This semester, students enrolled in Spanish III are able to get the opportunity to make friends across the globe. In Spanish teacher Jan Good-Bollinger’s class, students wrote ‘all about me’ letters to their pen pals. Good-Bollinger really likes how writing to their penpals is different than the normal activities her students do in class.

“I think that having pen pals is a way for students to make connections that they don’t make when we’re doing activities out of books and on worksheets,” Good-Bollinger said.

Sophomore Meg Green is in Good-Bollinger’s Spanish III class and is excited for the opportunity to understand different students’ culture.

“I am really looking forward to just getting to know that person because I am really excited to see what their life is like in somewhere that isn’t America,” Green said.

The pen pals are from a small town in Spain near Barcelona. Good-Bollinger said this is a positive experience because it is a new activity to most students.

“I like the experience because I feel it gives them a different audience to write to,” Good-Bollinger said. “I [also like it] because I think students connect with something.”

The students are set up with a student from Spain through Edmodo. The Spanish students join Edmodo,  then Good-Bollinger and the teacher from Spain pair the students in small groups where they can communicate with each other. Edmodo is an educational website where students can communicate with other students.  Good-Bollinger will give the students assignments where they have to write about a particular topic but then the kids can also write to each other on their own.

Good-Bollinger said it is a great way for students to understand a different lifestyle.

“It’s different, it uses technology and it uses the connection,”Good-Bollinger said. “I think it just brings more meaning to students, it adds more interest.”