ePal

    The online community ePal provides a great learning platform for people from all over the world to share their work, ideas, projects and everything. The projects are not only about language learning but also about math, science, art and music.

  One project is designed to invite students from all over the world to discuss natural disasters. Students with their ePals discuss how the natural disasters, say hurricane, form, how people react, and how to deal with it. After their exploration, they will produce a presentation and teach others about this natural disaster.

   As for language teachers, ePal is beneficial for teaching language and arranging activities. The project that I like the most is one of the tasks in the Student Speak Video Series: I’m a global citizen. In this task, the students are asked to make a video to define global citizen based on their own understanding. When giving the direction of this task, its generator first includes his/her thoughts in defining a global citizen, such as someone who understands the interconnectedness of the word, who believes in responsible stewardship of the environment, who has a respect for human rights and cares about injustice, and who promotes peaceful conflict resolution. To prevent the video resulting in any other forms, the sample video as a demonstration and the guidelines are presented. One of the reasons that I love this project is the pool of ideas towards a topic. Students with different cultural and educational background bring their unique interpretations to share. By reviewing other’s video, they will sense the cultural diversity, make friends and learn from each other. Another reason is that it also helps to practice critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Besides learning and practicing using English, they could put their English learning in authentic contexts.