Yaffa Ilyaguyev, PreNursery Teacher
BIO: I was born in Ukraine, in the town of Lugansk in the family of engineers. My childhood was filled with love, play, nature, family gatherings and friends. I attended Moscow University and received a Masters Degree in Psychology. While completing my degree, I also took special training for Jewish educators in experiential and exploratory learning at the Avi Chai School. I then went on to teach at the Jewish schools in Moscow, and emigrated to the US about 7 years ago. In New York, I taught in the city both at a day school as well as at "Sunday Shkola", a special Jewish educational program on Sundays for Russian-speaking children. This is my second year teaching at Mazel.
I became a teacher because…. From early childhood I loved to pretend to be a teacher. As I got older, I came to realize that there is a lot I can give to children and teach them with positivity and warmth.
My vision for our children is… Children are like sponges; they absorb everything around them. It’s fascinating to watch them develop and see their cognitive processes unfold right before your eyes. Human beings are compared to trees in our holy books. When the tree is young, you can bend a branch and it will continue to grow in the preferred direction. When the tree is old, there is not much that can be done, only to break or cut off the branch. The same is with children. While they are young, it’s easy to influence him for better and guide him in the right direction. I love Mazel because they give so much to the children, both in Jewish and secular aspects.
I joined Mazel because… because I was impressed me with their approach “to care about everything and everyone in the school.” I am very proud to be part of the Mazel team.
My favorite memory of being a student is... Thinking of my childhood gives me a warm feeling. I loved to learn about everything. I was blessed with good teachers who were positive and encouraged us to try new things. Now when I am a teacher, I try to be as positive and encouraging as my teachers.
The most difficult part of teaching is… I have difficulty to stop teaching because when I see excited eyes and slightly open mouths I want to go on and on.
My best advice to parents is... play with your children as much as you can, and as long as you can. Play with them when they are a year and a half or ten years old. Play is the most positive form of the parent-child's bonding.
If I could teach my students only one thing, it would be... love each other like yourself, be kind to each other and be patient with each other.
A trick I use in the classroom is… I want to share one more advice, one of the "magic" tricks that I use in my classroom: I am singing to my children. Singing everything and everywhere, from an invitation to breakfast or an invitation to clean up. Singing is truly a magic trick.
If I had not become a teacher… I would have become a tour guide and travel around the world.
Outside of school, I like to... Being a busy mom of three, I spend time with my children, enjoying every moment of their childhood.