ePals

I recently discovered a website called ePals, which is an organization that is used to provide world-wide connections. It's very important for students who are learning a second language to develop an understanding of other students and cultures from around the world. They need to understand the various perspectives that exist, not only of themselves but from people all around the world. This website is a great way for these students to accomplish this goal.

There are several features to this program that could be so useful in a second language classroom. One of the features that I thought would to be most useful and most important is the fact that this program is a safe social learning place where communication and collaboration can take place between both students and educators from all over the world. I also really like that this site includes up-to-date technological tools that you could use in the classroom, like: blogs, wikis, forums, dynamic calendars, and homework dropboxes. All of these web tools could be used in the classroom in so many different ways, and I have discussed several of these tools in previous blogs.

The site also has several products available to educators. One product that I really liked is called "in2books." This product only focuses on grades 3-5 (unfortunately) however I think it's really neat because it matches students up with adult pen pals who have read similar books. The student and the teacher can partake in in teacher-monitored online letters focusing on questions and/or issues that are raised by the text.