"I'll just check a GDZ (готовое домашнее задание)," he whispered to his cat, Barsik. He opened a browser tab, typed in the magic words, and found the solution site. There it was—the perfect story about a teenager visiting London, neatly laid out and ready to be copied.

But as Maxim picked up his pen, he felt a strange prickle of guilt. He looked at the Workbook's colorful cover. He had actually enjoyed the lesson on "Global Issues" that morning. If he just copied the GDZ, he’d learn how to use a keyboard, but not how to speak English. He closed the laptop with a snap. "Okay, Barsik. Let's do this for real."

How is your coming along? If you’re stuck on a specific exercise , I can help you work through the grammar!

The problem? It was 11:30 PM, and his brain felt like a corrupted file.

The next day, his teacher, Elena Petrovna, read his story aloud. "It’s creative, Maxim," she said with a smile. "A bit messy, but very original."

Maxim realized then that the 'G' in GDZ shouldn't stand for 'Gotovoe' (Ready-made), but for 'Glupo' (Stupid)—at least if you used it to skip the fun of thinking for yourself.