Overview
The major goal of the Lesotho Association of Teachers (LAT) is to build a global network from which the LAT can gain support and share ideas. To accomplish this at a base level, LAT proposes a Pen Pal program where students will have the opportunity to interact from students in other areas of the world. This would relate to the Social Studies curriculum, as well as broaden their global understanding of different cultures and terrains that could be beneficial for them when deciding their plans and goals for the future. From these connections the students would gain insight on a multitude of topics such as Geography, Sociology, Anthropology, and potentially History. The students would then be able to draw comparisons on the differences between aspects of their lives and aspects of children their age in other areas of the world. While this would certainly be impactful for the students of Lesotho, it would also offer an opportunity for students in other areas of the world to gain insight into the unique culture and conditions of Lesotho.
Program Details
Ideally, the program would commence in September 2021, as the months of September- November will be when the Lesotho School schedule overlaps with districts in North America. The program would continue in January after the students’ break. Therefore, different schools and communities can be contacted between the months of May-August to try and connect.
LAT will serve as a facilitator for the program by doing the legwork of reaching out to schoolboards, teachers, and educational organizations. Simultaneously, LAT will create a comprehensive list of the teachers/schools in Lesotho interested in participating. Students will then be matched by class based on grade level and/or comprehension level. At this point, the teachers of the participating classes will be put in touch, and hopefully a relationship can come from that as well.
As of right now, one school located in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada is interested in participating for the coming school year. Perhaps in the beginning the program will start with only a class or two for a trial run, and then continue to grow and improve the program.
Language Barriers
It would be efficient to focus on connecting with schools within Canada, the United States, the UK, and Australia as they are all English-speaking countries. While many students in rural areas of Lesotho primarily speak Sesotho, it is not a well-known language in other areas of the world. Therefore, as English is the second language of Lesotho it is the best option.
That being said, there are different translating options now made available online. Members of LAT can research them more and determine the most useful tool. Finding a good language resource would nullify the language barrier and allow for communication with areas outside of the countries previously mentioned.
