Exploring the ePals website was inspiring! This social website is exclusively made for students, teachers, and districts around the world and can help create the bridge of multicultural communication. I enjoyed searching through many of the projects made on ePals by teachers from other countries. Such projects included; digital story telling, the way we are, and so much more! I really liked that this website inspires literacy events in a global environment. Students are able to connect with students from other countries to gain understanding of multiculturalism through e-mails, pictures, and blogs. I was shocked to hear that the website can translate a number of languages to overcome the language barrier and make the power of connection accessible for everyone. This website is a great source for promoting cross-cultural awareness. That just so happens to be a NYS standard of TESOL. In my ESOL classroom, ePals can prove to be a great resource for information when exploring the English language. For example, the digital story telling is a great idea to promote a narrative voice in English. Many ELLs around the world can help each other improve their English story through dialogue, discussion, and story development in English. Not only will this promote language learning, but also promote meaningful cross-cultural connections through different perspectives. Learning English as a second language and as a foreign language may hold different learning contexts for the students, but they all share the same goal, to improve their English language knowledge and competencies. Having the ability to share similar struggles and achievements will help build confidence. Also, creating authentic learning spaces such as ePals and digital storytelling, motivates students to continue with learning language.
A Possible ePals Project:
After reviewing all the great tools that can be used to enhance instruction within the classroom, I would like to create an ePals project using the tool of Shelfari.com. This is a website that allows students or teachers to keep a running lists of books they have read, and provides the option to reviews those pieces of literature. I would like to see a huge cross-cultural book talk of popular books read in classrooms and great suggestions to incorporate pieces of multicultural literature within the classroom. Granted it would be hard to read books that are not in a familiar language, however; it would be interesting to find out how many books have already been translated and then hold a major book talk session. For example, The Diary of Ann Frank, has already been translated into many languages. Having multicultural book talks about such a piece of literature can really bring in other perspectives. This promotes critical literacy. Also, having access to multicultural books within the classroom promotes cross-cultural awareness, and Shelfari can become a means to create meaningful connections with literacy talks that spread throughout the world.
Having students read and comment on the same book sounds like an excellent project. They could also comment on each other's Shelfari reviews. Depending on who the students are connecting with and the L2 fluency of the cooperating classes, it may be possible for them to read the same book in the same language. For example if an ESOL class were collaborating with an EFL class in another country. I hope you get a chance to put your idea into practice.
ReplyDeleteDr. Burgos