Hello? Brazil? It’s Cohoes!

Twenty years ago, students wrote letters to pen pals in other towns, states and even countries. But today, with the click of a mouse, Cohoes Middle School students are chatting, face-to-face, with "pen pals" in Brazil.

Through the C.A.S.E. (Cohoes After School Enrichment) program at the middle school, Tony Rivera has connected students at the Mentes Brillantes (Brilliant Minds) School in Brazilian children in Campos do Jordão, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"I think it's awesome," said one of the seventh-graders who talked with the Brazilians via a Web cam earlier this December. "We can learn more from them than if we were just writing letters."

The connection with Brazil comes through Rivera, co-founder of C-R Productions at the Cohoes Music Hall. Rivera, who was born in the United States, has Brazilian parents and lived in the South American country for several years as a child. During a recent visit to Brazil, he met a group of teachers and together they created the pen-pal program.

"I think the Web conversations are a unique way for our Cohoes students to make connections with students in another country," Rivera said. "It will give them a sense of what life is like in other parts of the world."

To generate conversation, the sixth, seventh and eighth graders who participate in the CASE program both in the U.S. and Brazil, will grow plants in an "EarthBox," a self-contained gardening unit as a starting point for discussion about their climates and seasons, Rivera said.

In addition to talking with their new friends online, Cohoes students will converse with their Brazilian friends through a Web site called epals.com. The site will give students the opportunity to write to the Brazilian students through a secure online format and will even translate their e-mails from English to Portuguese.