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I have see online that various teachings, including Mrs. Bond, have students write regular emails home talking about what they are doing in school.

This year, I’m going to try a version of that in my ELL Newcomers class.

Every Friday, I’m going to have them handwrite a letter in their home language to their parents/guardians. Here’s the template in English I’d like them to use (I’ll be translating it into all my students’ home languages).

My plan is to ask the parent/guardian to ask students at least one question about the content of the letter, have the student write at least one of the questions down at the bottom of the letter, and then have the parent/guardian sign it (or, if the parent is in another country and they just read it to them and spoke, note that on the letter). If that is going to be the case regularly in some situations, those students would have the option of writing an email.

I’m not really sure how well this is going to work. In some ways, it’s a version of the Retrieval Practice Notebook I periodically use. The letter home template has students share the most interesting things they learned in each of their classes, among other things.

I might also have students share in small groups what they’ve written.

Any suggestions for how I can increase the odds of this working well?