Communicate Globally

 A new site to consider in a classroom...epals is amazing!  What better way to teach your students about the world then to actually connect with the world.  With this site you can collaborate with classrooms throughout the world by creating classroom lessons together or by giving your students pen pals to write to.  You can pick the age group that your classroom is in so that they can communicate and collaborate with students their age that speak the same or different languages and they will be able to learn culture and community by experience and expand their knowledge with fun. 

Their are several different activities that students can participate in on this site.  BY going to the learning center you can work on several different activities from games to writting resources.   A few of my favorite:

• In the writting center you can go to the activity titled every picture tells a story in which students can go through pictures taken from other students around the world and then discuss what they see by answering some prompts in the pictures.  Pictures are from Cambodia, Spain, France, and even other places in the U.S.  This is a great way to teach children about differences in cultures.  Or for ESL students to show what their culture is like.
• In the global citizens center you can do an activity entitled walk a mile in my shoes in which students post videos or pictures to make a presentation of how they get to school including whether they wear uniforms or what you see on the way.  Once the video is uploaded students from all over the world get to "Walk a mile in my shoes".  This could be a great way to talk to students about differences and similarities in cultures and is a great way to show students that even though they can be miles away from one another they can still have things in common.

 There are so many other things that can be done on this site, to much for me to write it all on here and I can't possibly do it the justice that is needed.  Check it out! Collaborate and create with your students, communicate on a global basis.  Dont just talk to your students about culture use this site and let them learn about culture from other kids their age!!