Blog+with+Students+in+Foreign+Countries

Beth showed us the IEARN website where students from one country can blog with students from other countries, as well as share their projects, such as essays, photos of artwork and PowerPoint presentations. In Beth's case, her 10th Grade Modern China class is sharing a blog with a 7th Grade class in Beijing. On the IEARN website, you and your class can join any of the blogs that are on the website by searching by country or by language, and then joining any of the "projects" they have listed. In Beth's case, however, she contacted the U.S. IEARN coordinator, who happens to live in Brooklyn, and she was able to set up a "private" blog with a particular school in Beijing. The Chinese students asked Beth's class if they were familiar with a Chinese political hero, Lei Feng, and Beth's students responded. Some of them asked the Chinese students if they knew who Martin Luther King was, or Abraham Lincoln. Then the blogs evolved with American and Chinese students asking about a typical day in the life of a Chinese teenager. Beth explained that there have been some delays in getting responses from the Chinese students since the answers are filtered through their teacher (for linguistic purposes, but perhaps also for political ones) whereas Beth's students all have their own passwords and can make their own blog entries (although Beth has the passwords and retains the power to delete any inappropriate or misinformed entries). Ken Corfield asked if our students censor themselves, e.g. avoid asking questions about Tibet. Beth said that students were encouraged to avoid controversial themes. In other blogs, Beth has observed that there is a strong sense of social justice. Beth's students are very engaged with the blog and their only complaint is that the Chinese students don't respond more quickly. Beth has given students homework assignments based on the blog, e.g. students must go home and make at least one entry on the blog, or they must keep a journal based on their experience of the conversations that take place on the blog. Beth noted that IEARN can be especially valuable for foreign language teachers, since BC students could then converse with students in the language they are studying. If interested, check out the iearn website at: http://iearn.org/