His first-ever letter

Last week in 8th grade English, I had students write letters to former students who had moved at the end of last year.

One student, quite bright and motivated, was stumped. "If I put 'From (Name)' at the top, then where do I put who the letter is to?"

I tried to activate his prior knowledge. "Remember? You start with 'Dear So&So' and you end with...?"

But he didn't remember, and he asked for several more details before feeling satisfied that he had it right.

"Is it the opposite in Korean?" I asked him. "How do Koreans start a letter?"

"I don't know," he replied. "I've never written a letter in English OR Korean."

A smart, well-educated student, writing his first-ever letter at age thirteen. How did that happen?

After living here a year, I've still never seen a post office or a postal worker...my mail is sent to the school. The postal system is certainly corrupt, slow, and generally inconvenient. Still, though, I can't imagine. No thank-you notes? No pen pals? No "pretend you're this character and write to this other character" in English or history class?

This may have been his first letter for my class, but it will certainly not be his last.