How many penpals

Being a pen pal is a less intimidating way of connecting with someone while practicing your writing skills in your target language. Crafting a letter to send to someone can help you learn new vocabulary, practice talking about specific themes, and improve your grammar. Developing these friendships can also create opportunities to travel to countries and experience life there as a local.

Take The Guardian columnist Libby Page for example. As part of her school French course, she was connected with a girl called Juliette who came from a town in western France.

Libby would send her letters in French and receive a response in English so that Juliette could practice her skills. Their letters would be filled with grammatical errors, and drawings to try and make their points clearer, but neither of them cared; they were learning by doing. After a few months, Libby had the opportunity to go to France where she stayed with Juliette and her family. If you enjoy writing and connecting with other people, having a pen pal is a great way to support your language learning efforts.

Pen pals are for anyone looking to learn a language or discover more about another culture. They may have no problem with it and may want you to be able to write as often as you like. But others may start feel guilty about not answering quickly. They may feel pressure to write more often than they really have time for and could decide to drop out of the program.

Take care not to ask too many favors. This includes reading legal papers, making copies, doing research, and so on. If your pen pal asks when your birthday is or wants to send a Christmas gift, let them be the one to bring that up. Most pen pals expect to write letters but do not expect to also send gifts. Like other people you know on the outside, they might be comfortable financially or they might be struggling with money issues themselves.

Do not make romantic or sexual suggestions. We're glad you like having pen pals, Noob! Jacob Rose Mar 15, My teacher is making me look this up. It is so interesting. I have learned a lot about how great pen pals can be. Luke D. Mar 14, Wonderopolis Mar 14, Abby M. Jan 31, Hey, wonderopolis crew! Did you know that my class had pen pals? We participated in the NFL's one world diversity super huddle! We were picked out of about classes!

And when we got to meet our pen pals. We went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis and there were 4 Colts players there! We learned how to write some Chinese, learned some African stories, did some Latin dance, and participated in a play about Ruby Bridges!!! Wonderopolis Jan 31, Maxini Jan 21, I've never had a pen pal. But, I bet it would fun!

And no, you can use a pencil to write to a pen pal. Wonderopolis Jan 21, Natasha Jan 18, My brother has pen pals. Their names are Jake and Danielle.

They both live in Pennsylvania. They do not live in the same city. My brother's name is Nick. Jake is in fifth grade and I think Danielle in in fifth or sixth. They are not brother and sister. Jake once, on his pen pal letter, put two or three pictures. My brother really loves having a pen pal.

He really wants to meet them in person. He also wants to see what Danielle looks like. Wonderopolis Jan 18, Katt and Christin Jan 17, You do not need a pen, because a pen pal is someone you keep in touch with, not necessarily writing letters. Wonderopolis Jan 17, Megan Jan 17, I love the pen pal article. I have a pen pal, we get to go meet them on Jan. My pen pal is from Mexico. Her name is Dionela, she seems very nice. She loves to draw just like me. I am so excited to meet her.

Thanks for the wonder, I love this one!!!!!! Pygmy Jan 16, My grandma had a pen pal from Japan when she was in high school. Her pen pal sent her paper cranes and Christmas cards and postcards with Mount Fuji on them.

My grandma showed them too me recently, she had kept them all these years! It would be really cool to have a pen pal! I hope I get one in high school Wonderopolis Jan 16, Arianna Jan 15, I think that having a pen pal would be really cool and interesting because you could ask them what they like to do and they might say something you've never heard of before! I'm glad to learn about pen pals! I never had one, but I always wanted one!

That's what's so great about this website! Wonderopolis Jan 15, Grammy Jan 14, Last week I decided I would start writing a letter to one of my four grandchildren each week. My three-year-old granddaughter was so excited to receive her letter. Her second grade brother read it to her. I already wrote next week's letter to my four-year-old grandson. I'm looking forward to a trail of letters from Texas to Seattle. Wonderopolis Jan 14, Sharon Jan 14, What a wonderful Wonderopolis!

Rico Link, who got to meet his pen pals at Canyon Intermediate School. Thanks Wonder! What a journey! Paige Jan 14, Dear Wonderopolis, Cool wonder! Posted by jaiirawr on 15 Sep, Excially I love pen palling more than Postcrossing. Posted by Wonderwoman12 on 15 Sep, I used to have some penpals but my letters were either lost or my penpals didn't reply anymore I might disappoint my penpals if I send something so-so.

Posted by dictaudrey on 15 Sep, I am really excited about the penpal idea because I was used to exchange letters with my friends when I was teenager. Except exchanging letters with one of my friends, we also sent pocket calendars to each other. And now, I'd like to find new friends for the penpal, especially from Asia.

So, please, don't hesitate to write me! Posted by AnnaHimenko on 15 Sep, I had pen pals when I was about 12 years old lost contact over the years. Now with Postcrossing I've started again. I have pen pals spread all over the world. A special pen pal from The Netherlands we write short storys to each other and it is great fun every card has a new fantasy story. I love pen palling not only postcards also little gifts like Tickets, Coins, Pocket calander but also for Birthday events special stamp editions puzzle or toys for the kids Teabags Sweets ecc.

Posted by mounten on 15 Sep, I used to have penpals when I was younger and the internet and cell phones weren't an option. And I liked it. I was 8 back then. Actually having pen pals started at around 12 years old.

I gained friends at a choir convention that lived about 50 kilometers away, so it was an effort to go visit and I wasn't allowed to travel on my own. So writing was a good option. But I bought new DinA4 eco friendly paper and gave the "ugly" stationary to my younger sister who seemed to like it. Two of them have gone on to become really close friends. But we went on to live in the same city.

So we saw each other more, so the letters stopped and we called and met up. One of them went on to become a sister in one of the more modern catholic communities. She lives with her sisters and the spare room is usually full with sisters from africa or india visiting.

The phone instantly stopped being such a good option. Just think about it, it's a phone in the hallway in a house with 12 room mates. So writing a letter gained new attractiveness. I'm 41 now. I got in contact with one, because she got my adress via Postcrossing. She lives in Canada and is severely cronically ill, like me. And one, whose adress I got from Postcrossing. She lives pretty much a kilometer besides a house I spent a week in, vacationing in middle school. It's a Dolomites valley, Italy.

They speak german there, so it was a favorite school vacation spot. I totally fell in love with the mountains, even though I came home with painfully inflamed tendons, as my parents had though it was a waste of money to invest in a pair of hiking shoes for some child that keeps growing and growing.

I went in my regular sneakers. Not a good idea at all! I hadn't thought about this trip until I recognized the name of the valley. It happened fairly recently, so we swapped some postcards, letters and I got pictures of my beloved mountains. I consider her a penpal already. I love Postcrossing. But as I felt, when I started, collectors still ennerve me and I love real human interaction.

So just "Greeting from XY" scribbled across a postcard won't do the trick for me. I gained two mailpals as well from Postcrossing. And the conversation about postcrossing led me to a chronics pen pal mailing list group on Facebook. So in a way, most of it is all your fault. I spend more of my money on stamps than in the years before I joined Postcrossing.

But my mailbox is full on most days. So much so, that my husband shows signs of envy. Posted by Chenoah on 15 Sep, When I was in my late 20s and up to my 50s, I had many penpals. But gradually the Internet took over. So Postcrossing for me was a wonderful discovery - contact with people worldwide, without the expense and time required to write long letters.

I've enjoyed reading the comments above. South Africa didn't feature in the poll, but then we have few members, so no surprises there.

I am still in contact with my penpal in Australia. We have been penpalling for over 35 years, and when I visited Australia, I met her - she hosted me for a week and we had a wonderful time together. Viva communication! Posted by alison41 on 15 Sep, When I was a teen, my father brought home a radio that also had shortwave. I started listening to stations from all over the world - which really opened the world up to me. Sadly, we've all lost touch. Many years later I signed up for an online pen pal club.

I was contacted by a woman in Luxembourg who had children around the same age as my own. We've been good friends for almost 18 years now and finally got to meet in person last year. My family visited Paris, so one day I took the train to Riems and she and her family drove over to meet me.

We both still wear our matching "Best Friend" bracelets. Posted by rjmom on 15 Sep, I have penpals in my country. And I found one penpal by Postcrossing when I wanted to have a direct swap from that country. He is busy for regular writing but I am glad he is still my friend and penpal too. Posted by Verunslv on 15 Sep, When I started high school we were asked if we would write to people in our twin school in what was the USSR. I took up the offer, it led to meeting him on an exchange 2 years later, being in the USSR at the time of its collapse.

Which isnt a normal scene for an English High school student We still write 30 years later though Royal mail struggles to deliver to the area that's now part of the area of Ukraine occupied by Russia. Posted by freez on 15 Sep, I don't like pen-pals, I like Post-crossing better with receiving and sending cards.

Posted by Flippie on 15 Sep, I've often done things backwards That said, I have a few of those with whom I still keep in touch, even after 40 years. One current pen pal is a former exchange student who lives in South America. As a mom of a son with special needs, I responded to an invitation in a magazine Exceptional Parent for those wanting to share as a "pen-pal" similar experiences and challenges of raising our children.

I have kept in touch with three parents for 25 years. Up until recently, all our communication was through letters -- some not as frequent, but always steady. Now, we've gone to some emailing, too. And I anticipate that I will soon meet one of these since she will be moving closer to us. Through Postcrossing, I have a few pen pals, too. Sometimes we've written to carry on the pen-pal experience but we e-mail, also.

Posted by betslets on 16 Sep, I think it is very interesting to connecte with people in an old fation way. I was looking forward to having a penpal. Fortunately I had one this August. I love the feeling when I am reading the letter and writing back!