ETA Alice Rodi’s highlight of January was the continuation of her first Community Engagement Project: a pen pal exchange between SMK Raden Umar Said’s English Club and middle school students at Windham Woods in New Hampshire.

The project was inspired by pen pals Alice had as a child and was born out of an interest in collaborating with her sister, Caroline, who is also a teacher. With this project, Alice and Caroline set out to facilitate cross-cultural communication and improve their students’ writing skills.

Given the cost of sending physical letters between Indonesia and the United States, this pen pal program is being conducted virtually: letters are handwritten by students, photographed and uploaded as PDFs, emailed to Alice or Caroline, respectively, and printed out before distribution (so as to maintain the excitement of receiving physical letters).

Back in November, SMK RUS students wrote their first letters to Windham Woods students during English Club, prompted by questions like, “What is your daily routine?” “What are your hobbies?” “What are some traditions and holidays from your culture?” and “What is school like in the US?” During the following month, Windham Woods students wrote their responses. Alice received these correspondences in mid-January, marking the end of the first round of exchanges.

Alice, Caroline, and all of their students are thrilled to continue this program. With four months left in the semester, they are on track to complete two more rounds of exchanges.

Alice Rodi is currently teaching at SMK Raden Umar Said Kudus, Central Java.