What’s the best way to learn a language? Practice, practice, practice! You can learn a new language even faster when you practice communicating with someone who already speaks it. This semester you will be using the Internet to exchange emails with a student in a foreign country. The email exchange will allow you to not only practice your language acquisition, but also learn more about a different country and enhance your computer skills.

How will we do that?

Using the Internet site, www.ePals.com , you will be matched with a student in a foreign country. The email connection allows you to send and receive emails, as well as send attachments. You will be required to send at least two emails to a student in another country throughout the semester. (If your student does not reply to your emails, please let me know and I will contact the teacher on the other end and investigate further).

What do we need to do?

· First, you will need to compose a grammatically correct and formatted letter to your new friend, introducing yourself and telling him/her a little about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, family, school, etc. You will need to include the following items:

A picture of yourself (we’ll take them in class, or you can bring one in and we can scan it).

At least 5 things about yourself (ie: likes, dislikes, age, hobbies, sports). Each item should be a separate sentence.

At least one sentence about the school you attend.

At least two questions for the student to respond.

· We will exchange the letters (only your first letter) in class for peer-review. You will be responsible for making any corrections found by your peer.

· Once the letters have been reviewed and corrected, you will enter the message into the body of an email (including any attachments), using www.ePals.com , and send it to a student in another country. To send an email, follow the steps below:

Login to ePals.com using the following link: http://www.epals.com/login/

§ Your user name is: FirstNameLastName (for example: Joan Schildkraut would be joanschildkraut)

§ The password is: spanish (use all lower case letters)

§ Your email address will be: FirstNameLastName@epals.com (ie: joanschildkraut@epals.com)

You will be prompted to change your password. Change your password, but be sure to let me know what it is!

You will be prompted to write a question about how to remember your password. Please type the following:

§ Question: What class am I in?

§ Answer: Spanish

Click on the button that reads Compose. An email letter form will appear. I will give you the email address for the student you are to email. The address gets entered into the To: field.

Type your letter and make sure you have reviewed your letter for any typing mistakes and/or grammatical errors.

Make sure you have attached your picture. To attach your picture follow the steps below:

§ Click on the Attachments button.

§ Click on the Browse button. Go out to your student directory and find the file with your picture in it.

§ Click on the Attach File button. You know the file has been attached when it displays under the Attached Files heading.

§ Click on Done.

When have completed all the steps above and you are ready to send your letter, click on Send.

· After receiving a reply from your friend, you will send another email to him/her. Make sure you answer all of their questions when you reply. You may send another picture if you would like, but it is not required. There will be no peer-review for your second letter.

· You are required to send at least two emails to your new friend, but if you like, you can also send more.

How will we be evaluated?

You will be evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten being the highest you can achieve in each of the 4 categories (content, mechanics, letter format, creativity). (You will not be penalized if the student in the foreign country does not write back).

Criteria	8 -10	5-7	0-4
Content	The letter contains at least five items about yourself, a sentence about your school, and at least two questions. The information in the letter is accurate, complete and relevant. An attached picture is included.	The letter contains less than 6 sentences and/or missing questions to the foreign student. Only some of the information in the letter is accurate, complete and relevant. An attached picture may/or may not be included.	Very little information is given about yourself.  The information in the letter is inaccurate, incomplete, or irrevelant.  An attached picture is not included.
Mechanics	85% - 100% of content is free of grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitilization errors.	51% - 84% of content is free of grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors.	20% - 50% of content is free of grammar, spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors.
Letter Format	Complete letter format is evident with proper greeting and salutation. Paragraph format is correct and appropriate for a personal letter.	Basic letter format followed.  Paragraph form is simplistic. Some portions of format are not well developed.	No particular letter format followed. Ideas are not structured in paragraph form.
Creativity	The sentences show a significant amount of effort was put into their creation. The letter elicits your personality, as much as possible. The attach picture (or other media) demonstrates individuality.	Partial sentences demonstrate effort and thought. It’s detectable that some thought about personalization was given to the letter.	There is nothing personalizing the letter. The sentences show no extra time was spent to think of ways to individualize the letter.

It’s fun to meet new people and make new friends.

Use this opportunity to learn about children your own age living in another country

and practice your foreign language communication skills. Are there more similarities between your life and the student in the foreign country or are there more differences?

You’ll soon find out the world is a smaller place than you thought!