Before the end of the 2020-2021 academic school year, I began to write a letter in French which was eventually sent to a home for the elderly. The goal was for this letter to put a smile on the people that were living with AssiDom (the organization’s name). On their website they have a segment which is called ‘1 lettre 1 sourire’ which directly translates to ‘1 letter, 1 smile’. Along with one other classmate, we each wrote our own letters to the elderly which can be seen later in this post. I asked them about their lives during the COVID pandemic and how they feel about AssiDom’s care. The response that we got was quite heartwarming as they told us that they were very grateful that we reached out to them and that they hope that we can stay in touch. Attached alongside this response was a picture of the elderly people that received and responded to the letter which can be referred to below. This experience humbled me as I realized how much my letter meant to them and I learned that small gestures can go a long way. Furthermore, their response also made my day as it made me feel connected and like I put a smile on somebody’s face. This feeling made me feel great and because of this experience, I will definitely continue to act upon small deeds that could potentially change someone’s day for the better.

LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

This experience truly made me recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions as I had never thought that sending a letter to someone that I don’t know would evoke such emotions. This really made me wonder what future choices and/or actions I could make in order to make somebody else’s day slightly better. Within doing this I also learned that the action of giving, whether it be a physical object or even emotional support goes both ways as not only does it brighten someone else’s day, it also brightens mine.

Letter in English:

Hello dear sir,
I hope this letter finds you well.

My name is Aman. I am from the United States but I live in Sri Lanka. I go to “The Overseas School of Colombo” high school and I am 17 years old. I was born in Switzerland and I was raised speaking only French, but when I moved to Thailand, I forgot everything! Now I’m trying to learn it again! I am a basketball player and hope to play professional basketball in the future. I also like to DJ for parties, events or for my friends. With the pandemic, organizing parties is unfortunately difficult for me to mix.

In Sri Lanka, the COVID situation was pretty good at the start, but in the last half of the year it has become very bad. I made the decision to leave now because many countries prohibit Sri Lankans and people coming from Sri Lanka from traveling. Currently, I am writing to you from Maryland in the United States, where I will be spending the summer! Also, we wanted to leave as we haven’t seen our family for over 2 years. However, as some members of my family are older, we don’t know when we will see him again … It’s sad, but their health is more important … Going to the United States also gives me the opportunity to live. vaccination against COVID, which was not possible in Sri Lanka.

Enough about me, now I would like to know more about you! Can you tell me a little more about yourself? How has COVID affected your everyday life? Do you have family visiting you? Is life easier with the help of AssiDom? If so, how does it help you?

Friendships,
Aman

Reflection in English

Writing this letter was a good experience as I felt like I was making a positive impact in another person’s life. It was also the first time that I sent a letter to a French-speaking person. I will definitely do this activity again because I think it helped my learning a lot because I forced myself to write with correct grammar and good vocabulary.

Original Letter & Reflection:

Écrire cette lettre était une bonne expérience car j’avais l’impression d’avoir un impact positif dans la vie d’une autre personne. C’était aussi la première fois que j’envoyais une lettre pour une personne francophone. Je referai certainement cette activité car je pense que cela a beaucoup aidé mon apprentissage parce que je me force à écrire avec une grammaire correcte et un bon vocabulaire.