a. Cross-Cultural pen pal

b. Language/Literacy building activities

c. Global Discussions and project sharing

a. Improved “global” awareness

b. Incorporates reading, writing and critical thinking skills

c. Mastery of online collaboration tools

a. ePals Resources http://www.epals.com/resources/

b. ePals has established projects http://www.epals.com/projects/

i. Examples of ePals projects

1. Chinese-English Language & Learning Portal
2. Healthy Wetlands. Healthy You. A Clean Water Project
3. ePals Book Club

c. Teachers Guide http://www.epals.com/docs/teacher_guide/webguide/?id=TG_guide1

i. Comprehensive Teacher to Teacher “Guide to Effective Use of ePals”

d. ePals Case Study http://www.epals.com/docs/esm_case_study.pdf?id=teaching

i. Having stated learning goals was deemed important

1. Ex. Our learning goal is to share information about social studies issues with French Students.

ii. First assignment divided into three introductory writing prompts.

1. Write a letter to your European ePal introducing yourself.

a. Include your age, hobbies, sports you play, school life, home life, etc.

2. Write a letter to your European ePal about Florida.

a. Include vacation spots, geography, climate cities, etc.

3. Write a letter to your European ePal describing American holidays and/or popular vacation destinations for Americans.

iii. Challenges

1. Absences were deemed the “most frustrating part”

a. Solution: with parent permission, students missing activity were asked to email from home.

2. Students accidentally were deleting their email.

a. Possible solution would be having a comprehensive student training.

3. Teacher kept track of European events and kept constant communication with European Teacher.

a. “Best” lesson occurred when students able to discuss current newsworthy events

4. Teacher checked ePals account daily.
5. Teacher formed lasting relationship with several European Teachers.
6. System got much easier with time.

e. ePals “SchoolM@il” student email accounts www.epals.com/schoolmail

i. Manuals and Tutorials included

ii. Instant, built-in translation program

iii. “Safe” email exchange program

1. Built in keyword filters check and “flag” for proper language usage a. Flagged emails sent to teacher b. Attachments also screened
2. Teacher monitored email accounts
3. Signed parent permission contract required for students to participate. 4. Finding Classrooms

f. ePals “Search for classrooms” Web site http://www.epals.com/search/

i. Search options include language, program type, geographic location, and grade level.

ii. There are currently over 100,000 profiles in the ePals “finding classrooms profile”