Tiger Talk is a club at Loveland High School for high schoolers to pen pal with third and fourth graders. Maddison Aliaga (11) founded the club, and Ella Sauer (11) is the co-founder. Aliaga started the club to keep the community connected. The hope of Tiger Talk is to give the younger kids not only someone they can look up to but also someone who has been through grade school and can be there for them. The kids talk to the high schoolers about anything from social issues to what they’re doing in art class.
There are other schools all around the country doing this, and it has many positive benefits. These benefits include building kids' reading abilities and allowing them to practice their writing. Rather than simply texting a peer, the kids are working on capitalization, indentation, perspective writing, and so many other rules of writing. Having a pen pal promotes patience which is all the more important nowadays since most kids get what they want when they want it; they don’t have to wait for anything. When they finally get that letter after weeks of waiting, it brings them a type of joy that younger generations don’t otherwise know. They are also learning social skills that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to develop until later in life. They learn to have a healthy mix of talking about what they are interested in but also focusing on the other person. Overall, Tiger Talk is a great way to mentor younger students while still having fun.
If you are interested in joining Tiger Talk, please contact @aliama24 by email.
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