Does the distance really matter?
Meeting friends from other cultures is always exciting, knowing perspectives from other places and how everything works there, but apart from this, it also enriches communication skills. Our grade 8 Pen Pal activity is a great way to obtain these abilities in a new and innovative way.
What is Pen Pal?
Pen Pal is an activity where students can interact with students from another country. It consists of sending letters to students in another part of the world, getting to know them little by little. This is not only a fun activity, but it also helps us learn different worldly perspectives, find new ways to communicate, and even improve our language skills which helps us become better in many aspects.
The Experience
In 8th grade, our English teacher, Mr. Carlos Espitia, developed this activity through connections with Berks Catholic School in Pennsylvania. Each student was assigned to another student at Berks Catholic to interact with them through letters, learning more about their lives and how they are perceived in another part of the world.
The Purpose
In addition to being entertaining, the activity was developed to benefit students in academic and social aspects. The process helps improve written production, encourages communication skills, broadens worldview, and especially improves English.
Overall, this was an enriching experience both for CAS students and those at Berks Catholic School as they learned and reinforced important aspects of their social and academic lives.
