Erudition via ePals

     In2books is such an amazing idea that I don't understand why other countries don't replicate it, with permission of course.  In2books requires adult pen pals of the students to be "carefully" screened.  Five books are read each year by both the adult and the student. Subsequently, six to ten emails are exchanged.  One is an introduction or "getting to know you" letter and then five to nine letters are about the previously read book, to share opinions and ideas about important parts.  I am so impressed with in2books because rather than simply focusing on passing a course, students would be motivated to communicate with their pen pals.  I would implement in2books by first researching students' interests and subsequently finding pertinent books to match the learning objectives.  Then we would begin the in2books pen pal project regarding the chosen books.. A detailed in2books rubric is provided on the website but I might add an activity of asking students to write  brief reviews of their books to be published in a classroom newspaper. Also important is that teachers have the option of making comments or suggestions to each other.   In2books is a feature of a learning tool entitled "ePals."
     As a free email service, ePals targets students in Kindergarten  through 12th grade.  According to the website,  educators can monitor e-mails, block attachments, limit correspondence and ePals is ad free.
Students can  learn about other cultures and become role models to peers in another country who are learning English. Teachers post to request pen pals, participants for projects or to seek advice.  One wonderful feature was the ePals global community forum in which people post general information about their classroom or their learners in order to find a match with another class or group.  Features such as games, poems, lesson plans, curriculum and art creation (via the ePals clubhouse) sounded wonderful but were inaccessible to me unless I were willing to sign up.  
      "Junior Folklorist Challenge"  is also a project presented  as a contest on the ePals website.  The idea is to find somebody in the community to interview and tell that person's story in seven minutes or less via podcast, video or slide show.   The story might be about work, a hobby, celebrations or anything of interest to the interviewer.  I like the idea but initially I would modify it by limiting it to my classroom rather than involving the community.  Students would write  a hobby, skill, interest, recipe or anything unique about themselves.  I would distribute the information so students interview one another and create a presentation such as a video which might be in the form of a news report.  Although the interviewer would not choose the topic, everyone would be interviewed and the interviewer perhaps might discover a new passion.  Such a project would inspire learners (from various countries) in an ESL class to enhance knowledge about different cultures.
     Another ePals project is "The Spark Lab Global Invent-It Challenge."   People ages five to 18 would select a real world problem and then find a solution individually or as a group.   This is a quintessential activity because it requires creativity and imagination. I would ask learners to brainstorm genuine problems and together contemplate solutions. Subsequently, ideas could be presented to the class and if appropriate to politicians or journalists.  This project might be modified to be about problems in the school or in the classroom.   
      In conclusion, communication is a critical motivator of all the projects featured on the ePals website and communication is the reason for reading and writing in the first place.  I very much look forward to implementing in2books, the Junior Folklorist Challenge and the Spark Lab Global Invent-It Challenge as a unique way to accomplish learning goals.