Secret Pen Pal Project

This is an activity that I did with my students to help them practice for the Writing Part of the exam (they also got to practice reading because they received letters from their fellow peers and could edit the letters). 

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Goal: Have students learn how to write letters on different topics related to the PET exam. In the writing section, there is usually an option to write a letter as one of the prompts

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Choosing the Secret Pen Pals: Write down all the students names and put them in a box. Have each student come out one and by one and pick a name from the box. Make sure to record the names on a spreadsheet so that you can keep track of who is turning in their letters. There are often also multiple students with the same name, so a spreadsheet with students' first and last names is extremely helpful.

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How to: At the beginning of the week, give the students the topic. They have until the next week to write the letters and turn them into you. Choose topics based on topics potentially found in the PET exam (try the official Cambridge exam site). Every week, collect their letters and then give them the new topic. Don't hand out the letters to their Secret Pen Pal until all of them have turned their letters in (otherwise students may figure out who wrote them their letter because they will know who didn't turn theirs in). If you have problems with students not turning the letters in, refer them to their teacher.

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*Make sure to do some sort of presentation at the beginning of the project to explain what the rules are, what they are supposed to do, what a Pen Pal is, and why they are doing this project.

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**Set strict guidelines about how much they have to write. We learned that saying "half a page" was not sufficient because some students would write really big or write a little and draw a picture to take up the rest of the space. The teachers and I eventually decided on 100-150 words, which helped a lot. Students will also tell on their Pen Pal if they receive a letter with not enough writing, so then you can check your spreadsheet and refer those students who didn't write enough to their teacher as well. 

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**Suggestion: Have the students turn the letters in inside envelopes (homemade ones even). It made the project and delivery of the letters that much more exciting and fun for my students! Many of my students still have the letters their pen pals wrote them!