The email and its importance

Email is one of the most popular and useful techniques.

Email is used inside the classroom and outside the classroom.

Email is an asynchronous communication. Nevertheless, it is very practical and it is easy to use.

There are some rules or advice for writing an email. The netiquette rules vary according to the purpose of the email and who is the person that is going to receive the email.

Communication skills are important for writing emails: the language should have a polite tone, go straight to the point, write short sentences, be careful with spelling, grammar and composition format.

One of the most common usage of emails for teaching purposes is to submit classwork like essays, reports, webprojects to the teacher´s email and the teacher send the work, comments or extra material through this tool. As you can see, this is the most common way of communication in these English courses for the license degree.

I think this email communication can be implemented in the classroom. It depends on the technology facilities that students can have at school, in their houses or in their communities.

On the other hand, the use of email during the classroom for data collecting projects implies a more complex task it can be applicated to students for tenth and eleventh grade of high school or at the university.

Related to the Keypal projects, teachers should give clear guidelines to their students for promoting a crosscultural communication. The use of English should be appropiate, polite and respectful. This activity can be useful for high intermediate or advanced students.

This activity can lead students to understand, learn and respect other cultures.

Some e learning courses give the possibility to have a keypal communication. When I was taking my last courses of bachelor degree in English Teaching, I used the e learning programscalled Discoveries and Global English. For the second program, I participated in forums with people of different countires. We chated among ourselves and we gave our opinions orally by using speakers and the internet connection. This technique was synchronous and it was very interesting because you were able to listen to other people from different countries with different accents giving their opinions related to some topics.

I believe that the keypal projects is a good idea to introduce for the English teaching and learning process in public education.