E-Mailing and Communication

For schools that have been accepted to participate in the Partner School Science Program, the first and most important element of the program is the e-mailing between students from the partnered schools. The e-pal connection will foster communication between students in order to share NASA educational projects as well as promoting long-term friendships as students also e-mail each other about their daily lives, thoughts and hopes for the future.

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PARTNER SCHOOLS:

• E-Mailing between teachers.
• E-Mailing between students.
• Communication from GFTSE to all students and teachers in the program with a minimum of one e-mail a week. These will include: an interesting space fact or photo, a letter from a scientist, an astronaut or space-related person, excerpts from space-related articles, or an interesting photo.
• “Ask an Astronaut”: students will be able to ask questions directly to astronauts through our e-mailing system.
• We encourage students to send each other letters by regular mail at least once a year.

E-Mailing, Step-By-Step

1. Teachers from each school are assigned e-mail addresses and passwords by Global Friendship Through Space Education’s (GFTSE) Partner School Science Program(PSSP).

2. Teachers send introductory e-mails and exchange information about their schools, their students, and their school calendars.

3.  Teachers provide student lists by e-mail to Tolga Yıldırım (tyildirim@gftse.org).  Students first and last name, in that order, are needed. 

4.  Tolga Yıldırım, the Partner School Science Program coordinator, will assign each student a User Name and Password.

5.  Students start e-mailing each other. The first few e-mails can be introductory, “getting to know you”, e-mails. Students can share information about their schools, where they live, their families and their daily lives.

6.  After introductions are made, students and teachers work together with their partner schools to choose a topic on NASA’s distance learning website. (As soon as a topic has been chosen that both schools agree on, the teachers should start the process for scheduling a three-way videoconference. See the section on PSSP Videoconferencing.)

7.  Once a topic has  been chosen, students e-mail each other about the work on their topics and share what they have been doing.

General information about e-mailing:

1. Teachers should encourage their students to e-mail each other frequently, a minimum of two times a month.

2. E-mail accounts are accessed on the GFTSE website (http://www.gftse.org/epals.html) under the “E-Pals” icon on the home page. Enter you User Name and Password to go into the our e-mailing system.

3. Teachers have the ability to check, edit, delete, and approve all incoming and outgoing e-mails. 

4.  All e-mails from students are first checked by the student’s teacher and then sent to that student’s e-pal.

5. Our secure e-mailing system checks all e-mails automatically for inappropriate words and warns the responsible teacher.

6. Teachers are responsible for monitoring e-mails to prevent inappropriate content. 

7. Students are encouraged to use standard English, not computer shorthand. Many of the students in the program are not native speakers of English and are trying to learn to read and write in a language they are not totally familiar with. American students can help them by using proper English.

Sample E-Mails

E-mail from a Turkish student at Gelisim College in Izmir to an American student at Washington Middle School, Long Beach, California.

“Are you going to Space Camp? We will enjoy being with you and your friends.
I have something more to say: we are Muslim but not like the Iranian or Iraqi people.
We are going to cinemas and having fun like you too. If you see us you can be amazed. Sometimes I go to churches celebrating Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving Day too.
We think Jesus, Moses and Mohammed all had the same job and we all believe in one god. “

Yamaç Ölçer
Gelisim College, Izmir, Turkey
Partner School Science Program, 2005 - 2006

E-mail from an American student at Washington Middle School in Long Beach, California, to her Turkish e-pal at Gelisim College in Izmir, Turkey.

“Throughout this experience I have learned a lot of things and have worked really hard for the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to your country.  We have done a lot of fundraising such as car washes, dances and selling coupons.  I hope to meet you really soon to know more about your culture and beliefs.“

Miriam Chavez
Washington Middle School
Long Beach, California
Partner School Science Program, 2005 - 2006

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