E-PALS: ICETD 2019

E-PALS:

e-pal (noun) : a person that you make friends with by sending email. Often someone you have never met (also known as e-friend)

REVISITING THE IMPACT OF PEN-PALS TO ESL LEARNERS

HAZWAN BIN HAMDAN Fulbright TEA Scholar 2019
SABK Maahad Ehyak Dinniah Islamiah (MEDI) University of North Carolina Wilmington
Kg. Gajah, Perak North Carolina, USA

?

RIDDLE OF THE DAY

WHAT STAYS AT ONE CORNER BUT
CAN TRAVEL ALL OVER THE WORLD?

SYNOPSIS

Students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama
(SMKA) Sultan Azlan Shah, Bota, Perak together with
students from Goochland High School, Virginia, United
States participated in the E-Pals Activity which was
administered by two English as a Second Language (ESL)
teachers. 19 students from SMKA Sultan Azlan Shah had
collaborated with 25 students from Goochland High
School and this activity lasted for a year. The
collaborating school was chosen because the students of
the school are mainly speaking in English at home (native
speaker)

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

64% 50% 75%

CONFIDENCE KNOWLEDGE UNDERSTANDING

Students are not confidence to Students have lack of Students feel the need to have
use the language outside the knowledge about other cross cultural exchange and
classroom. countries. understanding.

Pen-pals E-Pals

• Pen-and-paper approach • Integrating GMail and Google
• Editing = making the paper Docs account

'dirty' • Peer editing through Google
• Teacher = less control over the Docs = 'share & edit' function

content • Teacher = every email must be
• Time consuming = 2 - 3 weeks CC-ed to Teacher

(considering Air Mail) • Time used to plan and do peer
• $$$ editing

• No cost - considering the
activity is being done during
school hours

PEN-PALS vs E-PALS

1

OBJECTIVES

EVALUATE ENCOURAGE

students’ increase in cross-cultural relationship
knowledge and between students from
confidence to Malaysia and the United States.
communicate about
cultural understanding,
language acquisition
and current issues.

2 OPPORTUNITY

USEFULNESS to plan, write and get
respond from reader of
COMMUNICATE same age and cognitive
level.
with native speakers of
English.

PHOTO EXCHANGES All emails must be cc- SOCIAL MEDIA
ed to teachers from
Participants are not both schools. This is facebook? twitter?
allowed to exchange to ensure that the snapchat?
personal photos with emails are fulfilling
each other. the needs/topics participants will not
assigned. be allowed to share
their accounts as the
COPY FOR TEACHERS activity is
academically-focused
at the same time.

GOVERNED BY RULES

*failed to do so, activity will be terminated

3 2019 PETRONAS
SCHOLARSHIP
IMPACT RECIPIENT

19 PARTICIPANTS (11 OPTED-OUT)

KENNEDY-LUGAR DKLS LINGUISTICS RUNNER-UP
YOUTH EXCHANGE & AWARDS PUBLIC SPEAKING
STUDY (YES) SCHOLAR PA R T I C I PA N T COMPETITION
(2019) (2018) (2018)

OPT-OUT COOPERATIVE AND
OPPORTUNITY COLLABORATIVE
STRATEGY
“I DON'T WANT”
“PAK 21?”

“I WANT IT GRADED” “NO ONE READS...”

NON-GRADED AUTHENTIC
ASSESSMENT AUDIENCE

VALUE ADDED

WE 'VIRTUALLY' VISITED VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES

GOOCHLAND HIGH SCHOOL

Partner-Teacher: Andrew Nash
(History Teacher)

THANK YOU

[email protected] | +6017 955 1697 | fb.com/hazwanhn