
Every student is paired with a minimum of three people from over 170 countries to learn together and discuss the things that make their country, city, and culture unique. Together the students will go through a six-week course designed by PenPal Schools. Each week has a new theme, reading, and videos as well as questions to respond to generate conversations. All of the work is done by PenPal Schools, all you have to do is sign up your classes!
This is a great way to generate curiosity and inquiry among students and it has shown to have such an effect on Mrs. Godwin’s students as they worked through the World Explorer course. They pull up maps to find the location(s) of their pen pals in relation to Grandview and spend extra time researching the things that they don’t understand (this was particularly handy in the discussions about food)!
PenPal Schools is offered free of charge to low-income districts or teachers can pay the $25 course fee to sponsor another teacher’s class. What an easy way to give students an opportunity to learn and collaborate around the world!