Friday Fun Activity: Virtual Pen Pals

Give your students a fun reward for a week of a job well done by taking advantage of this simple and free Friday Fun activity.

Why:

The internet allows for us to communicate with people around the world, and while taking into consideration proper safety measures, can be a great tool to allow your students to converse with peers across the world. 

What:

Use the site Students of the World to safely let your students find pen pals from across the country or even around the world. In the United States, the site claims to have 87,888 different pen pals available for contact.

How:

When you click on the specific country you're looking to find pen pals in, profiles are shown by the date last updated/used, so you and your class won't have to worry about reaching out to inactive members and potentially not hearing back. The profiles list the pen pals by age, allowing your students to easily find someone close to their age to communicate with. The profiles also list selected hobbies and interests and a brief description of the user.

Since the site does not require any personal information or e-mail address, your students will be safe through communication with users over the site. In fact, the site has a specific message system that allows users to communicate through it without any personal information ever being shared.

This activity can be a repetitive Friday fun activity- you can develop it into a weekly, bi-weekly activity where students spend time learning more about their pen pal and updating him or her on their week.

If you have the time, you can also allow for a brief classroom discussion or can assign a journal assignment that students can share via Google Docs to transform the activity into a lesson. Make sure to let your students know the dangers of sharing personal information over the internet.

Who:

This activity is most suitable for children in middle school grade levels and up.

Compiled by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

05/27/2015