The Pen Pal Project

In the early 1990’s, at a CUNY writing center conference, I heard about a pen pal project between writing center tutors at an Eastern Pennsylvanian University and children from an inner-city primary school. I was intrigued by the description and filed the idea as one that I would like to try if ever I could create the opportunity. By the fall of 2002, conditions and circumstances seemed right to experiment at last with organizing a service-learning project that would connect writing center tutors from my university with children from an inner-city elementary school in a neighborhood that adjoins my university’s.University Writing Cente

Email interviewing: the 'pen pal' method

Email interviewing: the 'pen pal' metho

Foreign-born TESOL Instructors Assisting Adult Immigrant Learners to Develop Civic Literacy Skills: A Pen Pal Project

This article discusses the contributions of foreign-born TESOL instructors helping adult language learners develop literacy skills through a pen pal project, which lasted 10 weeks and consisted of writing letters back and forth weekly. The project provided adult immigrant learners with an opportunity to practice meaningful writing to support their English literacy development.  The research questions include how do foreign-born TESOL instructors support adult immigrant learners develop literacy through a pen pal project? and what components of the pen pal project promote the development of civic literacy skills? Data for this article come from 159 letters product of the writing exchange between instructors and learners, and individual conversational interviews with the instructors. Study findings are presented through four themes: teachers as cultural informants, emotional connection, life and learning advice, and adult ESL learners’ linguistic competence. Study findings add to the body of literature focusing on the powerful contributions of foreign-born TESOL instructors to the education and language-culture acquisition of adult immigrant English learners

Combating Loneliness: An Intergenerational Pen Pal Program

In an effort to both analyze how COVID-19 has impacted traditionally isolated communities and prevent loneliness, we have created a pen-pal program between UM students and senior adults. We have implemented a pilot pen-pal program to create lasting social bonds without exposing seniors to COVID-19. The program is currently running through the Davidson Honors College “Intro to Honors” course, with plans to leave the program self-sustaining in future semesters. To pair partners, we distributed interest surveys and matched relevant interests. To inform people of how loneliness affects seniors, we created a brochure that highlights our research, with plans to distribute it in the Curry Health Center and among our community partners. At the conclusion of our pilot program, we will have our senior partners fill out a feedback form to understand the effectiveness of our program. Our research points toward the need for loneliness prevention strategies, especially in the wake of the pandemic, which has exacerbated social isolation in older adults. Social connection has proven to be one of the most successful mitigation techniques, but physical contact can be dangerous because of the pandemic. Dialogue through letter-writing can create invaluable social bonds without potentially exposing elderly participants to COVID-19. The senior participants in our pilot grew up writing letters and communicating via physical mail so the pen-pal program was extremely comfortable to this generation. Pen-pal programs create a viable and sustainable solution, accessible for all generations to reduce the negative effects the pandemic has had on the elderly

Mitigating the Damaging Effects of COVID-19 Isolation in the Elderly

In an effort to both analyze how COVID-19 has impacted traditionally isolated communities and prevent loneliness, we have created a pen-pal program between UM students and senior adults. We have implemented a pilot pen-pal program to create lasting social bonds without exposing seniors to COVID-19. The program is currently running through the Davidson Honors College “Intro to Honors” course, with plans to leave the program self-sustaining in future semesters. To pair partners, we distributed interest surveys and matched relevant interests. To inform people of how loneliness affects seniors, we created a brochure that highlights our research, with plans to distribute it in the Curry Health Center and among our community partners. At the conclusion of our pilot program, we will have our senior partners fill out a feedback form to understand the effectiveness of our program. Our research points toward the need for loneliness prevention strategies, especially in the wake of the pandemic, which has exacerbated social isolation in older adults. Social connection has proven to be one of the most successful mitigation techniques, but physical contact can be dangerous because of the pandemic. Dialogue through letter-writing can create invaluable social bonds without potentially exposing elderly participants to COVID-19. The senior participants in our pilot grew up writing letters and communicating via physical mail so the pen-pal program was extremely comfortable to this generation. Pen-pal programs create a viable and sustainable solution, accessible for all generations to reduce the negative effects the pandemic has had on the elderly

Literary pen pals: Correspondence about books between university students and elementary students

In a semester-long, pen pal exchange between 3rd and 4th graders with college students enrolled in a Children\u27s literature class, I wanted to engage students in critical thinking about what they read and to involve students in authentic literacy activities. Using qualitative methodology of recognizing patterns and culling themes from more than 200 letters about books, I examined the nature of the letters, categorized the kinds of questions asked, and noted the patterns of communications between the pen pal pairs in order to glean the benefits to both groups. Both elementary and college students learned about books, about themselves, and about one another

The official student newspaper of the University of Alaska Southeast - Juneau

MIXED REVIEWS ON ASSESSMENT -- USUAS GETS POLITICAL -- Maggie for President -- Indifference towards war alarms student -- Swedish student seeks correspondence with Alaskan pen pal -- Take out the politics -- Counselor Follett bade farewell -- Nunsense - it's not just for Catholics anymore -- Arizona inmate seeks friendship, correspondence -- USUAS President's Message -- UAS Celebrates ten years with JRC -- The Cure releases newest / oldest hits during pirate radio show -- UAS B-Ball Boosters -- Awareness to Involvement? -- A favorite at UAS -- Campus is not the Indy 500 -- State Mishandles Land Trus

Raising Cultural Awareness in Undergraduate Students through an Online Pen Pal Program

International written communication networks, such as pen pal programs, help spread cultural awareness by connecting people from around the world. Competent intercultural communication is the foundation for strong global partnerships. It encourages diversity, increases academic achievement, and gives individuals a competitive edge in the global workforce. This study examines changes in the cultural awareness of 50 U.S. undergraduate participants enrolled in an intercultural communication course at a northwestern university after they exchange private, online pen pal letters with 50 international partners from across the globe. The U.S. participants were divided into Group A (test-group) and Group B (control-group) and then a pretest was administered to both groups to assess their cultural awareness before the letter exchange began. The Group A exchange was conducted over a two-week period, after which the U.S. participants were re-tested. The Group B began their exchange after the second test. The results of the tests were analyzed to determine whether the pen pal program increased cultural awareness in the U.S. undergraduate participants. Although no statistical increase was found, a lot of information and data was collected that future researchers and educators can use to develop their own programs

From Infanticide to Activism: The Transformation of Emotions and Identity in Self-Help Movements

Taylor and Leitz trace processes of collective identity construction and politicization among women suffering from postpartum psychiatric illness who have been convicted of infanticide. Joining a growing body of research suggesting that self‐help and consumer health movements can be a significant force for change in both the cultural and political arenas, Taylor and Lietz examine one such movement, a pen‐pal network of women incarcerated for committing infanticide. Taylor and Leitz show how a sense of collective identity fostered by the pen‐pal network triggered a profound emotional transformation in participants, allowing them to convert shame and loneliness into pride and solidarity, and encouraging their participation in efforts to change how the medical and legal system treat postpartum psychiatric illness.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/peace_books/1000/thumbnail.jp

THEUSE OF PEN PAL PROJECT TO TEACH WRITING SKILL OF RECOUNT TEXT TO THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMAN 1 TRENGGALEK

AbstrakMenulis adalah salah satu keterampilan yang sangat penting di zaman sekarang karena bahasa Inggris telah digunakan dalam banyak sektor. Lebih jauh lagi, menulis dianggap sebagai keterampilan yang paling sulit diantari keterampilan lain untuk dikuasai. Kosakata yang sedikit, kurangnya pengetahuan pada tata bahasa dan kekacauan dalam structure teks menjadi beberapa alasan yang membuat siswa takut untuk menulis. Terlebih, siswa mudah merasa bosan ketika menulis karena mereka beranggapan bahwa tidak ada sesuatu yang menyenangkan ketika mereka belajar menulis. Dari beberapa alasan tersebut, sangat penting bagi guru untuk menggunakan strategi mengajar yang tepat. Siswa dapat berkomunikasi dengan Bahasa Inggris secara efektif dengan bertukar surat. Sahabat pena merupakan istilah bagi seseorang yang bertukar surat untuk berteman dengan orang lain. Surat menyurat dapat memberikan sesuatu untuk dibaca dan juga ditulis karena siswa juga harus menulis balasan surat.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui implementasi dari penggunaan surat menyurat untuk mengajar keterampilan menulis teks recount untuk siswa kelas sepuluh. Disamping itu, penelitian ini juga berguna untuk mengetahui respon siswa terhadap strategi pembelajaran tersebut setelah pelaksanaan surat menyurat dengan sahabat pena. Penelitian ini menggunakan deskriptif kualitatif. Subjek dalam penelitian dalam studi ini adalah siswa kelas X-IIS 2 SMAN 1 Trenggalek. Peneliti menggunakan lembar observasi untuk mengamati pelaksanaan surat meyurat dengan sahabat pena. Hal ini berguna untuk mengetahui yang terjadi dalam keseluruhan proses belajar dan mengajar. Selain itu, untuk mengetahui respon dari siswa, peneliti membagikan lembar kuesioner kepada 32 siswa.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa surat menyurat dengan sahabat pena bisa menarik keinginan siswa untuk belajar menulis khususnya menulis teks recount. Hal ini di buktikan siswa aktif selama proses belajar mengajar. Sebagai tambahan, guru juga menerapkan penggunaan surat menyurat dalam pengajaran menulis recount teks dengan baik. Guru menggunakan enam sintak dalam Kurikulum 2013 sebagai pusat dari Project Based Learning. Selain itu, guru juga membimbing siswa dengan baik sesuai dengan teory dari Brown dan Hood (1989). Hasil penelitian ini juga menunjukkan bahwa dalam pengajaran menulis teks recount melalui bertukar surat dengan sahabat pena mendapat tangapan positif dari siswa. Kebosanan siswa dalam menulis dapat dikurangi. Siswa juga setuju bahwa teknik ini membantu mereka dalam meningkatkan kemampuan mereka dalam menulis.Dari hasil dan analisis, dapat disimpulkan bahwa surat menyurat dengan sahabat pena dapat menjadi strategi mengajar yang efektif dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran menulis terutama dalam teks recount. Strategi ini dapat meningkatkan kemampuan bahasa Inggris mereka dan memotivasi siswa untuk menjadi penulis yang lebih baik. Akhirnya, penulis berharap penyelesaian penelitian ini akan bermanfaat bagi siswa, guru bahasa Inggris, dan peneliti lainnya.Kata Kunci: ketrampilan menulis, surat menyurat, bertukar surat.AbstractWriting is one of the important language skills in this era because it used in many fields of life. Moreover, writing is known to be one of the most difficult skills to be mastered. It is because of the students affraidness and confuseness in delivered their thoughts in written form. Lack of vocabulary, less understanding about grammar and confusion about the structure of the text may became some reasons that make the students are afraid to write. Moreover, students are easily get bored when they write because they often feel that there is no a lot of fun activity while they are write. From those reason it is very important for the teacher to use appropriate teaching strategy. Students can communicate with English effectively trough exchanging letter. Pen pal is the term of people who exchange letters with another‟s to make friends with someone else. Pen pal can provide the students something to read and also something to write because thay also have to write the repply for their pal.This study aimed to find out the implementation of using pen pal project to teach writing recount texts to the tenth grade students. Besides that, it also used to find out the students‟ responses towards the implementation of pen pal project in teaching writing of recount text. The study used descriptive qualitative research. The subject of the study was the students of X-IIS 2 class of SMAN 1 Trenggalek. The researcher used observation sheets to observe the implementation of pen pal. It was used to know what happened in whole teaching and learning process. Besides, to know the students‟ responses, the researcher distributed questionnaire sheets to 32 students.The study showed that pen pal project could attract students‟ willingness in learning to write especally writing recount text. It was proved by the students were very active and enthusiastic during the teaching and learning processes. In addition, the teacher also implemented well toward the use of pen pal project in teaching writing recount text. The teacher used six syntaxes in 2013 Curriculum as the focus of Project Based Learning. Moreover, the teacher also guided the students to write in very good way based on the theory from Brown and Hood (1989). The finding also showed that teaching writing of recount text involving pen pal exchange letter gets a positive response from the students. The students‟ boredom in writing could be reduced. The students agreed that the teaching strategy could help them to improve their writing abilities.From the results and the analysis, it can be concluded that pen pal project can be an effective teaching strategy in the teaching and learning of writing especially recount texts. It can improve their English proficiency and motivates them to be a better writer. Finally, writer expected that the completion of this study will be useful for the students, English teachers, and other researchers.Keywords: Writing skill, Pen Pal, Letter Exchange