While I am searching ePals, I can find lots of great features that I can use in my future classroom.
Among them, I like the Projects and Collaborate the best.
In Projects, I can see lots of lesson plans that can actually apply to the class teaching. In each project, you can see the topic, essential questions, overview, and community. The scope of topics are really broad. It can be culture, literacy, global warming, people, nature, and etc. I enjoyed a lot to see lots of great ideas that can be used in my future classroom. In addition, I can connect with the other classrooms if I want a kind of collaborated project. I think this idea is really great. I've experienced the traditional concept of penpal and it remained a great memory to me. That time we exchanged letters, so I needed to wait for a while until I received the response from my penpal. However, using ePals students can get connected right away with students around the world.
If I give my students the project topic like comparing how different and similar each country's festival especially Thanksgiving, then students can decide how many countries they will compare according to their own decision or interest. And based on their decision, I can help students to be connected with other classes in those countries that my students are interested such as America, Germany, Japan, China, Sudan, and ect. It can be as many classrooms as they want. Then they can share thoughts and ask questions that they want to know. My students can make a list of questions they will ask, and I think using ePals, communicating with real people around the world, my students can get more detailed information or have more visualized concept about this festival. Students can learn about how to celebrate Thanksgiving in each country by reading books, megazines, or searching internet documents, but if they can ask students that actually celebrate this festival every year in that country, then they can get more correct information. Sometimes books or internet documents can not apply the recent changes, but hearing from people in current time can give the most precious information. Or they can even know that in same country there can be some differences like how or what to celebrate according to the region. I think in this case the best way to know this concrete differences is hearing from the people living in that area.
I think that there are so many ways I can use this Projects and Collaborate features in my teaching. Especially for students learning English as a foreign language, they can practice their English by sharing information and communicating with other English speaking or learning students. They can also learn how different culture each country has and how similar concerns they have right now. Using ePals can be a great way to learn languages as well as cultures.
Your idea of having students prepare questions to ask students in other countries sounds like a great way to practice writing skills. The projects in ePals also attest to the fact that teachers have learned that just connecting students isn't enough to guarantee learning. These exchanges need to be carefully planned and carried out. When that happens, the mutual exchanges can be very beneficial.
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