Welcome to Cambridge English Penfriends: Where I live

“One of our primary roles as language teachers must be to narrow this gap
between the classroom world and reality.”
Paul D, The Language Teacher, Japan
We are very excited that your school has joined Cambridge English Penfriends – our
international activity to connect students and teachers around the world!
Through this activity, we hope that your students will have fun making new friends and
developing their English language skills.
Follow this lesson plan to engage and motivate your students to learn English in a way that
is practical, fun and communicative.

About Cambridge English

Cambridge Assessment English develops and produces Cambridge English exams – the
most valuable range of qualifications for learners and teachers of English in the world. Over
4 million people take our exams each year in 130 countries. Around the world, more than
13,500 universities, employers, government ministries and other organisations accept our
qualifications.
Cambridge Assessment English is a not-for-profit department of the University of
Cambridge and part of the Cambridge Assessment group.

Find out more about:

Cambridge English for Schools – our range of exams specially designed to make learning
English fun and motivating for school-aged learners. There are different levels of exam, from
beginner to advanced, so your students can improve in English and build up confidence step
by step. www.cambridgeenglish.org/schools
 Lesson plan
Time requi
red:
Equipment
min. 1 ho
ur
nt
rd – o n e fo r each stude
A4 paper/ca
ncils/pens
Coloring pe
canner
Camera or s abroad
b ox fo r s e nding cards
Strong

W hat to do next
Explain to your students that they are going to design cards and make friends with English
1. learners in another country.

2. Show some examples to inspire your students. The current theme is ‘Where I live’. You could
talk about your capital city, traditions, weather, food or anything that interests your students.
3. Discuss and practise language that students can use for their cards.
Ask your students to design their cards. Make sure that they write their names and ages on
4. the back of the cards.

5. Choose three cards to go on the Cambridge English Penfriends website for the world to see
– www.cambridgeenglish.org/penfriends. Simply scan or take a photo of each of the chosen
cards and upload them to our site (max. 2MB). As this is a very popular activity, at the
moment it is only possible to upload 3 cards per class.
6. Visit the website with your students so they can rate the card designs they like best!

7. Complete the ‘Penfriend Partner School’ letter and post this, together with all the cards, to
your partner school.
© UCLES 2018 | CE/1448d/8Y03

8. Wait for a parcel from your partner school and share the cards with your students.
9. Arrange to exchange more letters, share emails and videos or choose a new partner school.

www.cambridgeenglish.org/penfriends