Dear Tom

We are now in Veliko Tarnovo and that gives me an excuse for including a few old photos of VT, most of which were taken by my friend Peter Adams. 

Recently I received an email from Thomas Hughes, a new recruit for the teaching staff at St. George's School.

Hi Simon,
I hope you are well.
I managed to get back to the UK after much trouble getting out of Mexico, and Elena managed to get back to Russia a couple of weeks back. Phew.
I asked the school a couple of weeks back what age range they thought I would be teaching, and they said that I would most likely be teaching year 5 & 6. 
I think you mentioned that you were willing to pass over your work from last year which would most likely help myself transition and teach next academic year. That would be a great help if you are still willing to do this.
Also, I have 28 days in quarantine to look forward too in the UK and Sofia it seems, so this would help me to stay sane.
Let me know if this offer is still open.
Have a great day,
Tom

Dear Thomas,

Yes, of course I will help you, as much as I possibly can. I do not make offers of help and then change my mind.

First of all, Grade 3 is the equivalent of Year 5 in the UK and Grade 4 equals Year 6. We do not have "years" at St. George's and that might take a bit of getting used to!

It does seem to me that you are really going to be plugging the gaps caused by my departure, so I am the best person to advise you. Another person you should try to contact is Nicola Feeney, as she is a kind lady and she is in charge of English in the primary school. The ladies on the reception desk at St. G can put you in contact with her. She is an amazingly helpful person. 

If you are going to have the joys of quarantine, then of course you ought to be using those days productively. If you really are going to be teaching Grades 3 and 4, then I would definitely try to get that 100% confirmed and preferably written in blood! You do not want to waste any time preparing things for such-and-such a class and then be told at the last minute no, you are going to be doing this or that instead!

Let us assume that you are going to be my replacement. In a nutshell, your main task will be to get the Grade 3s through "Oxford English for Cambridge Primary Book 5". This is the main textbook that you will be using (or you ought to be using) for 80 or maybe 90% of your lessons with Grade 3. It is a beautifully produced English textbook, crafted by teachers with a lot of experience and knowledge of the English language and how to teach it. It is a very, very well written book. There is, however, just one little problem: most of the students at St. George's School in Grade 3 have Bulgarian as their first language and so they will find it too difficult. On the other hand, the Oxford book is an excellent preparation for the Cambridge tests at the end of Grade 4. If they do not plod on through the book in Grade 3, then they will come seriously unstuck in Grade 4. If the Cambridge tests at the end of Grade 4 are a disaster, then most probably GCSEs and A levels are going to be non-starters. So you can see that your job in Grade 3 is very important.

Some good news! I spent hours and hours last year, preparing educational resources and teaching aids, in order to help the Grade 3s use the Oxford textbook. The secret is to make it accessible, without making it too easy. I have already given copies of all of these resources to Nicola and it would be awkward for me to email them to you. Your first priority is to contact Nicola asap and get it confirmed that you are indeed going to be teaching English to Grade 3 and Grade 4. Then you must get hold of a copy of the textbook. That is also very, very important.

Although I am now retired and not based in Sofia, I will help you as much as I can. If I am perhaps in Sofia, then we shall have to have lunch together.

Stay in touch!

Best wishes from Veliko Tarnovo,

Simon