Teacher Talk can be used to establish links with schools worldwide. By twinning with schools in different countries you can set up a number of projects to increase your students’ awareness of different cultures, practice their English and discover new ways of learning.

Penpals

This is a great way for pupils to practice their written English, make friends and learn about people living in different countries.

• Post a message on the onestop forum asking for another teacher to set up a link with your class. You should state where your school is, its name, how old your pupils are, how many there are in the class and what level of English they are being taught.

• When the contact has been made assign your students with a penpal from the ‘twinned’ school. Students can keep in touch via email or letters. If your lessons coincide you can use the onestop forum to post group messages that your twinned school will instantly be able to read online.

Cultural Exchange

Use the onestop forum to establish links with schools around the world to exchange information about your countries and to educate students about different cultures and customs.

• Post a message on the onestop forum asking for another teacher to set up a link with your class. You should state where your school is, its name, how old your pupils are, how many there are in the class and what level of English they are being taught.

• Ask your students to write down 20 interesting facts about your country. They should also think of 20 things they would like to know about your ’twinned’ country. These will provide the starting point to a further exchange of project work between the two classes about the differing ways of life.

Projects

Set up projects with schools around the world.

• Post a message on the onestop forum asking for another teacher to set up a link with your class. You should state where your school is, its name, how old your pupils are, how many there are in the class and what level of English they are being taught.

• Establish with your exchange teacher the type of project you want to work on, for example, writing a school magazine or a travel guide, and the time-scale.

• Divide your students into groups (or pairs) and allocate them with an exchange group. The combined group will have to decide who will take on which responsibilities and what content they will need to collect/produce (this will be done through emails)

• At the end of the project each group should hand in the same piece of work to both exchange teachers.

Team Teaching

Use the onestop forum to find out who is teaching the same course as you. You can then exchange teaching tips, run projects at the same time with students from different classes working together and set homework which involves students making contact with their exchange partners.