Letter Exchange

• Focus on one particular story told by an Elder. Group members pretend they are the people in this story. Choose partners and, pretending to be the characters in the story, write letters to each other about the situation that happened in the Elder’s story. One partner writes the first letter and the other responds. Write and exchange the letters without worrying about editing – grammar, spelling, etc. When literacy group members have opportunities to concentrate on ideas instead of the mechanics of writing, they will feel less inhibited about writing. Consider this letter-writing exchange to be a form of journal writing.
• Several letters may be exchanged in this way.
• When the letter-writing process is complete, you may want to consider editing the letters – depending on the final purpose of the activity. Partners can work together in the editing process.
• The facilitator teaches mini-lessons on the writing process, syllabic keyboarding, grammar and any other topics as they come up during the progress of the writing and editing.
• The letters can be typed on the computer and published in book form with the original transcript or a summary of the Elder’s story.