If Family Feud were to do a survey asking English teachers to name the skill they most hate to teach, dictionary skills would have to be one of the most frequently listed answers. I hated the whole experience of teaching a dictionary unit, and I'm sure my students hated it, too. That changed recently. Because of a fluke in a seemingly unrelated student activity, I am now looking forward to next year's dictionary lesson. Because I am a staunch advocate of having students write for audiences other than a teacher, my classes are always involved in some sort of pen-pal writing. Students do at least one "mass mailing" to various countries-Korea, South Africa, Japan, and Russia-and to the many branches of the armed services. The focus of these letters is to describe student life in our town, and sometimes, months later, a student receives a response to share with others.