Because we had run out of data!

It wasn’t the answer I was expecting to the question “Why do you think you might write a letter?”   

However, these learners were born in 2010 and their day to day communication was literally in their hand.

I continued, “Why else might you write a letter?”

… “because the phone had been stolen!”

It turned out that nobody in the room had ever written a single letter!  So we chatted about WHY you might write a letter and that later in life we would have to write letters to apply for a job and so on.

I had intended to speak on the value of pen-pals and learning about other cultures through letter writing (based on the excellent book “I will always write back” which is the story of an American girl and a boy from Zimbabwe becoming not only friends but New York Bestselling authors from their autobiographical story).  However I rapidly adjusted the day’s content to be relevant to these eager students who might just learn to enjoy the value of written communication in an age of WhatsApp and sms!

So we began by asking what a new friend might want to know about us; who I am, where I was born, whether I have any brothers or sisters and does the family have a pet?

I have loved reading their accounts today and enjoyed the drawings they ended their letter with. Have a look at the picture above; everyone is smiling – even the bunny looks happy!  The mountains around Grabouw are evident with tall pine trees on the hillsides.  In this picture it looks like a safe place.

Now to learn about the greater world with all its variety.