I would like to take this opportunity to convey my  thanks  to you for noble contribution, tremendous dedication, brilliant  suggestions and encouragement. My student acknowledgement would  not be  complete  without a deep  bow of  appreciation your  teaching  system and  educational  concepts ; for  me it  was  inspiring, stimulating, energizing and thought provoking (journal  assignments ,elementary  environmental  literacy, creative groups , personal vocabulary  etc)  Generally, the best and greatest things in  the  world cannot  be seen, or even touched; they must  be  felt  with heart. That's  why I sensed  your  English class, both inspiring and challenging. I'll try  to explain  my above  mentioned  point by telling a personal  story, supposing  that a story is the shortest distance  between a human being and truth ; according to  Janet  Litherland, stories have power, stories delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge and help us  understand. 

... October 1996.  I  got a  letter from   my  brother  (a  professor in University of Jerusalem D. Tene ). He wrote:           

          'Dearest brother,

I  have  read your long letter three times and now I know it almost by-heart.  So let us recall the beginning.  You probably remember our long walks and conversations in the   'Victory  Park' of Saint- Petersburg. We were dreaming about you sitting down and writing the story of your adult life . In our dream we felt that your 'Memoirs' will  serve following purposes. Here they are :      a) Catharsis . I  don't know if you use this word in Russian. ( If  you do use it in Russian, please skip the following lines .) It  is a Greek word. 'Kathairein' means in Greek to clean , to purify.  Catharsis means purgation, purification of emotions  ( such as fear, aggression et c. )- primarily  through art. Aristotle used this word in his description of the effects of tragedy : The playwright in writing the play gets rid of repressed drives , the actor by playing the role , the  audience by watching the actors play , all  get  rid in a socially accepted way of aggression, anger, tension, frustration et c. We  thought, that after so many years of oppression and repression , of mask - wearing because of fear, if you sit down and express ('ex-press')your memoirs , you'll undergo a genuine process of catharsis. This  was our  first aim.

When  I  see  her  facing   independently   not 

simple math -problems , avoiding  the  help 

of  us  adults, I  can  predict   without  fail  ,

unequivocally ,  that  she   will  be  a  great  

workaholic . Gradually , she  becomes  more 

and  more   goal  oriented ; for  example ,  she 

is  trying  now  to  posses two difficult for 

her  things :  tennis  and  piano .  She   told 

me confidentially  that  she  dreams  about 

dancing  also , but  unless  she  improves  

the above  -  mentioned games ,  she  will  not 

set the  next  desired  goal .

Her behavioral  strengths are well appreciated    

by  our  family . If  she   weren't   so  organized 

and  self-determined ,  we wouldn't  be  so 

proud  of  her . I  was deeply  impressed 

when, collecting sayings , she underlined  the 

following   Chinese  proverb :"Teachers 

open  only   the  door  , you  enter  by 

yourself " .  I like her writing  fantasy  and 

vision  of thinks she faced in her childhood .

For instance , in her essay 'A Brown Socrat'  

about   a  neighbors  dog  she  knew since  we 

have  lived  in  Saint -Petersburg  we  can  see 

her right  imagination  of   a  dog's clever  and 

devoted  behavior:

    "Dogs  have   helped  and  have been  a 

companion  to  officers  for  a  long  time  by 

rescuing and protecting .  However , people 

ask  this  question  :  Should  dogs be used  

for  police  work  ?   In  my opinion  they 

should.  While living   in  Saint -- Petersburg 

( Russia ) , my  neighbor's   brown  dog   was 

a  subordinate   personality    owing  to  

wonderfully  innate  senses   of  hearing   and 

smelling . He  was  very   clever , so  his  

appropriate   name  was  Socrat !  He  warned 

and  protected    not  only  his owner  ,  but  

also  people in distress and emergency .                       

First  of  all ,  Socrat  helped  police  with  his 

powerful   senses  to find  drugs ,  people  and 

more ; when  his  owner  officer    had  to find  

drugs   in  a home ,  Socrat   helped  to   sniff   

drugs  out .  In  other  circumstances   many 

people  have  been   lost and  not  only 

officers   helped  to  find  them ,  but Socrat 

has  been  a  big  help ; with  his   sharp 

sense of  hearing   he  knew  if  someone  was 

in trouble  or nearby . Second, Socrat warned  

and protected oficers on duty.                              

 If  a  criminal   started   shooting  ,  instead  of 

the  officer   having to  shoot   or  getting 

shoot  himself ,  Socrat  attacked  to  protect 

the  officer .  If  a  criminal  was  close  by  ,  he 

warned  the officer   before  it   was  too  late .  

One  day ,   an officer was injured and Socrat   

even fought for him.

Finally ,  Socrat  was  very  clever .  With  one

signal of  the  hand  he followed the command.

If officers needed help, all they have to do  was

to call the command and Socrat came to help

them. One of the tricks the officer had , was a

special button that oppened the car door

where Socrat had been waiting. .     

When the car door was opened he rushed

out to help"                            

Only a short reference I can add to  her 

excellent story about Socrat: In 1986, Socrat perished while  finding people in  the  ruins  caused by the earthquake  in        Armenia  (Spitac)                         

                 In pace  requiescat !