100 reasons to snail mail #5

GEOGRAPHY

However weird this reason sounds, penpalling teaches geography. If you have penpals in foreign countries you can hear about the place they live in, places they've been to, check them on the map, hear the details... learn about fauna and flora typical in their country, the climate, the natural disasters that occure there. Of course you can learn many of these things in your geography lessons, in the TV, Internet etc. but isn't it more interesting to hear them from the "eyewitness"? Have you ever noticed that despite lectures about climate in school, we still imagine some countries to be hot or snowy all year long while the truth is totally different? Penpalling helps to break these "stereotypes". It's easier to remember what's typical for some region if you hear about it from a friend than if you read pure facts in a book, it's easier to remember places if you hear some story connected with them. Snail mail concerns also postcrossing. By swapping postcards with people all around the world you can get to know places you've never even heard about and see things you wouldn't even hit on an idea to search for. So, you see, penpalling can be pretty educational;)

If you're into penpalling and want to share your experiences in your blog according today's reason, please link back here and make a comment that you made an entry :)