How can I use ePals in my classroom?

I explored ePals for the very first time. I am almost hesitant to admit that I have been a language teacher for 7 years and have not had any experience with ePals. I immediately went to find a classroom and match the students that I teach (13-17 years) according to their age group, preferred location, first language, etc. I immediately saw an opportunity to break away from the traditional classroom, and  collaborate with students from different corners of the world and become engaged in this cultural exchange community. I view this as a valuable opportunity to offer learning outside classrooms, while offering authentic Spanish language input, something that my high school's town does not have much experience with.

I think it would be great to allow my students to work in pairs to try their best to translate something that a high school group of students wanted to talk about from Spanish to English, and vice versa.  The relevance is what would really motivate the students.  

Through this Web interaction, students from both classrooms can learn new cultural knowledge from their partners.

When I consider something that I lack in my teaching, I myself like the other language teachers that I collaborate with, typically respond that it’s difficult to find native or fluent language speakers that our students can interact with. ePals is a solution.

Using ANIMOTO for Spanish vocabulary

Make a video of your own at Animoto.

I experimented using Animoto. Unfortunately, I was only able to create 30 seconds or so of video. I think that this tool couls be used for a review of vocabulary, or prefereably I would have my high school students create their own videos in Animoto using a list of assigned vocabulary. The effects are visually pleasing and the software is user friendly.