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Hi. As you are possibly already aware, I teach English as a Foreign Language in an elementary school in rural Bulgaria. My kids are quite sheltered and have a really terrible sense of the world outside of our little town. I am trying to get it through to my students that English is a worldwide language and if they can learn it, they can communicate with people from all over the world; but what do they care about that, if the only person they know who speaks English is me? So I am asking you, the Worldwide Doper Conspiracy, to help me with a combination English/Geography Project.
Basically, send me postcards. We’ll read them, learn about cities all over the world, and then I’ll tape them up on the wall, with a string going to their spot on the map of the world I put up. I’d really like to get postcards from as many English speaking countries as possible, specifically. I know you guys are out there!
Here are the rules, most of which are common sense, but, well, you never know.
Please write in English.
Make it fairly simple English, okay? The kids that are going to read these are in the 10-12 age range, btw.
Please PRINT (no cursive) and write NEATLY. Bulgarian is written in Cyrillic, so the kids aren’t just learning a new language, they’re learning a new alphabet.
Please use a postcard that actually has a picture of your town, area, whatever.
If English isn’t the main language of your area, perhaps you could mention how and when you do use it, and how it comes in handy. If you yourself learned English in school, it would be GREAT to mention that.
It really doesn’t matter if you live in a super famous city or a tiny little town. The kids may have seen, say, the Manhattan skyline or the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Harbour Bridge on TV or in the movies, but they’ve certainly never been there, and to get a postcard from someone actually there will just be amazing. OTOH, they live in a small town, and will likely be able to identify more with other people who live in small towns, so that will be great too.
The Wonders of Southern California shall soon beguile the little formerly-Communist tykes. Ok, so their parents were formerly Communist. I’m still gonna send them a postcard from Disneyland!
Kyla: As I told you in the e-mail I just sent, I recently acquired several copies each of a few views of the Sandusky (OH) area. Since I have a connection to Sandusky (I worked a summer at Cedar Point when I was in college), I’ll be happy to share some of the largess with your young Bulgarian charges, and perhaps toss in a few Lafayette-area cards as well.
Do I need a special stamp to send it to Bulgaria or are all international stamps created equal? I’ve never sent anything internationally, forgive me for my ignorance.
You don’t need to use special “international rate” stamps as long as you affix the correct amount of postage. Select Bulgaria on this handy chart, then pick what you’re sending (postcard, letter, or package) and (if necessary) the weight, and you’ll soon know how much postage you need to pay for your particular contribution to the cause.
It just has to be sufficient postage in US stamps - all countries have reciprocal arrangements through the offices of the Universal Postal Union. I had a look at the calculator on the USPS website and its quite confusing! I think 83c for airmail for a small postcard to Bulgaria, within 7 days. Surface is cheaper but much slower.
For the UK its 44p for a postcard, aiming to deliver anywhere within Europe within 3 working days.
(I suspect that these timings refer to delivery to the host countries postal service, and not delivery to recipient)
Just looked at the USPS link that Sternvogel provided. From the U.S., you need 75 cents in postage, as long as your postcard is no larger than “6 inches long by 4-1/4 inches high”.
Oh…and Columbus, OH has a number of fascinating possibilities. Sending an e-mail in a moment.
Geez, I tried to post earlier, but the hamsters lost my damn post. Would you believe that’s the first time that’s ever happened to me? Now I know what y’all have been complaining about all this time.
ANYWAY. I am so excited by all your responses! I’m trying to get responses out to everyone ASAP, be a little patient cause I don’t have a computer at home and have limited access to the precious, precious internet.
FTR, cards should be addressed to the kids. “Hi kids!” or “Dear class” or anything along those lines will be fine.