E-PALS creates a virtual bridge between students ages 10 to 14 in North America and Israel, and helps them develop a personal connection. The program twins two schools, a congregational school in North America and a public school in Israel. E-PALS has been successful in many communities, involving people and institutions in a meaningful, fun process of study and connecting.
Together, schools and educators learn and explore issues of Jewish identity, community, and Israel today, and students are stimulated by new friends online from overseas. The program works along with each class, and accompanies teachers as they dialogue, plan, and implement a year-long program. Students are given a partner or a small group as their counterpart, and each team is assigned tasks, sharing information on their community or other areas of interest, such as the environment, sports, music, technology, tikkun olam, and so forth.
- To offer a long-distance learning experience between two groups (classes or schools) based on values of Jewish Peoplehood, where students learn about their own local community and their partner school’s distant community.
- To twin young Jewish students in Israel and North America, sharing experiences through the internet and strengthening interpersonal connections.
- To deepen and expand ongoing connections between communities, schools, and families.
- To provide a low-cost dialogue between North American and Israeli educators and between youth.
What does the program include?
In North America and in Israel, a teacher or a coordinator is chosen by each school. An educator from the Department of Jewish Peoplehood works closely with both schools and teachers, helping oversee the program that is based on the topics that the teachers choose. The topics are agreed upon by the schools along with guidance from the Oranim International School. We also prepare the students and facilitate two to three video-conferences between the students and teachers over the course of the year.