ePals

=ePals, A New Type of Pen Pal= Having pen pals in a foreign language class only seems natural. In the past I have connected my students with other language students taking the same level of Spanish in the neighboring school district. We write simple paragraphs describing ourselves and then send the letters. We await replies in the mail that can take at least four weeks to a month to come. It is fun to read the replies, but we have always struggled with “what next?” I have connected my students with Spanish speaking students in Oaxaca, Mexico as well. We follow the same topics in our letters and really enjoy the replies. We encounter the same problems with the international pen pals just as we did with our neighbors not 20 minutes away though. We waited a long, long time for the replies and then simply did not know what topic to address next. After reviewing the //ePals// website I found that all of my trepidations concerning pen pals were no longer valid! Not only do we now have a much faster modem of communication, but we have common areas of interest to investigate! In addition, //ePals// is free, requires no special internet connections, no additional software, and provides filters so that teachers can block unwanted mail. //EPals// connects students in over 200 countries. It allows teachers and students to not only choose the language, but the country and type of school. The implications of having this type of communication are enormous. We are using technology to connect our global community crossing language and social borders. Instead of the using simple pen and paper, the students will use technology to communicate. For my own purposes I have already sent home the permission slips and have been met with some very enthusiastic parents. We have not been connected with another class yet, but are awaiting the experience with eagerness! Instead of the using simple pen and paper, the students will use technology to communicate. They are very excited about incorporating more than just the internet to write letters! They want to send short videos, their favorite music and do online scrapbooking to record their experiences! Due to my students enthusiasm I have been motivated to apply for a grant that was offered to teachers in our school district. While waiting for all of our details for the ePals program to fall into place, I have been awarded a technology grant to receive a //SmartBoard// to aid our ePals endeavor! In the future we are looking forward to receiving webcams and using Skype to add to our //ePals// experience! ​