Synopsis of our ePALS Project

Written by Candace Pauchnick

       The walls came down in my classroom, symbolically, in 2002, as I joined my high school sociology students to other students in the Czech Republic through the exchanging of e-mail letters. Since then, through the use of ePALS.com, I have had my students connected to Ukraine, Italy, France, Austria, Colombia, Romania, Uzbekistan, Germany, Philippines, Taiwan, Belgium, and China.  I’ve had my students involved in live-video conferences with Ukraine, Italy then climaxed with China last spring. To view a PowerPoint presentation of this last exchange with China, please open this link: http://henry.sandi.net/staff/cpauchni/webcon.html

       Why did I begin this type of E-Pal project?  The educational reason was to fulfill state standards in learning about cultural diversity, becoming proficient in English writing skills, and develop intercultural sensitivity. To view the state standards for this project please open this link: http://henry.sandi.net/staff/cpauchni/estandar.html  In previous years, to fulfill the standards, the students would visit the library and research other countries through the use of encyclopedias. I changed the research assignment from the encyclopedias to e-pals on the Internet for the pure joy of connecting to other people because it was possible.  Seeing my students’ enthusiasm as they became aware of other cultures from their e-pals proved to me this was a much more meaningful way to learn.  Needless to say, the current method of learning about another country through the eyes of a peer is enormously more enriching.

Goals of Students:

• Learn about world cultures & traditions.
• Become more aware of own culture in the process of learning about others
• Develop interest in geography & world events.
• Build understanding, tolerance and appreciation of others.
• Practice “Netiquette” skills in writing letters.
• Inspire positive attitudes within self and others.
• Create friendships promoting world peace.
• Improve proper letter-writing skills.
• Become proficient with email computer skills.
• Learn the metric system when sharing measurement facts with e-pal such as height and distance.
• Learn about monetary exchange values among countries.
• Share information about themselves and show information from their e-pal on their web site and write a reflective essay of their e-pal experience.  To view the first stages of the web sites visit this URL: http://henry.sandi.net/staff/cpauchni/epalwebs.html

       For success in this project of exchanging e-mails, I have discovered the importance of monitoring the letters and keeping track of who writes to whom and when. Sometimes technology fails and it is critical for me to be in constant touch with the connecting teachers of the other countries to insure all students receive replies to their letters.  Without monitoring, e-mails can be forgotten or lost and the entire process can break down.  Also, it is important to have students choose topics to discuss to give a purpose for the e-mails.  Much is learned in a very enjoyable way.

For more information please visit my school web site with this year’s e-pal connections. (More will be added soon) The URL: http://henry.sandi.net/staff/cpauchni/pals0506.html