Global Education- Travel Experience through Technology

Well, it is official. My school has made reservation for me and a colleague to fly to China in December. I believe I mentioned before in a post, that our school is wanting to take a more global approach to education. Mainly due to the President’s National Security Language Initiative and its call for study in less commonly taught languages.

An essential component of U.S. national security in the post-9/11 world is the ability to engage foreign governments and peoples, especially in critical regions, to encourage reform, promote understanding, convey respect for other cultures and provide an opportunity to learn more about our country and its citizens. To do this, we must be able to communicate in other languages, a challenge for which we are unprepared.

While our Elementary School will not be able to provide a language immersion school, we are committed in providing our students a more global education. By exposing them to different cultures, languages and people, we are hoping to broaden their horizon. When they move on to Middle and High School, they will hopefully have gained an open mind and enthusiasm and embrace foreign language and culture studies, instead of seeing them as a required 2 year course that has to be completed in order to earn their diploma or degree.

Since our school chose the country of China to be the first country of study, two faculty memebers will be travelling to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xian and Beijing in December.

I am preparing the best I can, by thinking of ways to take our students on this trip through technology. The idea is for the teachers to integrate Chinese culture (history/legends/landmarks/geography/games/food/festivals/etc.) into their classroom by reading stories, bringing in guest speakers, celebrating Art Day, including the Country of China in geography lessons, etc.

All of these activities will be the hook that we are planning to connect the travel experience to. Through daily communication (blog entries, photos, podcasts, soundseeing tours, videos) between us in China and our students, we hope to make our students see that the world they are growing up in is indeed flat.

I am working on a Game Show format based on the “Amazing Race” that I would like to set up for the older grades (5th & 6th Grade). Students would receive video-, photo-, audio-, and/or written clues from us on a daily basis. Each morning the classroom teachers takes a few minutes to have everyone read the blog entries and the challenge/ road block/ detour/etc. of the day. Students then use computer time in the lab, classroom or at home to answer/complete the challenges. Questions about where we are and what we are experiencing will be directly answered through the blog.

For the younger grades we have decided to purchase a School Mascot, probably from Build-a-Bear . The idea came to me from a German book that I used to read to my three daughters when they were little. ” Letters from Felix: A Little Rabbit on a World Tour” by Annette Langen. The bear would spend some time in each classroom before the trip, where with a grand ceremony each class would dress it with a little outfit/accessory , which it will wear on differnet days on the trip. They will have their class picture taken with the bear which then will be enlarged and placed on a special “China Bulletin Board” for the two weeks of our trip. They could add a map of China to follow the bear along the journey. The “bear” will write blog entries on a daily basis, which the teacher will read with her students and write back to with any questions and/or comments. The bear will also send pictures and videos of special places and/or experiences it encounters.

While my mind is trying to figure out how I can bring Chinese culture closer to my American students, it seems that some Chinese parents and teachers are thinking along the same lines, just towards the opposite direction.
The New York Post Article ” Chinese Children Learn Class, Minus the Struggle”

To address that, some of the newly affluent, like Ms. Lei, take their young children for extended stays overseas. London and New York are popular choices, because the children can get a head start on speaking Western-accented English.

�Parents like myself are worrying about China becoming a steadily more competitive society,� said Zhong Yu, 36, a manufacturing supervisor whose wife is a senior accountant with an international firm and whose 7-year-old son has been enrolled in the junior M.B.A. classes. �Every day we see stories in the newspapers about graduates unable to find good jobs. Education in China is already good in the core subjects, but I want my son to have more creative thinking, because basic knowledge isn�t sufficient anymore.�

If you have any further ideas about using technology tools to bring this China Travel experience closer to our students, please let me know.

• Blogs
• Podcast (soundseeing tour)
• Vidcast
• Photos
• Video conferencing via (Skype)

I would also love to hear from you if you have already traveled to or are living in China . What are some of the things to keep my eyes out for (traditions, themes, experiences, etc. that would appeal to children ).

• animals
• traditions, festivals, myths
• games
• food
• transportation

Check out this travel blog I read regularly: The World is Not Flat. A couple on a trip around the world. I enjoy the photos posted and the stories from the road. Great job in letting others participate in their journey from their own living room.