SWBAT: Use appropriate vocabulary and grammatical forms studied in class to express themselves in the TL in order to carry on a personalized conversation with a native speaker or another peer studying the TL.
Standards targeted: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3; 5.1, 5.2
Description of activity: This activity requires a series of steps and, above all, relies on the organizational skills of the teacher.
1. The teacher locates a partner classroom of either native speakers
of the TL or other students of the TL who are at approximately the same
level as the home classroom students. Ideally, the students should
be peer-aged to maximize the possibility of having common interests.
A few suggestions for finding partner classrooms are: (1) investigate the
options available through the the
Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections ; (2) post a notice on a
discussion list such as FLTEACH
stating the parameters of the project or e-mail exchange; (3) network at
local and regional conferences to meet other teachers who would be interested
in this type of activity.
2. Even before locating a partner class, establish the ground
rules for participation, and lay out the requirements the students must
meet to complete the assignment or activity. IOW, will participation
only occur during class or in a supervised session in the computer lab?
Will communication outside of class among students be permitted? Will the
teacher need to review all messages that come and go to ensure appropriateness
and adherence to activity requirements? You, as the teacher, must
have a "game plan" -- you must have a clear picture of what you want your
students to accomplish, what information you wish them to offer and ascertain,
and what will constitute successful completion of the activity. 4. Develop and explain your method of evaluation of their participation
ahead of time. You might want to use a rubric that accounts
for those elements you particularly wish to focus on such as, possibly,
creativity, ideational fluency, grammatical competence, incorporation of
vocabulary pertinent to the material being studied, etc. 5. Be
3. Explain the activity clearly to your students. Make
them aware of your rules and give them an example of acceptable interaction.
You could do this by showing them printouts of email messages you have
written in the TL to friends; the class could also brainstorm some typical
message components and formulaic expressions that they might want to use.
For example, they will need to know greetings and closings, how to ask
questions, how to respond appropriately to new information offered by their
partner. The activity is quite flexible in that the information
they seek can be tailored to the particular vocabulary and structures being
studied in class at the time. For instance, beginning level students can
describe themselves, their families, their homes, schools, and free-time
activities and ask for the same information in return. More advanced
students can use their language skills to engage their email partners in
detailed discussions or debates about topics that are current and germane
to their respective cultures (e.g., legal age and requirements for obtaining
a driver's license or the reason for frequent student strikes).