ePals

I have a friend that is a middle school teacher at a inner city school in Richmond, Virginia.  Her and I would exchange email messages while I was living in Beijing and she shared some of her desires for her students.  She mentioned that almost none of them had ever been out of the city of Richmond, let alone the state or country.  She knows the invaluable experience of going to an unfamiliar land and wanted to give this to her students in the hopes that it may intrisically motivate one of them.  She asked me to set up a skype session with a local Chinese class to simulate the experience of travelling.  However, we weren't able to do this for a number of reasons, most notably because I simply wasn't connected to the right educators that could make this happen.

I really wish I would've known about the site ePals.  ePals connects educators from all over the world, usually for foreign language exchange.  However, this also provides an opportunity for an e-immersion experience for both parties that are connected.  Students can join their teachers in conversations with others overseas.  It's a wonderful tool that I wish was around for my friend in Richmond when she was seeking it.