Five Tools to Communciate Around The World

National Geographic Society conducted a Geography Literacy Survey in 2006. This Geographic Literacy Study assessed the geographic knowledge of young American adults between the ages of 18-24.

I was pleased to see many questions asked that go hand in hand with the 21st century skills, all of us are working so hard in acknowledging, learning about, integrating, modeling and promoting among administrators, faculty, parents and students.

The study, conducted almost 3 years ago found out that young Americans

are unprepared for an increasingly global future. Far too many lack even the most basic skills for navigating the international economy or understanding the relationships among people and places that provide critical context for world events.

Geographic Literacy is seen as an essential tool for living and succeeding in an interconnected and global world. BUT…

Young Americans appear to stick close to home, reporting limited contact with other cultures outside the U.S.

• Three-quarters (74%) have traveled to another state in the past year, but seven in ten (70%) have not traveled abroad at all in the past three years.
• Six in ten (62%) cannot speak a second language fluently.
• Nine in ten (89%) do not correspond regularly with anyone outside the U.S.
• Only two in ten (22%) have a passport.

Having been a Foreign Language teacher, I was actually surprised to read that the percentage of people who answered that they could speak a second language fluently was so HIGH (38%). I wonder if it was not defined properly what language fluency was. Many times, Americans tell me that they speak a language fluently, when in fact they are capable of saying hello and goodbye, order food and talk about the weather.

I was thrilled that the question “Do you correspond regularly with anyone outside the U.S.?” was included. As a technology integrationist, I immediately thought of all the WONDERFUL tools that are available to allow us to “correspond” with people that live in different countries, hemispheres, cultures, and languages.

Quick twitter poll gave the following answers to “5 tools you use to communicate around the world”. Answers came from the USA, Korea, Mexico, and Japan.

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I tweaked an image that I found on Stock.xchng that caught my attention and added the tools that were mentioned most. Feel free to use the image if you want to. I have uploaded the bigger resolution under Creative Commons to Flickr.