The technology in using Email is relatively simple to use and many schools have access to computers. This is a very good reason to work with Email in school in general, but specially in learning English as L2. Another, better reason to work with Emailing is of course the benefits of starting communicating by writing in English. This way of getting to know children from another country in the same learning situation wouldprobably also be very motivating for the pupils.
I would like to start this project in finding pen pals to my students. Below I have listed two communities where I hopefully may find a suitable teacher from another country that would like to start a project like this with me. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dogme/)
and (http://www.webheads.info/ ). (Dudeney&Hockly, 2008)
In the choice of country I considered the fact that many families in Sweden visits countries like Spain, Greece, Cyprus etc. during their holidays, so I simply made my choice from that point of view. Let´s say I would choose Spain and assume that I´ll find a teacher that would have a class in the same age group studying English.
Before starting the actual project there aresome important issues that I would take in consideration. In the contact with the fellow teacher:
- Make sure on deadlines and time frames for Emails.
- Discuss the language use and grouping of the pupils, if they should write in
pairs or individual.
Preparing the pupils:
- Ensure that they all have basic knowledge in how to write Emails. (This we have already practiced in Swedish earlier on though.)
- Also make sure that the students are aware of the importance to remain polite, not aggressive or insulting in their correspondence. (Dudeney&Hockly, 2008)
In this case, since the pupils are very young, they will work together in pairs. The pupils are instructed to find out a couple of things about the other country. The name and size of the country, and the name and size of their city, and what they like to do in their spare time, for example. First of all they have to write a polite introduction about themselves, like their names and their ages. Then they start writing the questions. Finally there has to be a proper ending.
After receiving answers, they would have to answer the questions from the class from Spain. Depending on what the teacher and I have decided, on how much work to put in the project, this could go on longer or simply stop after this.
This could be an interesting start to a communication, which hopefully would continue though, maybe in the future the children could go on with chat, or a Skype conversation with the same pupils from Spain. Maybe even some children would become really good friends with each other this way.
// Renée
Reference:
How to Teach English Using Technology, Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly, Pearson Education
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ReplyDeleteHi Renée!
ReplyDeleteYou have written a very interested and inspiring blog post about a pen pal project as an example on how to use and work with e-mail. I agree with you that getting to know children from another country in the same learning situation probably would be very motivating for the pupils and that writing e-mails is a good way of learning how to communicate in English.
You wrote that the pupils in this case are very young and therefore should work in pairs, and I now get curious on how young? If the pupils are a little bit older, like in third or fourth grade I believe that each pupil could have their own pen pal, if the class has access to enough computers.
I also believe that a pen pal project like these creates an opportunity to practice to give feedback to each other. As the e-mail will be sent to another country and to somebody the pupils don´t yet know, they are often very keen for their e-mail to be as accurate as possible (Dudeney & Hockly 2008: 62). A pupil could read one of her or his classmates’ letters before it is send away and give feedback to the classmate regarding for example spelling and content.
Another thing that I wonder over was if the pupils would have their own e-mail account or if they should send their e-mails through the teachers e-mail account?
One thing that I really liked with your blog post was that you wrote that this e-mail project of yours could be an interesting start to a communication between pupils from different counties, and that they eventually maybe could communicate through Skype or chat with their pen pal.
I think that this (talking through Skype) is a very good idea, because I believe that it is easier to talk to someone you have get to know a little bit. I also believe that it could be fun for the pupils when they have e-mailed each other for a while, to actually meet each other online and to both been able to talk to, hear and see each other.
Best Regards, Anna-Karin
Dudeney, G & Hockly, N( 2008). How to teach English with technology. Pearson Longman.
Hello Anna and thank you very much for your response.
ReplyDeleteThe questions you wrote are very adequate, and they are the issues I have been thinking about. Concerning the age of the pupils, I agree with you that it would be suitable for a 3rd or 4th grader, even though as you mentioned they are "a bit older" I still think they are very young in a sense where they have just started English. So let´s say a 3rd class.
I have actually two reasons for choosing them to work in pairs. First I believe in having computers for everybody, but I also concider the fact that many schools do not yet have a whole class set of computers. The second reason is since this would be a first introduction to communicate this way I believe that they could help eachother this way. Hopefully the correspondence would continue and as they build upp their skills they could go on having one pen pal each.
Best regards Renée