An “Anachronism” is something lost in time. It belongs somewhere else. People may even call this thing “old fashioned.” Certainly in this time of instant messaging and FaceTime calls, the lost art of letter writing can seem a little bit anachronistic. But that has not stopped this paired group of young students from engaging in a valuable shared exchange of cultural information over the past year.
Students at St. Peter’s Primary School in Uganda and students at Eagle Heights Public School in Canada began by actually hand writing letters and then mailing them through the international postal system to their partner school. Unfortunately, the letters took close to two months to arrive. This delay seriously threatened the viability of the project. It did not take long for a modern day solution to be found. After hand writing the letters (no computers allowed), they get scanned at the school, are converted into PDFs which are then emailed to the partner school and printed off for distribution to their students. The Parent Council of Eagle Heights has generously agreed to absorb all scanning and printing costs for BOTH schools in this project.
This project has not been without some challenges to overcome. The two schools do not share the same school year. There are windows of time when students at one school are not present to answer their pen-pal’s letters. This time gap can sometimes impact student commitment and overall motivation. Fortunately, there are exceptional teachers at both schools who are shepherding this project which has taken on the moniker of “Linked by Ink.” Without steady teacher involvement and enthusiasm, students might drift and forget about their letter writing. The fact that this project is now heading into its second year is a testament to the tenacity of the staff and students involved at both schools.
It was so great for our school students having been connected to Eagle Heights school.
Great Thanks to its School administration especially Lorie,her teachers, students, their parents and our dear Stephen who introduced the pen pal project to both schools.That letter writing has made an incredible achievement to our students.Whenever the replies are received here , the school is filled up with much joy/excitement because of the exposure to various information from your country that used to be got at secondary level , but our students are getting it while still in primary level.
We are very happy and congratulate every participant for making two years of letter writing between two schools.
From such there has been much experience,laughter’s shared through the letters and my humble wish is to have it continued throughout on both sides.
All our students would wish to join the project though they do learn from the replies of the other ones who do participate.
What an amazing experience for all the students involved. It is a real learning experience for our students to get to see how other students their age ‘function’ without technology. Our students are grasping how different things are and how exciting those differences can be. Our students are so excited to hear from their pen pals. they jump right in and respond immediately writing questions, responding to questions posed and drawing pictures. This is a terrific experience for all involved. Our students think it is ‘cool’ that I am also writing a pen pal. I enjoy writing to your school nurse. We are developing a solid connection. I am proud that our project is entering year 2. With the excitement of our students, this project will continue for years to come!