Handmade Holiday Cards from Chita for US 3rd Graders

Last November, Raisa Lukashova, Head of English for City of Childhood Development Center, a private afterschool that offers supplementary English for ages 6 – 18 (and even now adults) among many other offerings, asked me a wonderful question. Could her students send Christmas cards to my eight year-old next-door neighbor’s third grade class? Ahnika, my neighbor, is also my piano student, and I’ve mentioned her many times to Raisa.

I asked Ahnika, and her mother asked her teacher, and the project was approved. The cards were ready for timely holiday delivery, but there were delays on both sides, so the cards finally made it to the US in mid-January and to the students by early February.

These cards were all handmade with construction paper, stickers, sequins and glue, yarn, cotton balls, paint, colored pencils and markers. Some were simple and some extravagant. Each one had a message—in English–for a particular student and each was signed by the artist, eg. “from Daria Uvarova (8 years old)”

It was very nice to see that Raisa and her fellow teachers made sure that every student in Ahnika’s class got a card. A few got extras! The first question by one of the students was, “Can we send cards back to them?” Contact info was given to Ahnika’s teacher so they could reciprocate, and I hope they have done that. What a wonderful way to have contact with others on the other side of the world!

Cards were also made for the board of Siberian Bridges individually and as a group. The pictures of cards here are from that set.