I credit my success at becoming relatively fluent in French and Japanese, during high school (when we had relatively little contact with native language speakers outside of class) with my choice to have pen-pals. Pen-pals really opened the world to me and allowed me to experience warm interactions with speakers of the languages I was studying. Thus, given the opportunity, I hope to acquaint students of mine with this website to help them get in contact with other speakers of the target language who can acquaint them with the reality of daily life, culture, and natural language. There was nothing like writing letters in English and translating them into Japanese and French for my pen-pals. It was an immense learning experience and I am thankful for it everyday. I was able to enjoy the French countryside in Normandy with a good friend, host my friends in my home, and hear many stories of many different lives all around the world. Receiving colorful pictures, mail, and letters brought joys to my day when I picked them up at the mailbox and read their contents. I hope there will always be people interested in penpals.
Please, have a look!
Pen-Pals from Any Country you can Imagine!
www.studentsoftheworld.info
I was inspired when my Japanese teacher announced she would have us partner with a class in Japan to exchange letters. Ultimately, since it was made an assignment and only required letters be turned in about once per year, I gave up and moved on to seek out other pen-pals. And I sure am glad I did.
For teachers, this can be an excellent recommendation for students, especially if they come asking on how to go about finding a pen-pal.
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