[mary1]

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a good summer! I´m sitting here trying to think of projects to do with my students for 2009-2010. I work for a small school in a remote area in the south of Spain, we start our classes mid September. I teach 3 year olds through to adults and I like to present them with projects at the start of the year that will motivate them and get them to use their English. Most of my students don´t seem to understand how useful English will be to them and just how many people study and speak English in the world, they think it´s just another subject they have to do!!!! This is why this year I would like them to start a Postcard / Xmas card Exchange with other esl groups all over the world. I think this would help look at English in a different light. My problem is I don´t know where to start or how to start looking for other esl teachers that might be interested in exchanging postcards with us. Can anyone give me some ideas.... thanks.

[Pix]

Hi Mary,

There are sites out there which can help you with this, for example:

www.mylanguageexchange.com

They do charge a fee but I don't know how much.

Otherwise an idea might be to contact a good school in the UK and propose something directly to the Head of the Language Department.

That takes a bit of time but in the days of internet and email it should be feasible - better idea - maybe there is a keen parent out there who has the time and inclination to source this for you.

Public schools (paid education) often have more motivated parents who would be keen for their kids to participate - of course there are PLENTY of good state schools too. You want a state school in a good area or a public school for best results.

Finally, here is an in-house idea that you might like - totally free!
https://teachingenglishgames.com/pen-pals/

Kind regards
Shelley

Games, stories, songs for teaching English - especially children from ages 3 to 12:

[mary1]

Hi Shelley,
Thanks for the link, I´m having a look...
Regards,
Mary1

[dragonele]

Hi Mary1,
I'm an English teacher in the south of Italy and have been wanting to do the same thing since last year but honestly, I'm not willing to pay for it! I thought it would be easier than it turned out to be. How about exchanging postcards between our students? Are you only interested in correspondence with native speakers? Let me know if you're interested.