Dear Year 7,

I am sorry that I won’t be here to meet you in person but I will see you on Friday when you have your next English lesson. I am Ms Lindsay and I job share with Dr Ovenden; I work in the school on Mondays and Tuesdays so I will be teaching you on  Monday and Tuesday.

The reason why I am not in today is because I am taking a Year 9 class to the Olympic Park for the day – I will come and  tell you all about it on Friday. I have found the Olympics very exciting as I live near the park and have seen it grow the last 7 years, it has transformed the area around Stratford. I have become much more interested in cycling since visiting the Velodrome and have also seen basketball for the first time. The paralympic athletes have inspired me to think more about my attitude to exercise and living healthily – what about you? What sports interest you and do you take part in any particular sport?

I am very keen on reading and would like to have more time to read. I read books, newspapers and also enjoy the poems and stories written by students. What do you enjoy reading? Do you have any books you would like to recommend or do you have favourites you read in Primary school that you remember well? If you don’t read a lot, do you have any particular reason for not reading? I can also read and speak another language, Afrikaans, which is one of the many official languages spoken in South Africa, the country where I was born and grew up. I can also speak and read German – not very well! – as I learned this at school. Do you speak any other languages?

I enjoy learning about people and new topics as well as thinking about difficult questions. I find I learn by reading, listening, thinking and talking to others. What kind of learner are you and what do you think makes a good learner? Do you have particular topics you are interested in or have enjoyed learning about? Please share these with us! We think that listening to each other in class and working with each other helps us all to learn and this is what we would like to see in our English lessons.

I am really looking forward to reading your letters and meeting you on Friday!

Yours sincerely,

Ms Lindsay