Teacher Spotlight Projects

The Teddy Bear Project

ePals M — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:11:17 GMT

Project Title: Teddy Bear Project

Submitted by: Katherine Ley in Sparta, Michigan U.S.A. and Michael Smythe in Somerville, Australia

Project Type: collaborative

Student Ages: 10-12 (5^th and 6^th grade students)

Description: As a part of the ePals experience, students take part in something called the Teddy Bear Project. The Americans sent 3 mascots/stuffed animals to Australia and the Australian’s sent 3 to America. The mascots represent important items that are specific to the immediate area in which the schools are located and the surrounding regions. The Americans sent a wolverine (Michigan’s nickname- Wolverine State), a white-tailed deer (Michigan’s state mammal), and a Spartan (Sparta Schools’ mascot). The Australians sent two koala bears and a kangaroo to represent common marsupial animals found in Australia. Students take turns bringing the mascots outside of school to take digital pictures of/with the mascots in various places that represent the area in which the students live. Then, the students send the digital photos through ePals e-mail to their ePal.

Download the pdf for further information about this project including outcomes and links to class blog and newscast video.

NASA MMS 2014 Mission and Space Weather Digital Art Student Workshops and “Challenge Summit”

ePals M — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:20:55 GMT

Project Title: NASA MMS 2014 Mission and Space Weather Digital Art Student Workshops and “Challenge Summit”

Submitted by: Tom R. Chambers, Raul Yzaguirre School for Success [RYSS], Houston, TX [United States]

Partners: Jennifer Miller, Dublin Independent School District, Dublin, TX; Sandra Wozniak, New Jersey [United States]

Project Type: Collaborative

Student Ages: 5^th, 6^th, 7^th, 8^th

Description: Tom R. Chambers’ eighth grade students from Raul Yzaguirre School for Success [RYSS] [Houston, TX] traveled to Dublin Middle and Primary Schools [Dublin, TX] to mentor fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in the use of graphics software to create digital art re: NASA MMS 2014 Mission and Space Weather. The workshops concluded with a “Challenge Summit”.

Download the pdf for full project description, photos and links. This project appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight.

The Way We Are – Egypt and USA

ePals M — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:32:44 GMT

Project Title: The Way We Are – Egypt and USA

Submitted by: Mr. Abdulhakim Ahmad Mohammad Taki-El-Din, Egypt

Partner: Mrs. Vickie Marcis, USA

Project Type: Collaborative

Student Ages: 15-16

Description:

In this project, students engaged in a learning experience that put Egyptian Secondary School Students in touch with American native English-speaking ePals. Through email exchanges, students improved their English writing skills; learnt about the daily lives, cultures, climates and geography of their ePals; and, built a relationship with students in another region of the world.

Download the document for a full description of the project with student outcomes and key elements.

Global Story-writing Students (GSS)

ePals M — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:55:29 GMT

Project Title: Global Story-writing Students (GSS)

Submitted by: Todd Kellaher, United States of America

Partners: Jenny Rossiter, Australia, Dana Curelaru, Romania, Melahrini Papardelli, Greece, Susanne Klug, Austria, Svetlana Rovenskikh, Russia, Beata Kalubowski, Poland, Montse Valdes, Spain, Claudia Eder, Germany, Gulhan Kucuk, Turkey, Stephen Bromfield, Australia, Cerassela Anghel, Romania, Parminder Kambo, United Kingdom, Ilse Schwartz, Germany

Project Type: As you can see by the number of partners, this is definitely a collaborative project, but it has elements of a classroom project as well.

Student Ages: Ages range from 8 to 16 years old.

Description: The GSS project can best be described as a fun way for learners of the English language to practice their teachings and exchange cultural as well as popular ideas and tales through a series of creatively written segments (or chapters) to a story that began here in the USA.

Download the pdf for outcomes, key elements and culminating activity descriptions.

GSS Project 2011-2012: More Project and Participant Info

ePals M — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:30:46 GMT

This file contains several videos made by Ilse S. from Germany about the Global Story-Writing Students (GSS) 2011-2012 Project started by teacher Todd Kellaher. They explain a little more about the story that students are collaboratively writing, how the project started, and tell a little more about some of the teachers and student participants. This project appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight.

GSS Project 2011-2012 First Ten Chapters

ePals M — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:21:08 GMT

This document is part of the Global Story-writing Students (GSS) 2011-2012 project. It contains the first 10 chapters written by the participating classrooms. The story starts in New York City and travels around the world with each classroom writing one chapter. This project was started by teacher Todd Kellaher, USA, and appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight.

The Culture Box

ePals M — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:30:29 GMT

Project Title: The Culture Box

Submitted by: Michelle Dons, South Korea

Partner: Any country in the world! So far, examples include: New Zealand, Australia, India, USA, and Cyprus.

Project Type: Collaborative

Student Ages: 11-14 (but can be adapted to any age)

Description: “The Box” Project is run out of the UNESCO Global Peace Village in Icheon, South Korea. Over the past few years, through the help of many teachers, the project has evolved into a great way for kids to learn about other cultures.

The GPV is a place for Korean students to come and learn about the UN, Culture, Peace, and the Environment. All of these ideas are taught in English over the course of a week. Each Friday morning the students come together to create “The Box”. First we show a PowerPoint teaching the students about the project and then they get to work!

The project involves us sending a box of things highlighting Korean culture to a school in another country and them sending us one about their culture. This provides a great way for kids to learn about their culture and that of another country, all while having a great time! Download the pdf to learn more about the project including links to student work and the blog.

GPV Culture Box: A Culture Box Exchange Programme

ePals M — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:08:47 GMT

GPV Culture Box: A Culture Box Exchange Programme

This slideshow illustrates an exchange between teacher Michelle Dons, South Korea, and teacher Tracey Stewart, Hawaii. This project appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight in February 2012.

Culture Box Exchange

ePals M — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:47:33 GMT

Project Title: Culture Box Exchange

Submitted by: Chrys Nicodemou, Cyprus

Partner: Won Jun Ryu, Program Coordinator at Global Peace Village, Korean National Commission for UNESCO, South Korea

Project Type: Solo Classroom and Collaborative

Student Ages: 12-13

Description: The project is initiated by the UNESCO Global Peace village in Korea. Elementary students go to the camp to learn major global topics like "Peace, Environment and Culture" in English. At the end of the week-long program, they are given a couple of hours to make anything from A to Z to be put in a box which will eventually be sent to the partner school. All of the things that represent culture and everyday life will be put in the box. Our school in Cyprus integrated the creation of the culture box into the English language curriculum-unit: Lifestyle. Both partner schools exchanged by post a box full of cultural elements! The videos and PowerPoint show the whole process of creating and displaying the culture box.

Download the pdf for all of the details for this project.

Veterans History Project

ePals M — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:18:13 GMT

Project Title: Veterans History Project

Submitted by: Jonathan Bickel – English teacher - Myerstown, PA USA

Partners: Donna Delcollo, Dorothy Noll, Amy Weddle

Project Type: Both collaborative and solo classroom

Student Ages: 15-18

Description: The Veterans History Project is the largest collection of oral histories in the United States. Instead of reading a history textbook, students have the opportunity to record history by preserving the service of a veteran forever. Students choose a local veteran to interview. In the process, students research the veteran’s conflict, research proper interviewing skills, and record a 30-minute interview to be placed in the Veterans History Project archive in the Library of Congress. After conducting the interview, students type a transcript of the interview and submit it. The students then type a biographical narrative of the veteran and create a multimedia project and poster of the veteran to be presented to the veteran, his or her family, and the students’ parents at an evening program. Download the pdf for the full project description and links to student work samples.

Veterans History Project - Photo Slide Show

ePals M — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:39:32 GMT

The Veterans History Project is the largest collection of oral histories in the United States. By participating in this project and preserving the oral history of one of our nation's veterans, students have the opportunity to record history rather than just read about it in a textbook. These photos were taken while Eastern Lebanon County High School students participated in this ongoing, collaborative project and then deleivered their work along with teachers and veterans to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. This project was submitted by teacher Jonathan Bickel and appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight in January, 2012.

Veterans History Project - Coming Through the Front Door

ePals M — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:48:47 GMT

Coming Through the Front Door: Students Honor the Service of Local Veterans

This story was written about the Veterans History Project by a yearbook staff member and student who participated in the project. This project was submitted by teacher Jonathan Bickel and appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight in January, 2012.

Veterans History Project - Sample Biographical Narratives and Transcripts

ePals M — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:43:55 GMT

This pdf document contains samples of student work for the Veterans History Project submitted by Jonathan Bickel that appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight in January, 2012.

Veterans History Project - Sample Handouts, Scoring Guidelines and Tips

ePals M — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:40:35 GMT

This pdf document contains the sample handouts, scoring guidelines, tips for teachers and tips for teachers for the Veterans History Project submitted by teacher Jonathan Bickel that appeared in the ePals Teacher Spotlight January, 2012.

Life in Our Countries

ePals M — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:13:11 GMT

Project Title: Life in Our Countries

Submitted by: Gyöngyi Tóthné Bán, Hungary

Partner: Schools in other parts of the world

Project Type: collaborative

Student Ages: 9-14

Description:

This is a cultural exchange project. We discuss a new topic every month. We use web 2.0 tools, we meet via Skype and finally we edit a wiki. The aim of this project is to find differences and similarities in our lives. After discussing our topics or sending our short videos, glogster, or other digital projects, we are going to summarize what is the same and what is different in our countries. I want my students to see more of the world, to know more about other countries, and I would like other countries to know more about our small country, Hungary. I hope my students will find friends and practice their English language skills through this project.