Going global with ePals

Taking the notion of user-generated content seriously, ePals does a wonderful job of connecting teachers and students in an online global community that has something for just about everyone. One of the things I thought about doing with my fourth and final lesson plan on North Korea had to do with somehow connecting with a school in that country to find out what their educational system was like. A teacher from the U.K. had posted a similar request, although considering how isolated and closed-off North Korea is, that's probably a long shot.

Still, it's a noble idea, something that ePals specializes in. Although ePals doesn't just traffic in ideas. It puts them into motion. There's a very strong interactive quality to ePals that's attractive for teachers. One of the real interesting activities I noticed was in one of the forums. Called "Ask Elia," it gave students a chance to send questions to a global explorer who was in the process of climbing Mount Everest. What an amazing opportunity to be able to talk with someone who is attempting such a monumental task - one that students might even dream of doing themselves one day.

The Learning Centers area is also packed with activities for students connecting with others around the world. Along with interactive games, there's a section called "Global Citizens" that gets students thinking about how they can actually become global citizens, which is something that is often talked about but also an idea that's hard to act on. Also, the area that deals with current events offers a wealth of articles on topics ranging from the Boston Marathon bombing to cyber bullying and gun violence in schools. Many of the subjects relate to what children see on the news, what they are going through in their daily lives or what they are talking about to their friends. I can see this area being of great value to social studies teachers, much like the Smithsonian section.

A social studies teacher could set up a virtual tour of the Smithsonian through ePals and have students research a number of topics, including the music of the Bahamas. There's a link to an area on the Natural World, which gets students to start thinking like scientists. This would offer classes a wide, almost never-ending range of cross-curricular opportunities for those educators who can think creatively in planning imaginative lessons for their students. Those teachers who use ePals would benefit greatly from it.