Looking for letter writing inspiration, or just interested in seeing what others are writing about? Here’s a small sample list of penpal, postcard and letter writing blogs on the internet:

• Snail Mail Pals and Swaps
• S.mail ~ A Letter Writing Blog
• GirlZootZilla
• Goodnight Little Spoon
• Just Letter Rip
• The Missive Maven
• 365 Letters
• S-FIMail (one view of mail art)
• A Postcard a Day
• The Pen Archives
• A Year of Letters
• Letters & Journals

One of the hardest aspects of an international penpal exchange is often the language barrier.

Here’s a tip: You can get instant translation of a web page by adding the following javascript to your web browser bookmark bar:

javascript:void(location.href=’http://translate.google.com/translate?u=’+location.href)

In Firefox, bookmark the current page and choose ‘Bookmarks Toolbar’ as the destination. Next, go to ‘Organize bookmarks’, choose the just saved bookmark and in the location field copy and paste the above javascript code. Now change the title of the bookmark to ‘Translate’ (or something familiar). Finally, when you are on a page which is in another language, simply click on this bookmark and it will translate the page!

Now encourage your penpal to add this to their browser and then you can easily share links, etc. Happy penpal-ing!

Going Postal?

Sending a traditional penpal letter by international mail is a wonderful experience as much for you as your recipient. For reference, here’s a small list of worldwide postal offices on Wikipedia.

• An Post (Ireland)
• Australia Post (Australia)
• Bulgarian Posts (Bulgaria)
• Canada Post (Canada)
• China Post, 中国邮政 (People’s Republic of China)
• Chunghwa Post, 中華郵政 (Republic of China)
• Correos (Spain)
• Correos de Costa Rica SA (Costa Rica)
• Correios (Brazil)
• CTT (Portugal)
• Deutsche Post (Germany)
• De Post, La Poste, Die Post or The Post (Belgium)
• Hongkong Post (Hong Kong)
• Indian Postal Service (India)
• Indonesian Post – Pos Indonesia (Indonesia)
• I.R.I Post (Iran)
• Íslandspóstur (Iceland)
• Israel Post, דואר ישראל (Israel) (Formerly Israeli Postal Authority, רשות הדואר)
• Japan Post (Japan)
• Jersey Post, (Jersey)
• La Poste (France)
• Magyar Posta (Hungary)
• New Zealand Post (New Zealand)
• PhilPost-Philippine Postal Corporation (Philippines)
• Poczta Polska (Poland)
• Post Danmark (Denmark)
• Poste Italiane (Italy)
• Posten (Norway)
• Posten (Sweden)
• Pošta Srbije (Serbia)
• Poşta Română (Romania)
• Postverk Føroya (Faroe Islands)
• PTT (Turkey)
• Royal Mail (United Kingdom)
• Russian Post (Russian: Почта России) (Russian Federation)
• Sociedad Estatal Correos y Telégrafos (Spain)
• Suomen Posti (Finland)
• Swiss Post (Switzerland)
• TPG Post, formerly PTT (The Netherlands)
• United States Postal Service (USA)
• Česká pošta (Czech Republic)

Comment if you have additions that I may have missed.

You don’t have to be an English major to write successful letters to your pen pal.

Write from your heart and use your creativity. Here are a few suggestions for writing snail mail:

• Begin each message with a pleasant greeting. Hand-write your letter as neatly as you can and always use your own words.
• Respond first to the news and information that your pen pal shared in his or her last message. But don’t just answer your pals questions, ask a few of your own so you can keep the letters flowing between you.
• If you have just started corresponding, tell your pen pal a little bit about yourself and why you think you would be a great pen pal.
• Share information about the things that are going on in your life at the moment.
• Try to keep your letter short enough that it can be read in one sitting.
• Pace the revelation of personal information. Remember that telling too much about your life too soon could scare away a new penfriend.
• Avoid controversial topics – at least in the beginning of your relationship.
• End each letter with a note with encouragement for your pen pal to reply. (“I look forward to hearing from you soon” or something similar would be appropriate.)

Finally, use nice or unique writing paper and envelope. Address it neatly, legible and correctly by hand. Don’t print it off the computer or type. It should look personal. Clearly put your return address on the envelope. Put the stamp on straight and send it airmail.

Although we have not yet reviewed many of these sites, the following is a definitive list of links which will help teachers find student pen pal exhanges for their classrooms.

• SAPE: Their primary goal is to find postal mail (“snail-mail”) penfriends for more than 100,000 people in the Baltics and former Soviet Union.
• ePals (review): Safely connect, collaborate and learn using their leading protected email and blog solutions for schools and districts.
• Student Letter Exchange: For over 70 years, The Student Letter Exchange has matched English speaking Pen Pals with students, ages 9-18, across the US and around the world.
• Europa Pages: Find an English, French, Spanish, German or other language speaking class.
• School Pen Pal Exchange: Alphabetical listing (by country) of schools wanting to exchange Pen Pal letters with other schools.

The web sites listed above have not been reviewed and only briefly validated by easy Penpals. Please be vigilant and take care if utilizing one of these services.

The advantages of introducing a classroom penpal project for your students should be considered heavily.

Why? Whether guided by a program or curriculum (or not), classroom penpal exchanges can be beneficial to students because they get to practice reading and writing, and use language not to communicate with their teacher in a contrived environment, but as an authentic medium for expressing ideas, thoughts and beliefs to a real audience.

We suggest that a teacher who gets involved in this type of project consider the following:

1. – Choose the other teacher you will be working with carefully; otherwise, you might end up being alone and encountering major difficulties with the project.
2. – Maintain personal email contacts with the teacher involved in the project. This is one of the most important items because if something goes wrong with a pal or the project, the teacher can identify the problem and try to find a solution.
3. – Make sure you and the other teacher have the same objectives. Discuss the objectives and what you want your students to achieve with the penpal project.
4. – Discuss and establish a definite beginning and end for the project with the other teacher. Each project has to have its time span set from the very beginning so that any necessary adjustments can be made by the teacher.

There are additional considerations with regards to the students:

1. – Pair the students off according to their language level and age.
2. – Make sure the students write to their pals regularly and reply to all email or letters received. To avoid problems, it’s a good policy to ask students to give you a copy (if by email, a cc) every time they send a message or letter to their pals.
3. – Be motivated and do your best to motivate the students.
4. – Assist the students whenever they need it. The students must know that the teacher is guiding them, even though s/he is not evaluating their work, and the project is not part of their class grade.
5. – Make sure the students commit themselves to the project and to you. Establish deadlines for work and be strict about sticking to them. It’s also important to keep tabs on the students’ work, especially if you want to analyze their progress throughout a project.
6. – Ask students to write a report at the end of the project about their successes and problems. The students’ report can help a teacher to evaluate the project, to identify its advantages and drawbacks, and to find ways to improve it.

Penpal projects are a great way of practicing technology (for email exchanges) or good pen-manship (for letter writing) in language teaching and learning and should not be overlooked as a tool in your teaching arsenal.

Although there are many legitimate people around the world looking for sincere penpal exchanges, please be wary of the following penpal scams:

The “International Youth Conference” scam

The person pretends to be sponsoring or working with an “International Youth Conference” of some kind, and tries to get you to send them money for registration fees, hotel reservations, etc. Many times, it all looks very real and legitimate. Sometimes, they will use a name similar to that of a real International organization or NGO.

The “Help me get Millions out of the Country” or “Help me invest my money” or “419″ scam

Person pretends to be a relative of a former dictator, prince, princess, or rich person from another country and asks for your help to get millions of dollars out of their country. They usually promise you a percentage of the millions. Once they get your phone number, bank account number, or other information, they drain your accounts dry and leave you hanging. Please read the US State Department’s information about advance fee scams for more information.

The person pretends to have suffered a terrible loss, or a terrible illness, pretends to have a sick child, or little sister, or other family member, and begs for money to help them.

The person asks for money to help them attend school in your country.

The person says it is the custom in their country to send gifts, but never sends you a gift first.

The “I love you, really” scam

The person pretends a romantic interest in you, and then tries to get you to send them money to visit your country, get a manuscript or book published, get medical help, etc. Here’s a note I received from someone who was scammed with a romance tactic:

Hello, I was scammed , but it wasn’t by them asking me for money, it was a different kind of scam. First, he romanced me for 4 months, then asked me to cash a check for him, saying I could keep some of the money. For 4 months he pretended to be in love with me, we were to get married and I was to move to London where he said he lived. The scam check was for 27,545.00. I was to wire 25,000 to a Japan and Lagos, Nigeria, and send 2,000 by Western Union. When he didn’t get the 25,000, he got mad and called the wedding off. Of course, he sent a very sexy pic, but would never get on a cam. For 5 months he did this. Then another man tried the same scam right after all this happened! It wasn’t through an e-mail, he had instant messaged me from London, so he said. I was chatting in a US chatroom at the time. So, I hope you can warn other females.

Remember: emails sent through Penpal Party usually contain the Internet IP address of the person sending it. If the person says they’re from one country, but their IP is from another country, you need to ask yourself why they would lie about that.

The “Work in our Hotel” scam

Messages come from a person who says they are in Canada and need people to work in their hotel. Generally, these messages come from somewhere in Africa (mostly Senegal, but Guinea Bissau seems to have started doing it also). The Canadian High Commission has warned against this.

These are just a few examples but there are many more. The thieves that perpetrate these type of activities are cunning and adaptable. Please take every precaution not to get duped.

Here are some suggestions to help your child start and maintain a lasting pen pal relationship.

Types of Pen Pals

~~When most people think of having a pen pal, they picture kids in far away places that do not even know how to speak English. You can certainly have an international penpal. It’s a great way to learn all about a new country, their customs, and what they do for fun. Your child may also opt for a pen pal in his/her same country. Perhaps they will find someone that they have a lot in common with, and while distance keeps them apart, they feel close knowing they are from the same country.

~~In the modern world of the internet, pen pal exchanges can take on many forms. Traditional letter writing (through the postal service) is still quite popular but your child might also opt for a pen pal exchange via email.

~~Don’t limit your child to pen paling only with individuals in your native language. Using translation services (such as Google translate), you can effectively correspond with just about anyone in any language.

Communicating with a Pen Pal

~~It is important to respond quickly to a pen pal because they are waiting to hear from your child. Depending on where your child’s friend is located, it could take weeks for her to receive a reply, so answering quickly is a good idea.

~~Letters should be happy and bright, especially in the beginning. No one wants to get mail that is depressing and someone is always complaining. Remember that your child’s pen pal wants to learn about them and know what exciting things are going on in their life.

~~When your child begins writing a letter, make sure he/she never gives out personal information. It is a good idea for you to scan your child’s letters to make sure that they are appropriate. Refer to these safety guidelines.

~~Some countries do not tolerate religious letters or letters with political content, and chances are the letter may not make it to the intended person, if government officials find it offensive to their country.

~~If any subject matter makes you and/or your child uncomfortable when receiving correspondence from a pen pal, drop the communication immediately. There is no need to send a letter back stating that you are terminating the friendship. In this case, less correspondence is better.

Regardless of where you obtain your pen pal references, it is very important that you stay in the whole process with your child, until he/she has become very comfortable with the details. Again, make sure they never give out personal information and always scan your child’s letters to make sure that they are appropriate.