[etni] Re: Virtual Visitors sought
- From: Jack Pillemer <jackpil@xxxxxxx>
- To: etni questions <ask@xxxxxxxx>, ETNI posts <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:34:19 +0200
Hi all,
THANK YOU
As always, I have been helped by this community - ETNI - and would like to
thank you.
In response to my request to help me find virtual visitors, 12 teachers now
have partners abroad writing to specific classes in Israel.
I have 3 virtual visitors spare who are willing to write to a class. They are
up for grabs!
If you are interested in having someone write to your class I'll be happy to
make the connection between you and a virtual visitor and send you the ideas on
how to make this work.
Just let me know.
Marlene, a teacher iin Jerusalem, has a virtual visitor and she described to
her how her pupils responded when the letter arrived.
I wish you could see the children's reaction when I brought your response to
the class. One class simply broke out in applause shouting "yesh" - the
approximate Hebrew equivalent to "yes... got it... hooray...".
I read the letter to the class throwing a glance at those whose names were
mentioned in the letter. They were excited, embarrased, overwhelmed etc
Such a seemingly simple idea of finding a virtual adult penpal for kids, has
turned out to be a tremendous success. They are so motivated to write, they are
so eager to get a personal response to what they have written!
Unbelievable!"........
I'm sure I will need more virtual visitors in the future, so please don't stop
helping me find them as you did this time.
Jack Pillemer
If you don't know what I'm talking about , see below and site
www.geocities.com/pillemerjack for details
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I have set up a project called the Virtual Visitor which aims at bringing the
"outside world of English into the classroom."
I am looking for a number of kind decent adult English speakers living outside
of Israel (the Virtual Visitor) who might be willing to write to an Israeli
English class (grade 5 or 6 mostly) every once in a while a letter of 10-15
lines every few weeks which would be sent by email to the teacher of the
class.
The teacher would receive the letter and take it to class (printed and
photocopied or by any other method) and use it as an authentic text for the
purpose of learning whatever the text has to offer (vocabulary, grammar, style,
trigger for discussion, springboard for writing etc).
The English teacher reports back to the Virtual Visitor by email after the
class telling what was done with the letter and asks for the 2nd letter to be
sent and suggests ideas of what to write about and so on. The correspondence
continues for as long as it manges to serve its purpose. The class may also
get to communicate with the Virtual Visitor through the teacher (class asks
questions which teacher writes down) or in groups or individually etc.
Last year two Virtual Visitors materialized and went to visit their classes in
the Galil in a celebration of English that can only be envied.
With time the Virtual Visitor becomes integral to the class with a corner
devoted to him/her containing letters, pictures, real postcards, maps etc.
So here it is: I need you! Please think of someone you know who may be willing
to be a Virtual Visitor. Please forward this letter together with a brief
explanation and ask them to contact me if they are prepared to become Virtual
Visitors. I'll link them up with a teacher and explain to both parties what to
do.
Jack Pillemer jackpil@xxxxxxx
They should write Virtual Visitor <name> in the subject line of the email.
At the moment I need eight Virtual Visitors
If you yourself would like to participate and get a virtual visitor for your
own class (all grades all levels), let me know and I'll pass on any extra
Virtual Visitors I accumulate.
For more detail about the project ( and ideas on what to do with the letters)
plus reports from two schools go to www.geocities.com/pillemerjack (The site
is a bit of a mess but the links work)
Thank you
Jack Pillemer
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