First of all I am looking for E-pals (from anywhere) for my English-English first and second years (12-14) (13-15 yrs). INternational school, but teachings are mainly done in Dutch. For the above classes we have E-E lessons though, 5x a week English instead of the regular 3.
They are up for the anglia exams.
As I have seen I am not the only one. But from past experiences..you sometimes learn the hard way. It seemed to us (Eng. dept The Hague) the best way to have the pupils sent mails through the teachers first. To avoid any 'bad' language. After a while it on their own account they could start mailing themselves with the warning not to use bad language.
Some pupils are still writing with eachother.
.We started like this:
have pupils make cards about themselves and what they expect from the e-pal (hobbies etc.). Start of with 1 mail a week. For the first years we have a draft in which they could fill the information in themselves. Such as:
Dear....., How are you? my name is .... and I am from. .... I live in ....and go to school.... My favourite things in life are....what I hate is..... What do you think? tell me ....... about yourself.
love, ......
Please also be careful not to 'correct' to heavily...this will make them insecure and of course take the fun out of it...(erm..what am I saying you are all teachters! sorry!)
Hopefully you know anyone, maybe you yourself could take on some great Dutch mail writers.
Love to hear from you! and other tips maybe?
gitta