Korean Job Discussion Forums

[annabella]

Have any of you ran (or are you running) a penpal scheme at your school? I'm thinking about setting one up for my less motivated elementary and middle school students in an attempt to liven up their English, get them away from the coursebook, and to show them that there's a whole world outside of the good ol' RoK.

Can you suggest any places to start/post? I think I have to register again to post in the International forum here on Daves (?) Any experiences to relate?

Any tips appreciated, thanks.

[zappadelta]

[pskull]

Penpals/Epals have always seem to take the language from an academic bent to a "living language", I've found it useful in language classes in which I was a student.

Look into ePals.com, I believe they have information on setting up a program for classes.

[heydelores]

I've done penpal projects, but always in cooperation with teachers I know in the U.S. I don't know how to go about making that contact other than actually knowing a teacher. My students have always enjoyed the project. One or two even still keep in touch with their American penpals. Once you get it going, if there is anything I can do to help, PM me.

[annabella]

Thanks all. I've had a look at epals and it looks more than promising, so hopefully with a combination of posting here in the International forum etc, things should be up and running soon.

I have spoken to my kids about it and they're all more than excited about the prospect of it, possibly because it means we'll abandon the book for a few classes every so often, but hey ho, it keeps them happy. I've had the usual request for countries - America! Canada! England! Not Japan!, as well as a surprising request for South Pole penguins...?! Discussing how exactly a penguin would read their letter and write a return one was the highlight of my day yesterday, bless them.

I'll follow up once I get things started.

[ucfvgirl]

I too have had a successful experience with penpal writing. I forced my students to hand write their first letter or two before using email. I feel that it's more exciting to receive a piece of mail than to have instant gratification with an email. My students are currently exchanging penpal letters with other students in: Czech Rep., Turkey, Poland, Canada, US, and Slovenia. So far, the students that have actually done the work and written the letters have been extremely excited when they have gotten mail back. We have been writing since April of this year. At first, I had about 200 students on my list. Needless to say, not all of them are writing. So, when I return to Canada, I am going to create another list of students and really enforce the writing aspect of it.

Check out this site: http://www.europa-pages.com/school_form.html

Also, when I created the program I made a deal with the students: they write the letters and I will mail them. (out of my own pocket). This seemed to encourage those who really wanted to do the project.

Good luck with your project.

[Okibum]

I am doing a penpal project and I found another teacher through this site:


http://teachers.net/projects/penpals/