ABSTRACT
In the Russian tale, ‘The Winter Oak’ (Nagibin 1979), a young school teacher Anna Vasilyevna walks to her elementary school classroom along a well-worn path in the snow. As a second-year teacher, she confidently begins her morning lesson on nouns by explaining that a noun is a person, thing or quality and then calls on the class for examples. ‘Cat’, ‘house’, ‘table’—the examples come flyinguntil they are interrupted by the entrance of Savushkin, a small boy in battered felt boots and patched clothing, who is late once again. Anna scolds Savushkin and tells him that after class they must go to see his mother before she starts her shift as a scrub nurse at the sanatorium of their peat farm village. She repeats her definition of nouns and asks Savushkin for an example. The child eagerly shouts out ‘winter oak’, and the class bursts into laughter. Anna explains that ‘oak’ is a noun, but ‘winter’ is another part of speech that they haven’t studied yet; she further admonishes that this is what comes of being late.
