Lesson title: Learning another culture through penpals

Description: Students will learn another countries culture through web research and an
international penpal website. Students will report their communications and what they
learned on a class blog.
Grade/subject: Language Arts grades 7/8
Length of activity: approximately 4 weeks long as an adjunct assignment
Activities:
1. Students will experience the penpal glogster found here:
http://jeffochs.edu.glogster.com/mr-ochss-penpal-project/
2. Students must take the time to click around the glog to get an idea what they
will be researching.
3. From this glog, they will follow the links to the penpal site and the class blog.
a. Student must sign up for an account using their school email account.
b. They must pick a country to find a penpal and make initial contact.
c. Some penpals may not respond so they should have a back up contact in
reserve.
4. Each week, students must research one aspect of culture in that country to add
to the class blog.
a. Week 1- music & musicians/bands
b. Week 2- sports and activities
c. Week 3- art & artists
d. Week 4- food
5. Each week, student must attempt to make contact with their penpal and ask
them about the topic of the week to include on their blog post.
6. Posting to the class blog:
a. The blog site is on the glog and here: www.blog-city.info/en/25510
b. The blog password for everyone is: 2014
c. Students must post a minimum of a 5 sentence paragraph describing the
weeks topic including the feedback from the penpal. Student must also
add at least one photo, video, or other multimedia related to the topic on
the blog post.
d. Students may comment appropriately on other students blogs for extra
credit (1 pt per)
Assessment: Each blog post is worth 25pts (20 for writing, 5 pts for multimedia post)