So get started today: find a pen-pal and locate their location on the globe. If you would like to write to someone in the HM Forces (UK), try Diedre’s Forces Penpal Service. ![]() Adopt-a-Soldier, Soldiers’ Angels are 2 popular organizations that support the US military. There are many, many organization who will put you in contact with a man or woman in the military. students in the classroom learn about the people, geography, environment, and culture of the world from the direct experience of Volunteers living in other countries.”Ĥ) Write to military personnel based abroad. From their site:Ī vibrant two-year exchange of ideas, stories, pictures, and artifacts that helps U.S. Not only did it give my students a chance to practice Spanish, it also gave us a glimpse of part of the world we probably won’t ever get a chance to visit. A man on a burro came to pick up the mail every month from her high Andean village, and we exchanged letters once every couple of months. When I was teaching Spanish, we had a volunteer based in Bolivia, who would share incredible stories with us in English and Spanish. ![]() There is a program for teachers in the US to be matched with a PCV through the “Wordwise Schools” program. 3) Sign-up to correspond with a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). You could also register and post your own search. Many times teachers will be looking for class partners, but there are also homeschooling families, and individual students searching for pen-pals. Another popular, ePals, you can search the maps, and the various forums for people looking for pen-pals. At a very popular site, Students of the World, teachers can post their country of origin, or search the posts to find a suitable class with whom they can exchange letters. However, when it is a teacher, at a school, and you can see the school’s web site, it is more secure. Never post your personal information on the internet for all to see, and I would prohibit my kids from visiting chat rooms, where identities are unknown. I personally am a little nervous about individuals who post here, because there is no background check or identify verification. There are a lot of web sites that over pen-pal “matchmaking” services. Despite the expense, my kids have enjoyed sending little packages and homemade cards (especially at the holidays) to family members abroad, and of course they love receiving little presents even more.Ģ) Find a teacher or homeschooling parent who is looking for a pen-pal for their children. Although there is some patience involved (you might wait months before getting a letter back from some remote locations), the excitement of getting a letter in the mail with their name on it is not lost in our digital age. Kids practice their writing skills, can send drawings and cards, learn to address and stamp an envelope, and enjoy going to the post office to buy special international stamps. ![]() The advantages of old fashioned paper and pen are many. However, in many countries internet is not as widely used as we are used to. If their writing partner uses a digital camera, it is easy to share a lot of pictures, and perhaps their pen-pal even posts to a blog where your kids can write back in the comments section. Via email, your kids get almost instant gratification. Make the connection with them and decide together if the pen-pals and your children would like to communicate via email, or if everyone is comfortable to dust off their stationary and mail letters through the post. They might know an expat abroad, someone in the military based in another country, someone who is studying abroad, working as a missionary, a volunteer, or even have relatives who live in their home country. 1) Ask everyone you know.Īsk family, friends, and neighbors if they have a loved one abroad who would like a pen-pal. ![]() There are a couple of different ways to go about finding a pen-pal for your kids from another country. Writing to a pen-pal in another country can facilitate lifelong friendships- and at a minimum it creates a great learning experience that enhances social studies, geography, penmanship, and language skills. I can even recall when she told me I needed to start to address her letter to Macedonia, because it had declared independence and was its own country. I remember the excitement of coming home from school and finding her letter on my bed: foreign stamps scattered across a colored envelope, addressed to me with her curly, distinctive handwriting. In a couple of weeks I was matched with “Liliana from Yugoslavia”- we ended up writing for more than 10 years before we lost touch! It was an incredible experience to exchange pictures (I still have her stoic 5th grade school picture), stories from our schools, postcards from our vacations, etc. Letters and postcards from my pen-pal, Lily
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