Postcrossing

You can listen to this post while you read:

What is postcrossing?

Through the Postcrossing website you can send postcards to people all over the world, and get them in return. Here are some of the postcards I have received through the website:

They come from several countries, including the USA, Russia, Australia, Germany, Finland and China.

It’s a great way to practise reading and writing in English with real people from around the world.

Joining postcrossing

To send and receive postcards, first you need to join the website, like this:

1. Click ‘Sign up’
2. Complete the information, including your full address. If you don’t normally use the Roman alphabet (like the English alphabet), you need to use it here so that everyone can write to you, not just people with the same alphabet as you. Don’t forget to include your name and your country! When you have finished, click ‘sign me up’.
   
3. Next, you can edit your profile to say something about you. Don’t forget to include ‘English’ in the list of languages which you speak! You shouldn’t include your address on this page. For example, here is my profile:
   The mailbox map is automatic, but only shows the town you are from. Only people who will send you postcards will be able to see your address.

Sending a postcard

Once you have joined, login and click ‘send a postcard’

Read the information, then tick the box at the bottom and click ‘request address’.

Postcrossing will give you an address for you to write to. When you first join the site, you can only send 5 postcards at one time, but as you send more your limit will increase. This is what you will see:

At the bottom of the page you will also find information from the other person’s profile, normally telling you what kind of postcards they like. This can help you to choose something to send them.

The most important things are the address and the postcard ID. Don’t forget to write this unique number on the card you send!

Then, sit back and wait for your postcards to arrive. When the person you send a postcard to registers it, another postcrosser will receive your address and send you one.

Receiving a postcard

When you get a postcard, go to postcrossing.com and click ‘Register a postcard’

Write the postcard ID and a short thank you message to the person who sent it to you, then click ‘Register postcard’

That’s it! Happy postcrossing 🙂

My teenage students replying to postcrossing cards