It's only been a week since I returned from meeting the 104 international TEA teachers and the others who are heading overseas to visit them this spring, but my mind has been racing with ideas for my classroom. They have been teasing me as I've tried to focus on my career and family obligations.
Here's what I know: My students deserve to have a blast learning about India, its people, culture, and history. Experience tells me they will learn so much more if it is personal for them, as it is becoming for me. So, how to make that experience real for them has been the question the last few days. I've been thinking....
Wouldn't it be cool to set up a shared blog or Google Group where both my students and the Indian students could post a record of their daily class activities? Both groups would gain writing experience for a specific audience, and both would learn about the culture of education in another country. Maybe they would learn a few new vocabulary words in the process. Maybe they would share some new vocabulary. Maybe both groups would drop some preconceived notions and prejudices about each other as well.
Wouldn't it be cool to have my kids submit the research they are doing about India for our spring Asian Fair to the Indian kids for content proofreading? My students would not only have a real audience for their work at the Fair, but they would also have the benefit of using experts to verify the accuracy of information they find in the context of the lives of Indian families.
Wouldn't it be cool to be able to exchange video email? Having a face and a voice connected to messages would make my students become real people for their counterparts across the world. They would still be composing text, AND writing for a specific purpose, AND taking pride in their work. I'll bet it would make the exchanges more meaningful for everyone involved.
And all of it while meeting state standards and in preparation for end-of-course assessments.
So now, as always...how to make these ideas reality.
Just one more tug away from grading papers on a Sunday afternoon.
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This is so cool. This is the point of international exchange. Being an exchange student is amazing, but the downside is that you have to go out of your way for people other than you yourself to share in all the amazing things you've learned. You, as a teacher, have a waiting audience ... the members of whom desperately need the information you will soak up! I am so excited about this for you!!!!
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