Since the school year is upon us, I think that this is as good a time as any to consider some of the more reasonable uses of what has become not modern, but present technology. Email has become ubiquitous enough that I can’t really see how this could be seen a bugaboo even to some of the more Luddite-prone teachers. The idea is that you could (with only a bit of initiative) take the time to connect to another teacher (in a foreign country) via email; the net result is that it might be possible to have some of your class’s trade emails.

This is actually a pretty simple activity with which to create a lesson from. Once you have a connection with a teacher that is similarly amenable to this idea, most students will fulfill their parts pretty automatically; this means that most middle school students would be very curious about their counterparts.

I have a list of links which relate to this very simple idea.

How to Connect Your Foreign Language Students with the World | Edutopia

http://www.edutopia.org/global-language-learning-connect-classrooms

Skype Other Classrooms! | The Edublogger

http://theedublogger.com/want-to-connect-with-other-classrooms

50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom | Teaching Degree.org

http://www.teachingdegree.org/2009/06/30/50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom

ePals Global Community

http://www.epals.com

E pals Computer Lesson Plan, Thematic Unit, Activity, Worksheet, or Internet Teaching Idea

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/CISSOEPalsAndCulture2.htm

WorldWide Classroom: Pen Pals

http://www.worldwide.edu/travel_planner/pen_pals.html

YouTube – Skype in the Classroom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gdOdiyZUys

I have been personally interested in this idea ever since I went to South Korea to teach English (I taught at a couple of schools in Gimje, and at Woosuk University in Samnye South Korea). I had many chances to talk with the local English teachers, and the notion of connecting with native English speaking classes of the same age was one what energized both the teachers as well as every students I had a chance to talk to (I had over 1,000 students per week…, so I talked to a lot of students!).

When I returned to the USA (only a year ago…) I spend the school year working as a substitute teacher in several school districts. I made simple presentations to as many teachers as I could find. I talked to every class I substituted in. The students (to a one) were interested and excited in the prospect of communicating with students in another (read: exotic) culture and country… Sadly enough, the teachers, to a one, dissembled and ran from the potential to have to deal with this (or was it me? Ha!).

As a sort of mordant finale to this little post, I can see through examples like this that teaching seems to be turning into a sort of monoculture of risk-averse personalities. In matters that are much more far reaching than my simple email exchange (where I would be completely out of the loop anyways…), I think that this skews the reality that many students get a chance to see…

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