Christmas Card Exchange Project

Mydene Cuevas

PROCEDURE:

1. Contact your old high school, or a high school back home that offers Japanese courses very early in advance. Let the teacher of that school know about your Christmas card exchange plans. Most likely, they will be excited about a chance for their students to correspond with students in Japan. Once you've found a group of students back home willing to do the exchange, proceed with the project.

2. Spend half of one class reviewing points on letter-writing, for example reminding students to begin their message with ‘Dear ~ ,’ and ending it with ‘Sincerely/Love/Take care, .’

Spend the other half of the class giving students hints on what to write about, e.g.: hobbies, favorite things, Christmas traditions, family members, interesting things about Japan, etc. Afterwards, students can use the remainder of the class to write a draft of their Christmas cards.

3. Give students an entire class period to work on the cards. They may also have to take them home to finish it, but be sure to clarify to students when they need to hand those cards in to you.

4. Once you have all the cards, mail it off to your exchange school. Then wait for the response of the students back home.

NOTES:

• Start planning this project in early Fall because it takes a lot of time to coordinate, i.e. finding a school back home to participate, talking to JTEs, introducing it to your classes, etc.
• Set the deadline for mailing the letters in late November or early December in order for the cards to reach its destination before Christmas break.
• Clarify who is footing the expense for the construction paper and stamps (it can get expensive to buy and send 240 cards). The English department in the junior high school provided and paid for everything, but I foot the bill for my senior high classes.