Key pals are like pen pals using email.  Students can benefit by sharing experiences with other students.  Students can work on improving their language skills or can find information about different countries and cultures.  However, it is often difficult to ensure that students reply to their key pals.  If this activity is assessed, students may need to have access to more than one key pal in case they get little or no response from one.  A good way to assess this activity is to have the students keep a hard copy portfolio or an email folder of the letters they have written.

It is possible to organize a key pal project with another class if the semester timings and the size of class are compatible.  Try this site to find a class of key pals.

Students can also find and correspond with their own key pals. Privacy and propriety of messages would have to be the responsibility of the student in these cases. Individual key pals can be found on this site , however, there are many romantic references which may not be appropriate for all students.

Next Topic

[ Home ] [ Table of Contents ] [ Benefits/Disadvantages ] [ Required Skills ] [ Instructional Design ] [ Learning Activities ] [ Site Evaluation ]