BOWES Hutchinson’s School played host to a special visitor last week and she was a big hit with teachers and pupils.
Julia Pavlova, an English teacher from Russia, spent a week at the school as part of a cultural exchange programme, which Durham County Council has organised for the past ten years.
Ms Pavlova teaches secondary school children in state school 27 in Kostroma, about 250 miles north of Moscow.
She said: “We don’t use modern technology in the classroom and the children here have more freedom in the learning process. Our secondary schools are run more like academies.”
To welcome Ms Pavlova to the schoolchildren created a banner using the cyrillic alphabet and using computer translation programmes put together questions in Russian to be asked during lessons.
Headteacher Chris Matthewman said: “It is wonderful to have her here.
“We have had guests from Sri Lanka and Tanzania and it has been a great experience for the children to hear from another person from so far away. Fortunately her English is very good.”
