Students participate in Letters to Mongolia project

Last school year, students in D’Andre Cook’s junior high physical education classes had a few days in which they could not use the gym due to state testing. Mr. Cook didn’t want those days to be a waste; therefore, he had his students write letters to students at a Mongolian schoolhouse. He had information on this schoolhouse through a connection from the Peace Corps. The Laker students spent a few days writing letters about themselves, their families, their hobbies, etc. This week, Mr. Cook handed out letters written by the Mongolian students in response to the Laker students’ letters. The Mongolian students are around the same age as the Laker students, and their letters shared information about their hobbies, school, family and more.
Mr. Cook said in this age of people being able to get connected through technology, personal communication (like writing letters) is taking a back seat. He wanted his students to learn some valuable lessons through this project.
“This project of writing letters was a way for the students in my class to connect with one another by connecting with students across the world,” Mr.Cook said. “My goals were to improve the students’ communication skills with their fellow classmates by writing a letter across the world, gain some much needed cultural awareness and to give diversity a much needed ray of light. Seeing just how different other people function on a day-to-day basis or a ‘normal school day’ was exciting for the kids to discover while reading the letters they received back. A normal day in Pigeon, Michigan is much different than a normal day in Khylganat, Mongolia.”
Pictured above and below, Mr. Cook stands with some of the students who participated in the project. They’re holding onto the letters they received from Mongolian students.