Engage
Our Russian penfriends
Наши российские друзья по переписке - школа №61, Нижний Тагил, Россия
(Our Russian penfriends – School No. 61, Nizhny Tagil, Russia.)
Over the Christmas holiday, I was lucky enough to have an invite to visit friends in Russia.
Permanent snow, temperatures around -15c during the day (and -32 at night!) … what could be more tempting? So, over the Christmas period, I accepted the invitation and made a visit to stay with my friends in Nizhny Tagil, a town on the edge of the Ural Mountains.
During the visit, I was asked to meet with some English teachers in School 61, a local school (schools are numbered, not named!) who wanted the chance to practice their English with a ‘real Englishman’! Fuelled by tea and Russian pies, I met with the teachers after school one day, and the teachers asked if it would be possible to set up a penfriend scheme, with their students exchanging letters with Ladies’ College girls. It is difficult for the Russian students to use the English that they are learning.
So L4X, (my tutor group) aided by Mrs Knox, Acting Head of English, have begun to correspond (in English) with Russian students in School 61, Nizhny Tagil, Russia. Let us hope this is the start of a long lasting inter school friendship.
Emily Abreu writes:
“I have really enjoyed writing letters to my penfriends! I have two, Eva and Polina. From both of them I have learnt about life in Russia. I have never had a penfriend before so it is a really fun and interesting experience for me. I have loved receiving letters from Eva and Polina and hearing about what they enjoy doing. Their English is very good!”
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