PEN PALS FOR CAS HOURS!

[ibibib1022]

Hi my name's Yena and I am looking for pen pals.

Basically, you email people in IB in another country on a weekly basis and you get 26 Creativity hours for it (assuming you will start now and continue for 2 years, 15 min a week)

It's a really easy way to get CAS hours! Please reply if interested!

[Jason08]

WOW... really, pen pals count towards CAS hours... i really need more hours I only have 1 more year left lol... anyways this is awesome i am so excited sign me up... btw are you leading this here? like are you going to pair people up? or are we just emailing you?

[ibibib1022]

WOW... really, pen pals count towards CAS hours... i really need more hours I only have 1 more year left lol... anyways this is awesome i am so excited sign me up... btw are you leading this here? like are you going to pair people up? or are we just emailing you?

I need someone and I have friends who are looking for people, so.. both i guess lol

By the way are you in canada? because if you are i can't do it with you but if you keep checking here people from another country will probably message us!

Edited June 8, 2010 by Aboo
No text speak!

[Abu]

This is probably the stupidest idea I've heard of so far to get CAS creativity hours. It'd probably count if you were trying to do it in a different language so as to improve your language skills or something.

Then again, it depends on your CAS coordinator, and on their leniency to allow mind numbing ideas to pass through as CAS activities.

You could just try going on to sites like Omegle and chatroulette, because, really, those are sort of Pen Pals too.

[sweetnsimple786]

Chatroulette doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I guess you could just as well look up pen pal sites on Google. There are a ton of them.

You could find specific ones based on interests like artists or something. Guess pen pals from this site will give you something in common--IB.

Yena, I think many other IB students will have a harder time convincing their CAS Coordinators that this activity counts, like Aboo mentioned.

I guess if you don't find others, I don't mind being a 'pen pal,' though I don't live that far from you.

But can I urge you to do another activity? CAS might be a pain, but it can also introduce you to something you never thought you'd like doing. We all look for CAS hour opportunties, but there are so many CAS-able things that we don't count toward CAS because it doesn't matter. We do them just because. Hope you find that =) Maybe penpal-ing can be a side activity?

[Abu]

Re the chatroulette, I was being sarcastic.

CAS exists for students who would otherwise be at home studying, to go out and experience new things/talk to new people/help people/be creative/learn a new activity. It's not meant to be a lazy 150 hours or to do something you already do and count that as CAS.

[ibibib1022]

This is probably the stupidest idea I've heard of so far to get CAS creativity hours. It'd probably count if you were trying to do it in a different language so as to improve your language skills or something.

Then again, it depends on your CAS coordinator, and on their leniency to allow mind numbing ideas to pass through as CAS activities.

You could just try going on to sites like Omegle and chatroulette, because, really, those are sort of Pen Pals too.

I disagree because there are tons of people who are doing this for CAS. It's not stupid. And the whole idea is speaking in a different language! That's why I'm looking for someone in another country. I assume they speak a second language? French? Spanish?

Even if we're going to speak in English, we're not going to spazz about our IA's or Extended Essays or our boatloads of homework. Of course that wouldn't count.. We'll talk about what's going on in the country to exchange information about our different cultures. We can also learn how the IB program differs in another country. We can also discuss current events, like the oil spill. It's all over the news. And we can talk about global issues.

My point is that this isn't for just getting CAS hours. It's an opportunity to learn more beyond our own school, neighbourhood, country, or continent... And a side note: CAS isn't about filling in ours anymore. It's about being committed to a variety of activities and reflecting about what we're learning. We have to do journal entries weekly! What would we write in these journal entries if all we do in pen pal is talk about crap? Also, you can learn INSIDE. It doesn't always have to be OUTSIDE.

And I don't think CAS is a pain. It's going to help relieve stress from all the work!

And lastly, this isn't the ONLY thing I'm doing for CAS. There's a lot more that I'll do. It's an extra... What's wrong with that?

[Austin Glau]

CAS itself is kind of a pain if you were lazy to begin with, and it might be something extra but some people don't see it that way

I disagree because there are tons of people who are doing this for CAS. It's not stupid. And the whole idea is speaking in a different language! That's why I'm looking for someone in another country. I assume they speak a second language? French? Spanish?

Hell no, not spanish right now please

[lishnaa]

I'd be happy to be involved but not for CAS hours.

I think it would be nice to talk to someone who is going through the same thing that I am

[Amber]

I'm in!!

[Abu]

This is probably the stupidest idea I've heard of so far to get CAS creativity hours. It'd probably count if you were trying to do it in a different language so as to improve your language skills or something.

Then again, it depends on your CAS coordinator, and on their leniency to allow mind numbing ideas to pass through as CAS activities.

You could just try going on to sites like Omegle and chatroulette, because, really, those are sort of Pen Pals too.

I disagree because there are tons of people who are doing this for CAS. It's not stupid. And the whole idea is speaking in a different language! That's why I'm looking for someone in another country. I assume they speak a second language? French? Spanish?

You did not specify at any point in the entire thread that the target language of any such 'pen-palling' was to be a language other than English thus implying (considering that a request for a pen pal in another language was not made) that all letters/e-mails exchanged between the two pen-pals would have been in English.

[sashamarie]

I personally think it'd be a lovely idea to pen pal with other IB students!

Sign me up!

[Summer Glau]

Count me in! Seems like a cool idea.

[Evelina]

I'd be happy to join

[R-Lau R-Piz]

Hi,

I've finished my IB already but the idea of having pen-pal seems cool. Is it okay if i wanna join this as well?

[Soxul]

This sounds like a pretty cool idea. I'd be interested in doing it for the next two years. If you want to, send me an email and I'll reply!

[Bishup]

I can penpal in Swedish, English, French, Spanish and Italian.

My mother tongues are Swedish, English and French so have your pick.

NB : I have already finished all my CAS so I'm doing this purely to help people out.

I'd be happy to receive and reply in French soly.

[AlonsoDT]

Hey, I'd like to join as well! You can write me in Spanish, English and French (though my French is pretty sloppy, but anyways ) PM me and I'll give you my email.

[graw]

I have to tell you dearest friends that recently in www.ibo.org they have posted that penpals do not count as CAS hours. I asked personally for the answer because I also have IB pen pals, that was the answer so nothing to do, although if you want to have them the IB really likes it ( but we really don't matter if they like it or not hahaha )

Anyway just do it for fun or to learn about other cultures or to use your second Language ( is very good =) ) or don't do it !! haha

For me has been very very useful, now I get the higher average in english and before pen pals I didn't ( english is my second language =) )

Best Regards,

C.K

-----------------------------------------------------------------

This is the proof of what I'm saying :

( http://communitytheme.ibo.org/es/blogs/site-moderator/pen-pals-and-cas-credit )

"Pen pals and CAS credit

Enviado por Site moderator el Mar, 15/06/2010 - 8:48am.

Etiquetas:

* activities with students

* cas

* Diploma

* service

It’s good that IB students around the world wish to practise their languages and find out more about other cultures and outlooks by having pen pals.

Although this site was set up specifically for the IB community to work together and share ideas and actions about global issues, we’re pleased that you are finding it useful for this purpose too. (When the new IB virtual community is launched, this will provide a better way of finding pen pals).

From some comments here, it appears that some students and schools are considering the possibility of counting time spent corresponding with pen pals as a CAS activity.

The position of pen pal correspondence and CAS hours has now been clarified by the Curriculum and Assessment Area Leader with responsibility for CAS. While pen pal exchanges can certainly be very positive and rewarding, they do not fulfill the particular requirements for CAS activities – as service or creativity, and cannot, therefore count for CAS hours within the Diploma.

We hope you’ll enjoy making contacts, nevertheless. "

[IB_delusion]

Sometimes, I'm very annoyed by the CAS system! we took roles in a school play and my CAS supervisor said it's not enough to count for Creativity =.=

btw, I though they change CAS. In my school, we don't have the 150 hours thing anymore, instead we do 2 projects for each criteria ...by doing that, it save lots of time and we can focus more on what we decided to do