Students Being Global Communicators -NECC « Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle

Students Being Global Communicators -NECC

Many years ago, I started my teaching career as a Spanish teacher. Communication was my focus as was the culture of the Hispanic world.

Alan November at NECC on Wed advocated that our students communicate and work with people in other locations. I was amazed that although he talked about helping our students to develop another perspective, he used English only resources. If we are going to be global, then we have to begin to use another language.

My students used email to correspond in Spanish and to develop projects with students in Hispanic countries. They learned the views of Spanish speaking people (from Spain and Latin America) as well as the cultural values of these people. Were I teaching Spanish today, I would have my students interact through multiple technologies with Spanish speaking people.

How do your students become global citizens?

2 Responses to “Students Being Global Communicators -NECC”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 Quentin Allen March 20, 2009 at 12:51 am

I could not be more enthusiatic about your work. My grandson, Alex, loves the Spanish language, calculus and broadcasting with equal fervor. We have talked about the possibilities of students meeting via video conferencing, getting to know other people from other cultures and feeling/learning the common factor of their essential human strengthes and weaknesses. It is inspiring to know that there are those who become human linkages to a world beyond our own narrow confines. At my ripe age, thanks for your work to this generation of learners.

Reply
2 Carolina Rodriguez August 5, 2009 at 11:16 pm

Hello!
Well, my case is the opposite but very similar to yours, indeed. I’m a Colombian English teacher teaching English to adults in Bogota (The capital City of Colombia). At the institution I work for we have grown very enthusiastic about helping our students to become global citizens. We think they are not just Colombian anymore, they need to be Citizens of the World and we are working hard for it.
We teach them from very early stages of language instruction to be in touch with people online, to build communities, and to have an English persona. Besides, we have projects that gear towards students’ understanding of the world, its problems and its issues. Our students learn English through culture; and what’s more important, not only American culture.
I was thrilled to read that someone is doing the same with Spanish. When students approach the learning of a language through the analysis of the culture where it is spoken, they become more aware and less close-minded. For example, our students now read more in English, talk to people outside through chat pages like livemocha.com or sharedtalk.com, but the most important: they have expanded their horizons and understand that English is not just a set of grammatical rules, but a way to understand and be part of the WORLD!
Thanks for your work!

Reply

Education with Technology

Do We Know the Students’ Exact Progress in the Learning Standards At Any Moment? November 17, 2009
Every teacher should know at any given moment where their students stand in regard to state standards, state assessments, or even the “final”. We need to focus on our students’ learning progress and how we can help the students to improve from where they are to where we expect them to be. Waiting until the [...]
hgtuttle
Assess students’ academic learning, not Web 2.0 technology November 12, 2009
I thought that we have moved beyond focusing on the technology to focusing on student academic learning. I thought that back in the 90s. However, I find evidence even today that technology still has become the true focus rather than student academic learning. Whenever I look at the rubrics for an Web 2.0 tool, I [...]
hgtuttle
Wiki- Collaborative Notes Instead of Individual Ones November 8, 2009
My classes use a wiki. If the classes are sections of the same course, they share the same wiki. For example, my 8, 9 and 12:30 classes are all Writing and Research so I group them together on the wiki. I have been having students from each class take class notes and post them to [...]
hgtuttle
Assessing Learning with Web 2.0: Social Bookmarking November 1, 2009
I was talking to teacher who was so proud of the social bookmarking his students had done. They had collected over 60 links about the topic they were studying. I asked him if they had agreed on what tags they were going to use; he said that they used whatever tag they wanted. Next, I [...]
hgtuttle
Build a real class learning community October 30, 2009
Teachers can create a class community such as everyone knowing two things about everyone else in the class without having a learning community where students continually work together to better each other. Likewise, teachers can have students work together (Student A does this/ student B does that….) without really collaborating (interacting and chan […]
hgtuttle
Show your students their success October 25, 2009
When students receive a “C” on an assignment and then an “B” on the next, they know that their grade went up but they do not usually know why. And they probably do not know what new skill or strategy they need to move up to an “A”. An alternative approach is to use a learning [...]
hgtuttle
Let’s Hear it for the Power of Technology! LOL! October 22, 2009
I know of a person who does not have any technology in his room accept for a 70s looking overhead. One day he decided to walk around his institute and see how the teachers who had technology in their room was using it. 9/10 rooms were using the “elmo” type device to show a handout, [...]
hgtuttle
Continuous Assessment October 15, 2009
The British have used the term continuous assessment or assessment for learning for many years. I like the term continuous assessment since it implies that students are continually being monitored and given feedback to improve. Continuous assessment differs from the “unit” test or “every five week” tests that do not provide feedback […]
hgtuttle
Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, my book October 12, 2009
My book, Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available at http://tinyurl.com/writingtuttle. The book provides a systematic approach of observing students’ written work, diagnosing ( strengths and gaps and identify strategies to overcome the gaps), giving feedback, allowing time for growth and reporting the growth within your cl […]
hgtuttle
How Many Formative Assessments Do You Do Each Period? September 26, 2009
The only way to know how well the students are doing is for constant formative assessments or check-ins. If we do monitor students’ progress, then we have to have strategies ready to help the students who are progressing. I suggest that we should do three or more formative assessments each period. At present I teach [...]
hgtuttle

Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle