Today, I have a new discovery. I also find few answers to my questions.
My discovery--- I find someone using e-mails to improve students' writing and typing skills like me. The difference is that I did it more of between me and my students. But Ms./Mr. /Mrs. Jarek Krajka have her/his students send words to key pal.
I believe there have been many teachers asking their students to send them homework through internet, like e-mail or blogger. This is not common with my students, though. First, students in my school are not encouraged to use computers at home or at school. In Taiwan, English is taught by subject teachers like me, not by homeroom teachers, who spend most of the time with students and who have more "control/ authority" over students. They don't want to give students homework or assignment that relates to computers. Because if they do, they think they are asking trouble for themselves. The parents might call them all night to make complaints about students spending too much time playing computer games with the excuse of using it to do homework. And some students might skip homework because there is no computer or internet at home.
But this also why I find answers to my questions:
1. Ms./Mr. /Mrs. Jarek Krajka suggests that in order to prevent class from going disconnected because of the speed of internet, teachers can pre-download the website to be able to review off-line.
2. I was always bothered by not being able to find key pals for students to write. So one of my colleague and I invited a class of students from one school that's about 30 kilometers far from my school to join a pen pal project. That was 5 years ago. There was a lot of correction needed before the letters were sent so we only did the letter once. At the end of that semester, we managed to help students from both school meet. We all thought that was quite a successful experience. Now after few years when I look back, there's great possibility that I can redo that project with the aid of computer. This is the 2nd answer I found to my question.
3. The organization "European Schoolnet" is quite a good website for students to know, especially for students in Taiwan. We spend a lot of money and time on studying and taking tests. It is really meaningful to me to introduce to my students that they can do great things for others and they have the right to learn how to do it.
I am really thrilled to read on. Though I am not finished yet, I will definitely come back to report more.
Yaling, Taiwan
