PROJECT PROGRAMME

E‑mail project, senior secondary level

Introduction

In this e‑mail project you are supposed to exchange messages with your partner in a foreign school, learn to know your partner and his/her background as well as possible and find out about the circumstances and habits people have in that particular village/town/city and the country in general. As an upper secondary school student you should not only concentrate on individual or personal interests, though they are also very important, but pay more attention to more general issues like the way our society works, culture in our society, people’s ways of living, etc. You will be given instructions on how to plan your letters. Notice that these guidelines are there to help you, you don’t have to follow them too literally, use your own personal ‘touch’ and your letters will be much more enjoyable for your partner to read. Always remember to be polite and answer the questions your partner has asked in his/her letters. The length of your messages may vary, but a good average would be around 150 ‑ 200 words.

 

Letter 1. I AND MY HOME

In this first letter you should introduce yourself to your partner telling him/her the most essential facts about yourself, your family, your house and the area your live in. Remember to start and finish your letter in a polite way and ask your partner a few extra questions on matters that you expect might be different in your partner’s life.

A few tips to help you with this message:

1. ‑ your name, age, sex and appearance
    ‑ your nationality and mother tongue, other languages that you speak
    ‑ your character and religion
    ‑ your hobbies and interests, your spare time activities

2. ‑ your family members and their ages, jobs and interests
    ‑ your family’s background, your closest relatives
    ‑ the importance of religion in your family

3. ‑ the type of house your family lives in, size, number of rooms and floors, etc.
    ‑ mod cons (modern conveniences), heating system, satellite TV, etc.
    ‑ the neighbourhood, distances to shops and services ‑ urban, suburban, rural   area

It is always very useful to add fascinating details that make your letter more interesting to read.

 

Letter 2. THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN MY COUNTRY AND MY OWN SCHOOL

In this letter you should describe your own school and tell about the school system in your country. Here are some suggestions to help you, but don’t forget to include your personal views as well.

INTRODUCTION OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM IN GENERAL

- When do you start school?
‑ Where do you study during the first six years at school and where do you go      after that?
‑ What is the minimum school‑leaving age?
‑ What possibilities to continue your studies are there after sixteen?
‑ What things are free in schools?
‑ When do you start learning languages?
‑ Which languages are usually studied?
‑ Tell about compulsory and optional subjects and different kinds of courses   (specialization and applied courses).
‑ What is the final exam in senior secondary schools like?

TELLING ABOUT YOUR OWN SCHOOL

‑ Describe the actual school building. ‑ How many students and teachers are there in your school? ‑ How well is your school equipped (computers, etc‑)? ‑What subjects can you take in your school? ‑ Tell about the grades you can get. ‑ Is there a special emphasis on something in your school? ‑ Are there any special events in your school (special projects, theme weeks, school trips abroad, parties)? ‑ How long are your schooldays and how much time is spent doing homework? ‑ What are your favourite subjects? Why? ‑ Tell about the general atmosphere in your school. ‑ What are the student‑teacher relationships like? ‑ What is good and bad about your school?

 

Letter 3. MY MUNICIPALITY

In your third letter you should tell about the municipality in which you live. In other words, the focus is on the services and people of your area. To start with, make sure that you are familiar with the terminology: If you live in a town or a city, use the word ’the municipality’, if you live in the country use the word ’the rural district’.

A few tips to help you with your message:

‑ The type of your municipality and the number of people living there.
‑ How do people make their living? Any big employers in your area? Young people   and work? Unemployment?
‑ What kind of education is offered in your area? Can you get the training for   your future career there?
‑ What services are found in your area? Health care? Sports facilities? Libraries? Music education? Shopping? Is your municipality co‑operating with neighbouring municipalities?
‑ The languages spoken in your area? Any chances to use other languages?

Choose the topics you are most interested in. If you need more information on your municipality, you might find some on the homepage of your municipality or in your library.

Remember a friendly start and finish for your letter and a few questions on your partner’s municipality.

 

Letter 4. SPORTS

Having learnt to know quite a few facts about your partner and his/her background it is now time to move on to more general topics concerning not only your own area but the whole nation and country. In the first of these messages you should deal with sports, this subject being of great significance in many countries throughout the world. You can start your letter from yourself and from your immediate neighbourhood, expanding it to cover sports in different forms in the whole of your home country. To finish with, it might be of interest to your partner to find out something about internationally successful sportsmen and sportswomen in your country.

A few tips to help you with this message:

1. ‑ my own interest in sports, my favourite sport events
    ‑ sports in my school and in my municipality/town
    ‑ sports facilities, places and playing grounds

2. ‑ sports in my home country, national characteristics
    ‑ summer/winter sports, regional differences
    ‑ spectator sports, sports and TV
    ‑ our national sports heroes

3. ‑ our internationally most successful sport events and sportsmen/sportswomen 
    ‑ our greatest successes in the Olympics, world championships, etc.
    ‑ differences between my own country and the rest of the world

This letter gives you a good opportunity to take up exceptional and special details depending on your own preferences. If your partner also finds this topic very interesting, you might exchange more than one message, but remember to be considerate and not ‘push’ too much.

 

Letter 5. LET’S TALK ABOUT CULTURE

In this letter you tell your partner about interesting things in the field of culture in your immediate environment, in the wider area you live in or in the whole country.

1. The immediate environment

If you are not personally too keen on cultural things, you could interview those friends of yours who have hobbies connected with culture (music, dancing, arts, and so on). Find out what their hobbies mean to them, how much time they take and where they can do those things they are interested in. Consider the following options: music schools, music and art camps, choirs, amateur theatre groups, dance groups and evening classes for various study groups.

2. The wider area you live in

You can always enjoy culture by being a spectator in local cinemas, music and dance festivals or folk music festivals, for example. And of course, there are other towns with their theatres, movies, concerts and art exhibitions.

3. The whole country

Think about jazz, rock or chamber music festivals, opera festivals, dance festival, film festivals, festivals for youngsters.

      You could also tell about some internationally known architects, conductors, composers, opera singers, authors, film directors, painters, designers from your country.

Choose the topic for your letter from groups 1 to 3 and concentrate on the areas of culture that you personally find interesting. If you like, you can plan‑ a cultural one‑day trip to some place in your country. Remember to tell your partner if you know something about the culture in his or her country.

Letter 6. THE THINGS WE SHARE

By now, you and your e‑mail pen friend know quite a bit about each other. The topic of the sixth letter, ‘the things we share’, deals with the common experience you share with your correspondent.

You may want to know more details about what he or she has told you earlier. Or you may want to point out similarities between the circumstances in your respective countries.

On the other hand, there may be other experiences, too, which you and your correspondent share. For instance, many product brands are international. You may both like the same brand of tennis rackets or trainers, etc. However, if brands, products, equipment and different kinds of devices seem too materialistic to you, you could write about less tangible things. Books worth reading or comics worth laughing at.

You and your pen friend may also have watched the same film or programme on TV. A film offers many aspects to talk about ‑ for or against! You might also check whether they dub the films in your correspondent’s country or do they have subtitles.

Ask your pen friend questions, that will keep the conversation alive. But a word of warning: some people have the tendency of telling the whole story of a book or film when they get started!

 

Letter 7. WE CELEBRATE 

In the seventh letter you could have a little party or at least speak about celebrations. You might want to tell about your ways of celebrating Christmas, Easter, Midsummer, birthdays, name days and parties at school (if you haven’t written about them yet).

Some celebrations have a religious origin, so you should pose your questions diplomatically.