Статья "Making Real Change"
статья по английскому языку по теме

Терещенко И.Н., Филимоненко Л.А.

Новочеркасск, Россия

Добиваясь перемен

Аннотация

В статье представлен опыт внедрения международных проектов в образовательный процесс и внеурочную деятельность учащихся средней и высшей школы.

Ключевые слова:  совместные проекты, межкультурное общение, экологическая культура, мотивация, стереотипы

Inna Tereshchenko, Larisa Filimonenko

Novocherkassk, Russia

Making Real Change

The article touches upon the experience of implementing international projects in the learning process and extra-curricular activities at secondary schools and universities.

Key words:

joint projects, cross-cultural communication, ecological culture, motivation, stereotypes.

Сведения об авторах:

Терещенко Инна Николаевна, заместитель директора по УВР,

учитель английского языка высшей квалификационной категории

Место работы: МБОУ СОШ №1, г. Новочеркасск

Филимоненко Лариса Алексеевна,

учитель английского языка высшей квалификационной категории

Место работы: МБОУ лицей №7, г. Новочеркасск

About the Authors:

Inna Nikolaevna Tereshchenko, Vice-Principal, teacher of English

Place of work: Municipal Secondary School #1, Novocherkassk

Larisa Alexeyevna Filimonenko, teacher of English

Place of work: Municipal Lyceum #7, Novocherkassk

Making Real Change

“Connection---human connection--- is the key to personal and career success.”

–Paul J. Meyer

How to expand learners' understanding of the world; motivate them to learn more about other cultures, develop a positive attitude towards other people and their cultures? What can help raise learners' awareness of other cultures, develop understanding of their own culture, and identify similarities and differences between Russian culture and international cultures?

It goes without saying that it is work on a variety of joint projects which take students and teachers outside the boundaries of classrooms. Project work is not a new methodology. Its benefits have been widely recognized for many years.

Many teachers use it a lot. We are not an exception.  One of the great benefits of project work is its adaptability. It can be used at every level from absolute beginner to advanced with all ages. We will touch upon the following projects “Ecological Culture without Borders”, “Partners in Education”, “Connecting Classrooms”, “Plant a Tree and Save our Planet”, “May Peace Prevail on Earth». The students and teachers of Access Program in Novocherkassk are active participants of these projects.

“Ecological Culture without Borders”

Mission

• to increase the level of ecological information;
• to form active civic position directed to solicitous attitude to the nature and environment improvement;
• to improve the ecological situation;
• to protect life on the Earth;
• to save our planet for people.

We found like-minded people to take part in our project from Access Program, Municipal secondary school #1, Lyceum #7 and Perkins K-8 in San Diego, CA, the USA. We discussed different ecological problems in both countries, looking for solutions of careful using of natural resources, participated in the Ecological Consortium in San Diego (October, 2009, 2010, 2011). Now we continue monitoring and taking care of the watershed with the motto “Your watershed needs you”.

"Partners in Education”

 Perkins K-8 School in San Diego and Novocherkassk school #1 as well as Access Program have established a wonderful relationship and are involved into its sixth year.

 “Our students have been corresponding continuously, our teachers have been sharing information about their respectful regions, and we have a continuous exchange of teaching materials and textbooks.  We continue to foster exchanges with one another on methods on educating our youth to be independent critical thinkers  who will be leaders of tomorrow, who have connections with peers from  their sister school, for the ultimate purpose of understanding their cultures and learning about themselves”  (Principal of Perkins K-8 School Fernando J Hernandez).

During the exchange program 42 students and 6 teachers from Novocherkassk had an opportunity to visit San Diego. It was a wonderful experience for the Russians and Americans as well.  34 of our American friends visited Novocherkassk too (20 students and 12 adults). We strengthened our relationship and overcame the stereotypes. The program keeps getting bigger and bigger.

In October 2013 a group of students and teachers is planning to visit San Diego to further develop our sister school relationship and foster international awareness and understanding among our students. The staff and students will be housed with the families of the staff and students in the Perkins Elementary School Community during their stay in San Diego. The students will be placed in classrooms at Perkins as if they were residential students.  They will be given the opportunity to visit many places in San Diego region including several schools in the city.

 “Connecting Classrooms”

Mission

• to combine language instruction with real experience;
• to foster meaningful social, cultural, and personal learning.

The goals of the project

• to improve students’ proficiency and communication skills in English, especially oral skills;
• to increase students’ motivation and interest in improving their language skills by providing them with opportunities for students’ involvement and “ownership” of their  learning;
• to encourage mutual respect and openness to different ideas among both Russian and American students.

Through an ongoing project students of Lyceum #7, Novocherkassk   who study English are paired and work on collaborative curriculum projects with University of Central Florida, Orlando, the USA students who study Russian. Together, the students collaborate across borders on curriculum projects that encompass both Russian and English communication. The age of the Russian students is 17-18 and the UCF students are 19-23 years old. There were 34 American and 34 Russian students who participated in the project during these two years. Among them there were 12 Access students and alumni.

Students exchanged letters, e-mails, videos, and CDs including information about themselves, their hobbies, families, villages, subjects and the educational systems at their schools as well as different aspects of their cultures. The Skype conferences were held once a month (three in the fall semester and three in the spring semester).

The Connecting Classrooms project helped students to not only bridge the gap between people separated by differences in cultural background by seeing what it is they have in common, but also brought them closer to the richness and variety of their own culture [Kourova, and Modianos, 2013].

Students of the twenty-first century are not passive learners. When cultural material of the target culture is presented to them, students can use it not only to communicate with people from the target culture and understand them better, but also as a tool to give them a second (or third) voice to express their thoughts and ideas [Thanasoulas, 2001].

“Plant a Tree and Save our Planet”

Mini-project “Plant a Tree and Save Your Planet” is a project within a framework of the long-lasting project “Ecological Culture without Borders”.

 The dates of conducting the project are chosen due to the special celebrations in spring: March, 22 is Water Day, April, 22 is Earth Day, April, 19 – April, 24 - Parks Week.

Goals and objectives

• to understand that all living things depend on each other and the conditions in their environment;
• to develop an attitude of caring, and respect for environment;
• to monitor the water in the nearby river Tuzlov and clean the watershed;
• to make the air in the town of Novocherkassk cleaner;
• to immortalize Russian-American friendship via Alley of Friendship.

Project timeframe: March, 15 – April, 25

Action plan:

March, 15 – Orientation meeting

March, 22 – Monitoring the Water in the river Tuzlov and Cleaning up Day

April, 9 – Planting trees in the flood lands of the river Tuzlov

April, 19 – Planting the Alley of Russian – American Friendship in the town park (the participants: Russian teachers and students and the delegation from San Diego, CA, the USA)

April, 22 – presentation of the ecological magazine – almanac “Caring about nature in the 3-d millennium”

April, 24 – Summing up meeting

Publishing the articles about the project in the School newspaper “Stupeni” and town mass media.

The outcomes of the project: the Alley and the trees near the river are in good condition now, they are cared by our students and teachers, our partnership with American sister school became stronger.

“May Peace Prevail on Earth”

Motto: “Live to hope – hope to live”.

Mission: to promote peace and collaboration among nations.

A touching story about Sadako Sasaki , a Japanese girl , who suffered from an awful disease, inspired us to create this project. The idea of the project came to our mind near the post with paper cranes in Children’s Center “Orlyonok”. The story is taken from the textbook of the 3-d graders of Perkins K-8 School, San Diego.  The Russian students translated it from English into Russian, acquainted many other students from School #1, Lyceum #7 and Access Program in Novocherkassk with the fate of the girl. All the participants made their own paper cranes as symbols of hope and peace. Moreover, they addressed the peers in the social network to join them making cranes and telling the story to their countrymen. On their invitation the representatives from 9 countries joined the project.

Now the pictures of 10 international paper cranes travel around the world via the global network strengthening peace and understanding among nations.

In 2013 – 2014 academic year the new project “You are not alone” will be launched to support the handicapped children and to promote the idea of tolerance in the society.

All these projects are strong examples of how mutual efforts can enrich opportunities of students’ cultural understanding and social awareness, overcoming the stereotypes, becoming successful citizens of the global community. “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”.

(Henry Ford)

References

1. Kourova  A.V., Modianos D.T. (2013).Inter-cultural awareness and its role in enriching students’ communicative competence.The International of HETLReview Journal, Vol.2

2. Thanasoulas D. (2001). The Importance of Teaching Culture in the foreign Language Classroom. Radical Pedagogy.Vol.3, No.3.