Tullow library (Carlow County library service) and Šiauliai City Municipality Public Library are starting a Pen Pal project.
Pen pals (or penpals, pen-pals, penfriends or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.
This programme will see an engagement of young people (12-14 years) in Tullow Community School County (Carlow County, Ireland) and in Šiaulių Gytarių Pogimnazija (Lithuania) with an exciting and structured workshop about writing*.
One of the aims of the project is to provide students with the opportunity to send and receive handwritten letters while perhaps also building international friendships that may continue into the future.
*Four workshops focused on letter-writing ( 40 mins/each workshop) Facilitator Megan Wynne
Workshop One – Feelings and Facts 15th November
Good letter writing includes a mixture of feelings and facts. If a letter is nothing but facts, it will be impersonal and boring. If it’s all feelings, it will be overwhelming and confusing for a new penpal.
In this first workshop children will do journaling exercises to increase the fluency of their writing and help them get their feelings down on paper.
They will also write about their visions and goals (which they may later share with each other and their penpal if they wish to).
Workshop Two- Information and a Story About Me 22nd November
In this workshop it looks at the FACTs that the students want to share about themselves. These can be details such as age, hobbies etc.
It will also look in more detail at sharing dreams and goals, that they looked at in workshop one. This is an interesting and positive way to share information about themselves with a penpal.
It will also begin to explore how to write an entertaining story about something that has happened to them.
Beginning with a hook, showing personal reactions to events as they occur, building to a climax and finishing with what they learned from the experience
Workshop Three – A story About Me (Continued) 6th December
In this third workshop it continues writing a story about ourselves (and finish the one begun in the previous workshop).
Workshop Four – Responding to Letters 20th December
It will explore how to respond to a penpal’s letter-
By giving experience and thoughts to what a penpal has shared
By Answering any questions posed by the penpal
By Following on with news from a previous letter.
By Asking questions of their penpal.
Each workshop will last 40 minutes. Workshops proudly sponsored by Creative Ireland
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