Global connections

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Shmuly on April 1, 2008 at 5:15pm

Hi Michelle,
Good afternoon. I have a friend who is a teacher in Italy. Would that suffice? They make great Pasta there :-)
She can also probably help if you specifically need France.

Just let me know.

Cheers,
ST

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on July 3, 2008 at 6:52am

Michelle,

I'd recommend contacting Vincent at Hors Les Murs. He is a great teacher in France and could set you up. also, we have thousands of teachers on EFL Classroom 2.0. Search or make a post/request.

How to video/voice conference? I went through all the options available. So many way too expensive, skype not user friendly (though great quality) and not secure. I finally decided on just purchasing our own community flash video conferencing suite. Fully free, secure. Talk to who you want, when and wherever. No cost. Just let your students talk over the ocean....they also get all the content imaginable at EFL Classroom 2.0. For language learning but also just plain education.

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on July 22, 2008 at 9:50am

Wow, thanks for all the great advice! I'm going to check out the different options suggested and hopefully I'll have something set up for September.

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Permalink Reply by Sue Palmer on August 24, 2008 at 9:26am

Yes I agree! I have collaborated with Vincent and he has a great site and lots of enthusiasm! He would be my first stop!

http://horslesmurs.ning.com/

Sue

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Permalink Reply by Sabine on July 22, 2008 at 11:32am

Dear Michelle,
I just started my search for email partners in Germany for my students. I found a school with ePals. Perhaps that is another resource you can check out, but it is only e-mail based.

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Permalink Reply by Andrea Winter on January 20, 2009 at 8:33am

Hi, I am a Middle School Spanish teacher interested in starting an ePal group for my 7th grade classes. I am wondering how often the students e-mail. Do the students typically use class time to e-mail?

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Permalink Reply by Sabine on June 6, 2009 at 10:14am

I used class time with my students. I also assigned it as homework but that did not go so well. When you answer as a group you can send your replies at once what makes the exchange easier. It cost time but it is worth it. My year end feedback was overwhelming positive. They loved it. It made language learning real and just by reading the responses they learn so much more about the culture and cultural differences then just reading about it in a book.

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth "Lizz" Gentry on August 21, 2008 at 8:49am

Michelle,

I was going to suggest ePals as well because a lot of schools endorse it. However, there are a couple other chat applications aimed at matching people who speak one language and are learning another. The one that just launched is Palabea.com. I like the format of this one; the learning curve isn't bad either. The other I know about (although I haven't tried it myself) is LiveMocha ( I believe you can find it at LiveMocha.com). Honestly, I am wary of telling my students about these tools because you never know who they will find (or who will find them) and there is the whole liability issue of protecting minors. Just be sure you know your school's internet policies and clear it with the administration first (to save your own arse!) But, they have great potential too! ePals, on the other hand, is specificially geared toward K-12 students. Good luck! I hope you will share your projects with the rest of us regardless of what you choose!

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on August 23, 2008 at 9:48am

Thanks Lizz,
I decided to go ahead and just try ePals...but I'm having problems getting a French school to partner with me. I agree that sites like Palabea and LiveMocha can be dangerous, and I'm sure my school would not approve. I guess I'll keep looking while I'm waiting for someone on epals to contact me. I didn't realize it would be so difficult to find a partner class!

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Permalink Reply by swissvic on August 24, 2008 at 1:38pm

how old are your students? I can ask around teachers I know in Switzerland..

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on August 24, 2008 at 7:09pm

From 14-18 and they're levels 3-5.

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Permalink Reply by Pierre-Etienne Chausse on August 25, 2008 at 7:24am

Hello Michelle,

There's a French equivalent to Classroom 2.0, called Apprendre 2.0 ... it may be a good idea to post there your message. (not as big but with a lot of quality discussions as well)
Here is the LINK.

Do not hesitate if you need any further information

PE

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