On January 23th 2014 in Teraz Rzeszów newspaper our project had a cover story. The article by Agnieszka Janik tell the story of this wonderful exchange and is enriched by wonderful pictures taken by Bartosz Frydrych.

Cover: Thanks to postcards we get letters from all over the world. Thanks to postcards, A group of students from Zespół Szkół Nr 2 meet students from other countries. (Names of people on the photo)

Article: Thanks to postcards we get letters from all over the world.

They got responses from Ghana, India, Java, Argentina,French Guiana and Turkey. Thanks to colorful postcards, letters and pictures they learn how life looks in other countries, which were known to them only as a name. "I have always wanted to and loved traveling, because I have small children I can’t do it now. That is why I have come up with an idea to learn about the world and people in a different more old-fashioned way" – says Karolina Duży, an English teacher in Zespol Szkol Nr 2.

That is why she has started the project “World around us and we around the world”, that is exchanging traditional mail. She started by looking for schools from the furthest and the most exotic countries. To start with she used an educational website gathering teachers from all over the world and then moved to Facebook.

The teacher gathered a group of 30 students from a general and technical high school willing to do this as an after class activity. She helped them to write their first letters.

"We write about our city, Polish traditions, religion, and about the school, and interests" said the teacher. "Students spend a lot of their free time to do it, because each letter is hand written, often some drawings are attached" she adds.

Today the teacher and her students have 16 partnering schools from all over the world: Japan, Brazil, Reunion Island, East Java, Guyana, Canada, Romania, Greece, and the USA. Some schools have even sent powerpoint presentations showing the school and their towns.

"We try to do likewise. We have made a film about Christmas traditions, that showed our class celebrating Christmas Eve, we have sent wafers describing what the wafer is and what we do with it" explains Karolina Duży "the foreigners were delighted to see our traditions, my students received little souvenirs, teddy bears, bracelets. The scale of this project has surpassed my expectations."

Friends with English

Students themselves emphasize that it is important to them to write in English. "We use everyday English, not the one from the book. Due to that we use the language more freely, we feel more confident, because we know what slang or what abbreviations our pen-palls use in the USA" says Justyna Panek. "and we talk about the things we want."

Thanks to Facebook the students from ZS Nr 2 keep in touch regularly with their new friends. They know when the school breaks or holidays start or finish. "We find out a lot. When the school from East Java sent their pictures we were surprised to see their clothes. They were all dressed alike covered from head to toes"says Aleksandra Dragan. "This is something completely different from what we have here. Thanks to these letters we travel without leaving home."