelle

VK: https://vk.com/teewchantelle

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teewchantelle

Supporting materials for this episode are available on the website.

Sometimes, you just need one small adventure to shake up your usual routine. In this episode, I’m heading to a snow tubing park just outside Moscow with my friend Natalie – my first time ever on a tubing hill.

On the way, Natalie talks about the winters of her childhood, sliding down makeshift hills on plastic bags and pieces of old furniture instead of tubes. We compare those memories with the organised tubing park outside the city and the kind of winter day you can have there now.

You’ll come along as we drive out of Moscow, figure out the first scary–fun run down the hill, and then take a break over tea to talk about expectations, growing up with real winters, and why walking back up the hill can be just as important as sliding down.

If there’s something small and a bit silly you’ve been curious to try, maybe this is your sign to say yes to it.

The intro and outro music for this episode were created with AI music tools.

Supporting materials for this episode are available on the website: https://teewchantelle.com

I’ll also upload a short Russian summary of this episode especially for English learners on VK (it will only be available there): https://vk.com/teewchantelle

You can listen on the website, YouTube, RuTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode, I sit down with Anya – my music teacher, and also my English student – to talk about singing in English, learning through real-life content, and what it feels like to speak a “beautiful, singing language” when you don’t use it every day. You’ll hear her thinking slowly, searching for words, and sometimes getting a bit confused… and that’s exactly the point.

We chat about:

- Why good pronunciation matters so much when you sing in English

- Using podcasts, interviews and lectures as “real” language-learning material

- How my website and task-based materials feel from the learner’s side

- Whether this podcast format can work even for beginners

- Ideas for future episodes: food, daily life, the weather, and how not to freeze in winter

Along the way, I accidentally ask Anya the same question twice about why she’s studying English. Apparently my brain decided it needed a second draft of her answer and forgot to tell me. She expands on her thoughts the second time, so you get a bonus take instead of a polished edit.

At the end, I also leave in a little self-correction moment in the outro. It’s one of those tiny “oh wait, let’s try that again” slips that every speaker has, and I decided to keep it as a mini reminder that you can correct yourself in real time and just keep going.

Special thanks to Anton, who recorded the video for this conversation and bravely stepped from photography into video so we could experiment with a new format. You can find him on Instagram at @tony_s778.

Supporting materials for this episode are available on the website: teewchantelle.com. You can listen on the website, YouTube, RuTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.