Creation of a learning community: Global Project - Japan

1. Creation of a learning community:Global Project - Japan I am a strong believer in Global Education and the benefits it has on sustaining an authentic and motivating learning community. While teaching at W.H. Day I had the opportunity to facilitate the global project for the students in grade eight. We were in contact with a classroom in Aiche, Japan through an organization called IEarn. The project was called Art Miles … On November 27, 2007 I organized a presentation at York University so that other teacher candidates would have the opportunity to have their students participate in such incredible global experiences.

2. It was important to set up a form of communication between the teachers and the students in order to get to know each other. Therefore, a forum site was set up allowing the students to post questions and comments to one another about many aspects of their cultural similarities and differences. The students in Japan wanted to know more about baseball and the “rows of houses” The students here in Canada wanted to know about popular foods, famous people and clothing The students in Japan practiced their English writing skills while learning how to read our English messages WEBSITE and VIDEO … The students at W.H. Day created a video introducing Canada. This video, along with pictures were put on a website I created for the project. Canadian Website Japanese Website GIFT BOXES and AMBASSADORS…The students from both schools put together gift boxes for one another. These boxes contained many cultural items. Each class also sent a stuffed animal to be their ambassador. DESIGNING and PAINTING… Half of the mural was first painted in Japan. Then it was sent to W.H. Day for completion. ALL of the students were ecstatic thinking about their contributions to this project!