My Collaborative Project

My Collaborative Project

Project Scheme

Name: Postcrossing Challenge

Abstract: 

My proposal is to use a webpage called Postcrossing (www.postcrossing.com) to encourage students in their writing and in their appreciation of the use of English as a "live" language and not just something they study in class.

Goals: 

The goal of this project is that using the webpage the participating students will write and receive more than 25 postcards from all parts of the world and then start a correspondance with students in their partner schools.

-              They will improve their abilities in written English and reading comprehension.

-              Gain sufficient confidence to be able to write short messages unaided. 

-              Learn that English is a working language that is used by millions of people, native and non-native speakers, around the world.

-              Learn about people from other countries and cultures.

-              Learn about where countries are and how far away they really are.

-              Learn about how to post a card or letter with an address and a stamp.

-              Learn the realities of how long it takes to send things around the globe.

-              Learn how to start and maintain a correspondance with someone of their own age.    

Work Process:

-              Student will initially register with www.postcrossing.com and then learn about how the page works.

-              They they will learn about postcards, addresses and stamps and how to write a postcard to an unknown recipient.

-              Finally they will start the process of sending postcards to the recipients that the webpage will give them. 

-              Once they start receiving postcards from other users they will have to learn to read and understand them and then how to write a suitable e-mail reply.

-              A blog will be created on which the students will write short biographies of themselves and also be able to record the cards they receive.

-              As they receive cards from around the world they will all be scanned and uploaded the blog.

-              Cards received can also be exhibited in schools in a permanent exhibition.

-              A "prize" will be chosen for the students who reach the challenge total of 25 postcards sent or received.

-              After the first half of the project students will choose (with teachers' help) a partner from the other partner schools and they will send them a postcard directly.

-              Slowly they will move from postcards to written letters to e-mails and then, if there is sufficient time, to face to face Skype conversations with their partners.

 

Expected Results:

The expected results for this project are various and will depend on the students themselves and also the webpage itself.

-              Students will learn about "snail mail" and everything associated with it.

-              They will learn how to write short messages that convey a specific idea and how to introduce and close those messages correctly.

-              They will learn about different countries in the world and how different and yet how familiar they can be.

-              They will learn that language both seperates and unites us all.  English, as a common language, offers them the chance of speaking around the world.  A world that speaks thousands of different languages.

-              Students will, hopefully, make friends from among the partner countries and come to appreciate how corresponding with them can build a friendship.

-              They will also lose their fear of writing in English and this will help them in their normal schoolwork where English composition is often so complicated.

Students:  2n ESO - students with ages between 13-14

Work:  Work will take place both in English lessons as part of normal curricular activities (reading and writings) and also in the Reading Club that is run at breaktime one day a week.  Cards received would be exhibited in a permanent exhibition in a designated area of school.

Partners:  The number of partner schools could be from two to five.

Languages:  The language used for the project would be English.  Though many Postcrossers leave small messages in their native languages so students would come across other languages as well as English.

Inspiration:  My inspiration for this is the webpage Postcrossing (www.postcrossing.com) itself and also other projects I have run where I have tried to involve students in pen-friend activities.  I hope that a combination of both will prove more successful.

Partner Communication:  Communication amongst the partners would happen on two levels, that of the students and then of the teachers.  Communication for the students would be directed by the teachers and consist of postcards, letters and then e-mail and/or skype.  Teachers would communicate via Facebook, Skype, e-mail or Whatsapp.  It would be an excellent idea to find times when students groups could meet each other via Skype live and compare postcards, if that is possible.
Avaluation:  This is not a project that seeks to produce a solid final result.  All results, except from the actual poscards received, will be intagible and so have to be measured by the teachers.  It would be possible to assess students abilities in written English before and after the project as indeed we could give them a questionnaire to assess their confidence in the language but both of these are not definitive ways of assessing the success of the project.  I would be happy if they start to like reading and writing.

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