Since 1995, I have been exchanging tapes, and increasingly MDs, with students. Before you call the piracy hotline, let me explain. Students record messages in English for me as homework, submit the message, and I reply on the same media. It has proved a motivating experience for students and a rewarding one for me in that I got to know students much better. I was able to talk privately with all students, not just the outgoing ones who regularly turn up at my office. While recording messages is not as immediate an activity as speaking face-to-face, it is stress free for students and allows them time to process the language (often by listening many times), plan an answer, and then say it successfully.