Saturday, November 22, 2008

Our Pen Pal Exchange: Meet Some of Your Pen Pals :)



Miss Reynolds' class, or Breanna Ma'am's class as the Indian students refer to her, wrote my students pen pals letters about a month ago. My students then wrote back to their pen pals. While I was in India, I was able to start passing out the American students' letters to their Indian pen pals. We were able to meet with a few students individually to have them read, discuss, and respond to a few American students' letters. The Indian students were so excited to receive their letters, pictures, and gifts from their American pen pals.

40 comments:

  1. I bet they were REALLY excited when they got their American stuff!

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  2. You are correct! They were so excited and they still are. Your letters meant the world to them. The pictures were wonderful.

    :)Miss Bailin & Miss Reynolds

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  3. I am so glad they liked all the things we gave them. It is so nice to see the kids selibrating an american holiday. It shows that even though we live in difrent places we are stil all humans together.

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  4. have they already started writing back to us?

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  5. does there school have a different room to eat lunch in? or do they just eat in their classroom

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  6. Hey miss bailin do the kids have school on weekends?And why do they have costumes on?

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  7. Those costumes that the students wore were very creative. I think that would be freaky to see an elephant walking down the street.

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  8. It looks like they have a school uniform. Do all schools in India have uniforms? Is it a private or a public school system in India? Do they have to pay to go to school? Brandt Hansen

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  9. I really enjoyed the video of the 2 students reading the letters out loud ... I never thought they were going to speak like that. Miss Bailin, when you first heard them speak were you surprised at their accent???

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  10. Thats cool Ms Probst. had us write letters and send them to you for pen pals. I'm not sure if you have gotten them yet but we wrote about life in phoenix, dealing with school, family life ect. I hope your students enjoy them
    Samantha Truscott
    Ms Probst 3rd hour senior English

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  11. Wow You guys are really lucky to be doing all that and seeing all that really cool stuff

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  12. i think it is really cool tHAT YOU HAD A CHANCE to go and see one of the 7 wonders while meeting alot of really nice

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  13. Were the students dressing up was that
    for a seromony or a holiday?

    ~ Darwin Mick

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  14. I guess we ae. But after a while it becomes kind of boring because we are used to it.

    ~CLIFTON BAGGETT

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  15. My earlier post meant to say "I guess we are", not "I guess we ae". SORRY!!!!

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  16. was it hallowen? from kitri lucas

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  17. Are elephants a animal that they worship
    too?

    ~Darwin Mick

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  18. How is like local cities and shops diffrent there?

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  19. the taj mahal is really big and cool

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  20. thats awesome i love how you went there

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  21. place looks beautiful

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  22. these pictures r so amazing!!!!
    How do you get all the henna on the elephants without like messing up cuz theyll like move



    [i didnt get the url thing so i just yea]
    -tasha

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  23. I think it looks absolutly beautiful. How envious I am that you got to go to not only another country, but somewhere as artsy as India.

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  24. That would be amazing to visit India.

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  25. hey that looks really cool i know people that live in indai his name is benjamin kamanapally hes really cool. hahah arizons is ot
    i cant wait till summer when i get to go to india

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  26. this place looks awsome i hope to go there some time

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  27. looks like alot of fun

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  28. How often do you go to the taj mahal?

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  29. hey so i know that i should have put my name hahah my name is justin. mine is the one about benjamin kamamapally

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  30. i think your pictures are cool..I really like the halloween pictures...The places look like so much fun.. And the people look like they are nice people.

    313 PINK

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  31. Wow, that was pretty cool how you guys got to go visit the taj mahal. Those pictures were amazing. I love the elephants. It was fun writing to the pen pals in India, and I hope we hear from you soon (:

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  32. looks cool...i wana go ta india ya digg ;)

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  33. I hope that one day i can go to india so i can visit the Taj Majal

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  34. this is my second comment because my teacher just informed me about the horrible comment and im am so completley sorry you would think that some high school students would not do this... I apologize for my fellow students because some people r just to narrow minded to care about anything other than themselves im deeply sorry and i hope the comments get deleted the pictures r not boring and this place looked amazingly exciting thank you for taking the time to share your photos and experiences with us really some people just dont care and i dont even know why...
    These pictures are amazing and i really wish i could go =] the tajmahal [spelling?] look BEAUTIFUL!!!!! it looks like those palaces from aladin haha. Again i sincerley apologize for my fellow classmates and thankyou for sharing your experiences with us...

    -tasha k.

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  35. India is pretty cool and amazing because my dad
    has been to India came back i could not understand a thing he said.Although it was pretty cool and were he went at i think was corbett national park there,and hopefully ill get to go to the park on my one day.

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  36. i think that the hats people would wear in india are very unique i have never seen anything like it. its pretty cool!!

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  37. Patrick - I will be posting some hat pictures today. You are psychic! They are very unique.

    Arvin - I hope you get to travel here one day too. Thanks for the post.

    Tasha - You're welcome. My first thought was Aladdin also, but when I spoke with people about the movie, they had no idea what I was talking about. It just goes to show how culture and upbringing plays a huge role in a person's understanding of the world.

    Justin - Thanks! :)

    Chelsea - I have only been once. We are really busy and it is about 4 hours away from Delhi, so it is a big time commitment to go there and we just don't have time to go frequently.

    Tasha - The elephants just sit while the painting is being done.

    Jake - Compared to Phoenix, the city is very different, but like in all cities it depends on where you go. You can find mainstream shops with name brands here just like you in Arizona. I think a big difference is the amount of people al around you. I can be overwhelming at times. Also, we have a lot less people on the street trying to sell us stuff. Poverty is very high here and there are many people in need all around us. It is very painful to see so many people suffering. I think that is the biggest difference for me.

    Darwin - Nope. They do not worship elephants. They respect all animals because there are a lot of animals involved in the Hindu religion. A lot of times, animals represent the gods they worship in certain religions, so they hold animals in high respects.

    Kitri - They do not celebrate Hallowee, but Miss Reynolds wanted to share American customs with her students.

    Clifton - That is a very insightful comment. You are right, when things happen over and over again, we become bored with them, but here, the students had never celebrated Halloween, so they were very excited. It is easy for us to take for granted all we have and what and why we celebrate certain things!

    Darwin - Miss REynolds had them dress up or Halloween and she taught them the history and customs that go along with it in America. At school, the students wear uniforms.

    Samantha - We have not received them yet, but we are eagerly awaiing their arrival. Thanks for writing! :)

    Sophia - I was surprised by their accents! :)

    Brandt - Yes. They all wear uniforms. They call our version of public school private schools and our version of private schools public schools, so the terminology is reversed. The students have to pay to go to school in India. It is not free. They do not have a Free Appropriate Public Education like is the Uited States.

    40, 000 Rupies per yer
    800 Rupies for the bus a month
    Converting price = 50 Dollars for 1 Rpie

    Now try to figure out the math problem and resubmit you answer. :)

    Randy - At the K.V. school where Miss Reynolds teaches they go to school Monday thru Saturday. School hours are from 7:30a.m. - 2:00p.m.

    Adam - They have a small canteen, which is where the food is cooked and it only offers a few cheap dishes, but it is basically a kitchen. They students eat in their rooms or the courtyard outside. They will start writing back to us the first week of December because they are takng their state Board exams (like our AIMS).

    Alex - You are very insightful. :)

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