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ePals from Australia

Is there a program that I can use to have a small group of Year 9 students in Australia make contact with students from different countries? Is it right that I cannot use ePals from Australia?

Tags: ePals

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Permalink Reply by Nicola Ramsay on July 5, 2011 at 18:16

Hi Angela,

I'm not sure if this exactly what you are looking for but you might want to check out the Flat Classroom Project at http://www.flatclassroomproject.net/

I think that applications are currenly open for their various programs. This was just one I thought of off the top of my head but I'm sure it isn't the only one - I will keep an eye out for others.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Mirtschin on July 19, 2011 at 0:53

Hi Angela

There should be no reason why you cannot use ePals from Australia. I tried to join four years ago, but had trouble with my logins. As I was new to all this, I did not persist as it was just too hard at that stage. However, the co-ordinator of ePals contacted me and encouraged me to re-register.

Some of my global colleagues would say that ePals is a great networking site for both students and teachers and they have made so many connections through this site. Are you able to provide us with details of any issues you have experienced? Have you tried to join or register? Is the site blocked at your school? If you can provide more information in a comment below, we can try and help you overcome the issues you may be facing.

Anne Mirtschin

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Permalink Reply by Russell Ogden on July 21, 2011 at 12:35

You could also try Skype Education. List the details of your project and hopefully an 'os' teacher may pick it up. I have established a couple of good connections through Skype Education.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Mirtschin on August 31, 2011 at 19:36

Angela, I just noticed this epals global community site. It might be of interest to you.

Anne

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Permalink Reply by Martyn Wild on September 5, 2011 at 10:29

One of the recent FUSE projects to be completed (now being tested by DEECD), TravelBugs (travelbu.gs) might be just what you are looking for. Still in beta but worth a look.

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Permalink Reply by Marg Beagley on September 5, 2011 at 20:38

Hi Angela,

I signed up with ePals a few years ago. In 2008 I was contacted by a school in Argentina and we have been corresponding ever since. The ePals site can be very frustrating as it is often slow - but we just moved on to snail mail and emails by other means once we got to know each other a bit better. (Skype conferences are great too.) Argentina is a great place to write to as their school year is pretty much the same as ours.

When you put your blurb onto the ePals site, make it as interesting as you possibly can as there are so many other Australian schools listed. I think the ePals site is definitely worth trying.