ePals is a website that helps for teachers and students to connect with other teachers and students from around the world. It is a secure website that allows teachers to monitor conversations and make sure that they are appropriate. However, this isn't merely a social network. ePals also provides structured curricula with help from its partners like National Geographic. I think that this is one of the most attractive elements of the site. Yes, communicating with students and teachers from around the world can be a learning experience in itself. However, I think that without structured learning activities, it would be hard to move away from purely socializing into active student-centered learning.
Exploring the site for myself, it seems that many participants are focused on modern cultural concerns and social issues. This makes sense to me. While learning about chemistry, or math, or grammar, with students from around the world could be very exciting, these subjects don't have such an integral component of global connection and cooperation.
And I do think that what we can learn in a Latin class is relevant to modern social concerns. By learning about the Roman people, who are separated from us by time and distance, we can see the broad spectrum of human experiences and how some concerns have been with us for millenia. The slave economy of Rome connects to human trafficking and exploitation of workers today. We can better understand the struggles for the rights of women and LGBT identified people when we can see the place in society they held in Roman times. The impact climate and climate change have on politics and economics are timeless phenomenon that I think can be studied in a course on current events or a course on Latin.
However, I think that without a foundation in the basic facts of Roman history and culture, it's hard to begin to explore the deeper questions and connections. Based on just a beginning exploration of ePals, it seems like this kind of content is not its primary focus.
And yet, quick search for languages showed that there are Latin classes looking to collaborate. Some are ready to communicate in Latin as well as work on projects about Roman history and culture. Both Europe and the US have been influenced by Roman culture and it would be exciting for students to compare the different ways this influence manifests itself in every day things we take for granted, like architecture and celebrations.
As with any website, it's what you make of it. I can see myself connecting and collaborating with these Latin classrooms across the country and around the world. Even if the site isn't geared towards Classics specifically, simply having a social network devoted to structured and secure learning would be a great benefit.
I was not aware that there were Latin classes looking for collaboration. I hope you get a chance to work on a project-based activity with an appropriate class in the future.
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