Pen Pals

I taught the 3rd grade grade class at Gentille Hirondelle for a bit one day in Haiti because the teacher had an emergency and couldn't come. I took the opportunity to have the Haitian 3rd graders (they are 8-11 years old, in grades according to abilities instead of age) write pen pal letters to a friend's French class back in Virginia. It never occurred to me that the children had never written a letter before! There were lots of questions and confusion, but soon they realized that they were supposed to write a response to the letters I brought with me from Virginia. It was fun to do, but I am not completely sure the children made the connection that they were writing to an actual American student!

Haitian children write to American pen pals

My children joined me on this trip, and they collected stickers to bring down to hand out to all the Haitian school children. Although most of the Haitian children had never had stickers before (they are a luxury that they can't afford), I was touched when many generously shared them with their pen pals and decorated their letters with them!