A la hora de aprender idiomas es necesario buscar herramientas para complementar nuestro aprendizaje. Un Pen Pal se refiere a una persona que escribe a otra por correo, ya sea postal o electrónico.
Es posible buscar y conectar con un Pen Pal según nuestros intereses, hobbies, edades u ocupaciones o para practicar una lengua; aunque hay quienes no persiguen ningún interés en concreto, sino que solo quieren hacer amigos, conocer culturas o aprender cosas nuevas.
Un Pen Pal es más que un amigo al que escribes cartas. Puede ser de cualquier parte del mundo, niños o adulto, nativo del lenguaje que practicamos o hablar cualquier otro idioma.
Un Pen Pal es más que un amigo al que escribes cartas. Puede ser de cualquier parte del mundo, niños o adulto, nativo del lenguaje que practicamos o hablar cualquier otro idioma.
Los adultos somos conscientes de la importancia de aprender otro idioma, pero para los alumnos, esto adquiere mayor importancia y sentido cuando lo utilizan con un propósito. Escribir cartas a otros compañeros para practicar un idioma tiene muchas ventajas:
- Aprender y practicar diferentes lenguas. Además, en caso de que nuestros Pen Pals estén interesados, también podemos enseñarles nuestro idioma.
- Conocer otras culturas. Ofrece la oportunidad para los estudiantes que aprenden otro idioma de compartir cartas con otros alumnos alrededor del mundo, hecho que ayuda a expandir el conocimiento y a sentirse más cerca del Pen Pal.
- Anima al alumno a utilizar métodos creativos de lectura, escritura y dibujo para comunicarse en otro idioma. Además, le ayuda a introducir nuevos contenidos que expanden su vocabulario y a mejorar su gramática, deletreo, signos de puntuación y estructura.
- Da confianza al alumno sobre sus habilidades en otro idioma. A parte, mejora la capacidad de trabajo cooperativo con sus compañeros, a enfatizar con diferentes perspectivas y a evitar o mejorar conflictos.
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| RECOMENDACIONES
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| Asegurarnos de que el otro va a contestar a nuestras cartas estableciendo un compromiso mutuo. |
| Definir bien el propósito del intercambio de cartas, ofrecer un objetivo al alumno para que sepa de qué hablar y cómo. Así no se sentirán intimidados a la hora de escribir o preguntar. |
Las faltas de ortografía y gramática a la hora de escribir cartas a un Pen Pal hacen que la esencia de las mismas merece la pena que no sean corregidas para darles mayor autenticidad. |
PEN PALS
When it comes to learning languages, it is necessary to look for tools to complement our learning.
We can define Pen Pals as those people who write to others by mail, either by postcards or email. It is possible to search and connect with a Pen Pal according to our interests, hobbies, ages, and occupations, or just to practice a language. However, there are also those who seek them without any specific interest, just in order to meet friends, exchange cultures, or learn new things.
A Pen Pal is more than a friend to write letters to. They can be from any part of the world, they can be a boy or girl, and they can be native of the language that we want to practice or be speakers of another language entirely.
Adults know the importance of learning another language, but for students, language learning becomes more important and meaningful when they use it for a purpose. Writing letters to other children to practice a language has many advantages:
We can learn and practice different languages by communicating with native / non-native speakers. «Writing letters has another excellent advantage -it helps you to learn foreign languages as you communicate with native speakers» (Sundman, 2006). Also, if our Pen Pals are interested, we can teach them our own language too.- It offers the opportunity for students who learn another language to share letters with other children around the world, so they can learn about different cultures, a fact that helps to expand their knowledge and feel closer to the Pen Pal.
- It encourages students to focus on real life issues and to use creative methods of reading, writing and drawing to communicate in another language. In addition, it helps students to introduce new content that expands their vocabulary and improves their grammar, spelling, punctuation and structure.
- It helps to build students confidence and develop their skills in another language. In addition, it improves their capacity for cooperative work with classmates because it emphasizes different perspectives and avoids conflicts.
Despite the large number of advantages we can find, it is necessary to say that exchanging letters with a Pen Pal has two small drawbacks. The first one is the potential lack of response from the people on the other side of the messages we send. This makes the students feel frustrated when they see that they have no one to answer. The second problem, easier to solve, is that it is used for no specific purpose. Therefore, it is important to connect this experience with the curriculum and lead the students to have contact with these people. It is necessary to offer them an objective, so that when children meet people from other countries, they do not feel intimidated because they do not know what to talk about or what to ask. Finally, it is necessary to clarify that the spelling and grammar mistakes that students make when writing letters are an important part of the Pen Pal process because they give the letters an essence of authenticity.
