By: Lauren Bissler

It Takes a Global Village

(Chapter 10) Ignorant, materialistic, obese, and arrogant are just a few words that other countries may describe Americans. However, as Americans we know that those words dont accurately portray Americans or our culture (well most of Americans). As teachers, its important to teach and bring awareness of different cultural perspectives and have an appreciation and tolerance to others. Its easy to present a lesson by showing images and reading about different cultures within textbooks, however it wouldnt be as effective as using technology to explore beyond the United States border. Sure, students could study aboard (ex. a Spanish class going to Costa Rica), but not many families can afford to send their children on such trips. By incorporating technology into the classroom such as Skype for Education, Kidlink Keypals, Virtual Travels, or ePals can help submerge students into different cultures through first-hand experiences. In the examples below, I have provided a brief summary of the purpose of each technology and a lesson plans that could be incorporated into the classroom while utilizing technology to teach about different cultures. 1. Skype for Education a. Purpose: Skype provides school districts the possibility to communicate with people through video chat from all around the global free of cost. This tool can help promote connections between different countries cultures and the knowledge they have acquired from the classroom. b. Lesson Plan: Subject: Foreign Language (Spanish) Grade Level: High School (9-12) Topic: Culture Goal: Students will increase their listening and oral communication skills while acquiring and learning about other students cultures. Activity: The students will be working in pairs (for support) within the schools computer lab so each group has access to a computer. To ensure that class time is used efficiently, you will need to download Skype onto each computer prior to the lesson (You may need to elicit the help of the technology coordinator of the lab). Students will have the opportunity to communicate with other students from Madrid, Spain (any place can be used for this activity). The students were asked the days before to create a list of questions based on their culture to ask students from Madrid. They are to record their answers and turn them in at the end of class. If all students arent able to access other students via Skype, then they are to
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participate in another activity until another group is finished with their questions. According to the article, Using Technology to Model and Teach Intercultural Communication stated that it was especially difficult for foreign language classes to interact socially with others due to non-existent possibility of communication. However, with todays technology, it provides students with authentic means of communication through the opportunity like the above lesson plan to connect with others across the globe. 2. Kidlink Keypals a. Purpose: This is similar to having a pen pal (students now-a-days may need the term pen pals explained, since many use technology as a form of communication, instead of paper/pencil). However, students will communicate on one-to-one bases with other students from the United States to Japan and everything in between via email. b. Lesson Plan: Subject: Social Studies Grade Level: Middle School (5-6) Topic: Culture Goal: Students will exchange emails using letter writing skills (friendly) with their keypal to gain a better understanding of their culture and customs. Activity: Students will be taught how to develop a friendly letter which includes the essential parts: heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. Students will then be escorted to the computer lab to sign onto Kidlink to find a Keypal. According to the text, Exploring Current Issues in Educational Technology, students can connect with other students and explore the possibilities it has to offer. Keypals can connect through a huge database, however if some students are unable to connect with a keypal that day, then plan b will have the students enter into the listserv to participate in a group discussion. They will have the opportunity to learn about other cultures, just not through a keypal. Those students who participate on the listserv, they will be required to develop a letter based on the information they gathered from the online discussion group using the essential components of writing a friendly letter. 3. ePals a. Purpose: ePals is a global community that provides a collaborative learning experience of different lessons according to topic and age level, which can be monitored by the teacher.
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b. Lesson Plan: Subject: Foreign Language (French) Grade Level: High School (Advance French) Topic: Culture Goal: Students will effectively communicate using correct written expression and oral expression in French to discuss similarities and differences in our cultures. Activity: As advanced high school foreign language students, they will be required to connect to the website ePals and exchange emails to a class of students in France (which was previous set-up through Find a Classroom) written in French. The students are to discuss similarities and differences in our cultures and turn in the emails exchanges for a written expression grade. The students will then present their results (in French) to the class to obtain an oral presentation grade. 4. Virtual Travels a. Purpose: Virtual travels allow students to explore and discover other countries without leaving the classroom because of explorers who set out to different parts of the world and take photographs and record their journey. Students are able to follow the expeditions via internet free of cost. However, if you would like to participate in actual discussions with the explorers, then you would have to pay a fee. There are several different websites that are available: Adventure Online, Global Schoolnet, and the Jason Project. b. Lesson Plan: Subject: Social Studies Grade Level: Middle School (6-8) Topic: Cambodia: Culture, Community, and Children Goal: Students will take a virtual trip to Cambodia and learn about their culture and community from poverty to education. Activity: The students will be working independently in the computer lab to explore the country of Cambodia. They are required to participate in the activities and discussions presented. They will be encouraged to take notes to help them formulate a one page paper that they will describe what they learned about Cambodia and their opinion of the virtual trip. Technology can play a significant role in bridging the gap between different cultures. As stated in the article, Technology as a Tool, it mentioned that technology and multicultural education can be important in engaging students to help facilitate access to language and literacy.
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Utilizing technology into the curriculum for instruction has been around for several years, however the way in which teachers use it for multicultural learning has been expanded and evolved. By using the technologies that were described in the above paragraphs, students can learn about different cultures through first-hand experiences