An interview with Eden Gold
Children learn so fast. What you might have to teach an adult with lots of effort and stress, you can simply show a child, and they will grasp the knowledge, the words, the intonations, everything. You only have to take very small steps, and children will take them much faster. Learning English was really painful for me. I would watch films where I didn’t understand a single word. Now, I see that my kids didn’t have to make any effort in this process. They just took it all for granted because I played English with them for five minutes a day.
The landscape of education is undergoing a profound transformation, propelled by technological advancements, pedagogical innovations, and a deepened understanding of learning diversities. Traditional classrooms are evolving, and new modes of teaching and learning are emerging to better prepare students for the complexities of the modern world. This series will take a look at the groundbreaking work being done across the globe to redefine education. As a part of this interview series, we had the pleasure to interview Dr. Anna Danilova.
Dr. Anna Danilova, Ph.D., is a mother of five and a university lecturer. She specializes in helping parents maximize their children’s potential by introducing a foreign language at a very early age through 5-minute games. Additionally, she assists in developing their speech, cognitive, and academic skills through short games along the way. Over 10,000 families have already implemented this approach, and Dr. Danilova believes there will be many more in the future.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the “backstory” behind what brought you to this particular career path?
I’m a mother of five kids (from 4 to 14 years old), a university lecturer, a journalist with more than 20 years in the media, and a startup founder. Having graduated from the university with a degree in English language teaching, I planned to work my entire life with adults. These were thriving years — my students achieved great results, I secured a faculty position, and I won all the tenders I pursued. Teaching was not only my job but my passion.
My story is not a continuous success story, though.
When I was 31 and my long-awaited daughter was only six months old, my first husband, her father, passed away at the age of 42. He passionately believed he could make a change in society and improve the world. Together, we created a media outlet addressing the cunning problems people face, with education being one of them. I was completely devastated by the loss. It took me almost two years to stop crying when asked, “How are you doing?”
My second husband was also a widower. Our children (my daughter and his son) were the first to suggest that it would be a good idea for us to get married. And there we were — raising five kids, switching jobs, and making ends meet.
As a mother of five, I knew how hard it was to give my kids the education I wanted. As a teacher, I knew what to do to help them thrive. I started teaching them English at a very early age. My daughter, who is 11, is now fluent in five languages — English (near-native), French and Spanish (A2-B1), German, and native Russian. The younger kids are also on their way to multilingualism. At a certain point, I started sharing my knowledge with other parents, showing that you don’t need many resources to develop your children’s language skills. You can enrich their speech, help them master a foreign language, and see tremendous results.
I’m very worried about the growing gap between scientific studies of the education process and the education system, which fails to utilize many of the recent findings for the benefit of the kids. I know how many parents struggle to help their children learn a foreign language, and the results often leave much to be desired. When I was born, my mother started teaching me French. She would speak to me in French for hours, and I absolutely hated it. I couldn’t understand why she was doing that; I hated the classes and cried every time she wanted to start a boring lesson with me. Now, I’m fluent in French, work with it, and have used it throughout my life.
When I had my own children, I also started teaching them a foreign language from a very early age. But I remembered the many things I hated about the process and changed them. By the time I had my first child, I had been working in language teaching for around ten years, and I was shocked to see how long and painfully people learn languages and how little progress they actually make. I decided to go step-by-step and integrate language learning into our daily life. At the moment, my eldest daughter, who is 11, is fluent in five languages. I started sharing my experience with parents, and after giving birth to twins, I launched a micro-learning program for parents focusing on speech and language education. It became a life-changer for the parents I teach and for me as well.
I mainly teach my kids languages, but math skills, an interest in science, and good native language speech can also be taught in the same way!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was teaching a girl who couldn’t remember new words. Her parents told me that four teachers had given up on teaching her, and that I was their only hope. “We have to know that we did everything we could,” they said. Very soon, I understood that she was perfectly fine; it wasn’t a cognitive or memory problem. The teachers at school had told her that she didn’t have a gift for languages and would never be able to learn a foreign language. And she believed them. She had closed off her brain in a psychological way.
It was a long journey, but one day she memorized a fashion word she was interested in. That was the turning point. She started to believe she could do it. Now, she is an adult who has graduated and works extensively with the English language.
My life was not the same after I realized how many people believe they are not good enough for so many things. This often happens quite early when teachers, relatives, or parents are unhappy with something they see in the child. They express this in a very damaging way: “You should not sing,” “You are not capable in mathematics,” “Dancing is not something you should continue,” “You do not have a talent for languages.” These are very harsh and devastating words.
The moment we hear those words, we tend to believe them. I have met many people who thought they were not capable of learning languages and considered themselves hopeless. However, when they were taught a language properly, in a way that suited them, it became apparent that they were perfectly capable of learning languages. It wasn’t about them; it was about the teaching method.
I know that many people live with this stigma, hearing that harsh voice telling them they shouldn’t dance, sing, or draw. These words might come from a neighbor, an acquaintance, or a relative. At that point, I decided that we would start teaching children a foreign language before anyone had a chance to discourage them. Long before they meet someone who will tell them that they will never learn a language.
Every parent can help their child begin properly. Very small steps can make a difference. Even five minutes of speaking a foreign language or playing a language game might create change. I want every child to be seen as talented, as capable, as someone who can, not as someone who can’t.
Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority in the education field?
I have successfully taught more than 10,000 families how to integrate a foreign language into their daily lives with their children. Every parent who has ever learned a foreign language can play language games with their child from a very early age. Children grasp foreign languages quicker than anyone else, and you don’t need to be professionally trained or have a very high level of proficiency in the foreign language.
I have also created numerous techniques and games to help parents develop their children’s speech from birth to school age. The richer and more articulate a child’s speech is, the more confident they become in making presentations, which will benefit them throughout their life. My idea is that five minutes a day, when a parent plays an educational game with their child, can make an immense difference and influence the child’s development more than anything else. This practice also creates a unique bond between parents and children. I have seen this result in many families and want to help as many families as possible with this approach.
Can you identify some areas of the US education system that are going really great?
There are two things that I absolutely love about American education: the way public speaking, rhetoric, and pitching are taught in schools from a very early age. I think this is crucially important for a child, not only because they gain the skill of confident public speaking at a young age but also because they avoid the trauma of not being able to speak in front of an audience. They are trained to be confident, to tell stories, and to succeed in these tasks. I absolutely love all the lessons I have seen and would adore building a similar system for my children.
Another aspect I love about American and British education is the emphasis on teaching children verbal reasoning, working with text, writing essays, and analytical reading. They learn to deeply analyze texts and understand their main ideas. I believe any school system would benefit greatly if these approaches were introduced.
Can you identify the key areas of the US education system that should be prioritized for improvement? Can you explain why those are so critical?
I have heard many complaints from American families about the learning of foreign languages. English-speaking countries might definitely have low motivation for learning foreign languages. However, learning a foreign language is extremely important for brain development, brain health, and the general development of a child. I believe that increasing the number of hours dedicated to language learning and introducing effective methods could benefit all children. An American graduate who can fluently speak at least one foreign language would be enriched and empowered throughout their life.
Please tell us all about the innovative educational approaches that you are using. What is the specific problem that you aim to solve, and how have you addressed it?
When the background is properly nourished, the flowers will grow. When proper math, science, and language skills are built, and when parents talk with the child, read, and discover the world together, they build the foundation and confidence for life.
Bringing successful methods of teaching languages, rhetoric, speaking a native language, and critical thinking into the home. We cannot outsource the education of our children; there is always something they can efficiently learn from us.
To facilitate this, I created very short video lessons and video games so parents could see how these methods work and easily replicate them at home. Many parents have seen tremendous results because children can grasp new concepts very well at a very early age.
This is the age of early language acquisition, so nature has already set the stage for us. I don’t introduce new methods but rather bring effective classroom practices into the home. There are so many things an educator can teach, and by repeating a simple game every day for five minutes, children can learn very efficiently.
In what ways do you think your approach might shape the future of education? What evidence supports this?
We can observe global changes in education today. We have access to state-of-the-art classes and lectures and can join the audiences of the world’s best and most renowned professors. We can enable our children to do things that were not possible for them even 20 years ago. With the rise of lifelong learning, we need to teach our children how to learn so they do not lag behind.
If families realize the significant impact they can have on their children’s education and see the many things that can be done within the family, we would see new perspectives open up for families who never considered these possibilities in previous decades.
What challenges have you faced in implementing your educational innovations, and how have you overcome them?
It is definitely the idea of many parents that they shouldn’t intervene in the child’s education and the idea of the teachers that parents are not the proper people to teach a child.
Many parents still believe that school can completely handle their child’s education. It is sometimes hard to understand why a child loses motivation or is not interested in certain subjects. Additionally, there are too many teachers who believe it is their right and privilege to teach the kids without parental involvement. We still have a long way to go before teachers and parents develop a joint strategy for educating children, understanding that collaboration can lead to the child’s success.
I think many people know about the “30 Million Words” project, which studies how talking to kids can change their academic results and future success. This experiment demonstrated the impact daily communication with parents can have on a child’s development. There should be more projects like this to overcome the lack of mutual trust between parents and teachers and to highlight the benefits of working together.
Keeping in mind the “Law of Unintended Consequences” can you see any potential drawbacks of this innovation that people should think more deeply about?
Some time ago, I asked my subscribers about the moments from their childhood they remembered most vividly. Specifically, I wanted to know about the moments with their parents that stood out in their memories. The majority of responses were about their parents talking to them and telling stories. Nearly everyone recalled the stories their parents would tell them on their way home or to the shops. Many also remembered how their grandparents would listen attentively to their school stories, never getting distracted, and showing a genuine interest in every single episode.
This feedback suggests that when we spend time with our kids and teach them something, we are also creating lasting memories. This is especially evident when you read the biographies of great chess players. Almost every biography or autobiography starts with a phrase like, “I was five when my dad or my mom brought chess home and showed me how to play the game.” These memories mark the beginning of the life stories of world-famous chess players. So, teaching is not just about imparting knowledge; it’s also about bonding and creating memories that last a lifetime.
What are your “5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started”?
1 . Children learn so fast. What you might have to teach an adult with lots of effort and stress, you can simply show a child, and they will grasp the knowledge, the words, the intonations, everything. You only have to take very small steps, and children will take them much faster. Learning English was really painful for me. I would watch films where I didn’t understand a single word. Now, I see that my kids didn’t have to make any effort in this process. They just took it all for granted because I played English with them for five minutes a day.
2 . If a child struggles to memorize or remember a word, it’s not because they’re not talented or gifted. It’s probably because they haven’t had enough repetition, and maybe the method we were using wasn’t quite right. Children don’t fail to learn because they lack talent; it’s often because we haven’t taught them in the right way. I see many kids and teenagers struggling with foreign languages, math, or even speaking their own language. But when we change the method or approach, things can change drastically.
I always tell my students and my children that if they forget a word, I’ll pronounce it as many times as it takes until they remember. So don’t worry, if you forget, I’ll remind you. Sometimes, you only need five minutes. You don’t need to spend hours and hours in your schedule with your child or student. Sometimes, just five minutes is enough.
3 . Five minutes every day is much more efficient than 40 or 60 minutes once a week because kids’ attention spans are very short. They may only memorize one thing during a 60-minute class, and they will likely memorize the same thing during a five-minute class. So we can make our classes very short, especially when it comes to preschoolers, and still achieve the same or even better results. Making small steps every day is much more efficient.
4 . The more we talk and notice things around us, the more names we learn, and the more the world speaks to us. So we’re not just observing flowers, mushrooms, or birds; we understand what they mean. We can overhear people around us speaking different languages and try to guess if it’s Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, or Korean. The world is a big puzzle, and we can solve it and appreciate its melody and music.
5 . Theу will be a result one day. They will remember this time and effort.
I wish my Mom knew it 40 years ago.
My mother struggled to teach me French, and I hated it. The more she tried, the more I despised the language. She eventually gave up when I started school. Despite knowing some words and phrases in French, and even studying in France for several months later on, I still harbored a dislike for the language. As time passed and I grew up, I eventually learned French. Although English remained my main language, I became proud of my proficiency in French. I had interviews and worked in French, and after each phone conversation, I would call my mom to share the news.
A year ago, my mom underwent oncological surgery. She was very scared and didn’t expect a good outcome. I visited her in the hospital just before the surgery. As we waited, I had a French language exercise book with me. Despite the circumstances, I decided it was time to finally take my French exam. So there we were, the two of us, waiting for her surgery. I opened the book and told her I was going to do some exercises, and she would correct my mistakes. We spent about two hours like that. Later, she had a successful surgery, and everything went well. I waited until she woke up after the operation, hugged her, and went back home.
On my way home, a French song played in the taxi, one from my childhood that my mom and I used to listen to together. I started crying because I knew it was her victory. She had been in despair, raising a sick daughter without much support. She may have felt her efforts were in vain, but they were not. Here we are, 30 years later, with me able to pay for her surgery and arrange the best possible care, all while speaking French and being moved by the songs we once enjoyed together. This was her victory, and I made sure to tell her about it later. I know now that this victory is much more important than simply learning languages.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I’ll share two quotes, though they’re not from famous people.
The first one is, “We can repair everything, except for Death.” I came to understand very clearly that no matter what mistakes we make or whatever failures we encounter, they are not that important as long as we are alive. As long as a person is alive, everything can be repaired. The only moment when nothing can be repaired is when the person is no longer alive.
I believe this is very important in the context of educating our children because we often become so nervous about exams and devastated by failures, and our children may also be devastated by their results. So it is crucial to remember: the most important thing is our life, and as long as we are alive, everything can be mended.
“When my Mom was ok, I was OK. When my Mom wasn’t, I wasn’t”
I came across this quote on a forum for young widows that I was reading back and forth after the death of my first husband. I couldn’t understand how I could raise my daughter to be a happy person when I was so devastated by the loss of my husband. I knew I wouldn’t be able to give her everything a full family could.
Then I came across this phrase written by a man who had lost his father at a very early age. He wrote that when his mother was okay, he was okay. And when his mother was not, he wasn’t. This made me understand that sometimes, we overestimate the importance of so many things in our child’s life. But what truly matters is if you are still coping and standing on both feet.
No matter what happens, if you still manage to pull yourself together and find some sense in your daily life, your child will be okay. Even if you think they are deprived of so many things and opportunities, they will be okay as long as you are okay.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
Or I sure do!
Dr.Effrosyni Argyri, Dr. Kathy Sylva, Dr, Sandra Mathers — these are the researches I deeply respect and read a lot!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
We can either meet each other at academy.edu https://humus.academia.edu/ADanilova or my Instagram! https://instagram.com/anna.presentperfect
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.
Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold
Education Revolution: Anna Danilova On Innovative Approaches That Are Transforming Education was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.