A new twist on the traditional pen pal activity at McHenry Community High School is allowing multilingual students a chance to connect with school staff while working on their English-language skills.
About 50 students are exchanging letters with high school staff through the school’s English Lab class, which is one of the classes available to English learners.The project was introduced this fall by Kelsey Podgorski, newly appointed assistant director of multilingual education.
“One of my other favorite things about the pen pal program is that it is bridging our students with all staff members in the district,” Podgorski said.
Podgorski collected a list of students who wanted to participate, along with interests and other important information. Students were matched up with staff member volunteers, and the letters soon followed.
Podgorski said she’s planning to expand the program to include in-person meetings for games and activities. It is not only helping multilingual students work on language skills but it is helping create a sense of community within the school.
“We have teachers, administrators, our superintendent, support staff, etc. which is awesome to see everyone collaborating together,” she said.
Click here to see an article about the program in the student-produced McHenry Messenger.
The project has also been featured in the Northwest Herald.