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Web connects local, Turkish students
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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Scott Highlands eighth-graders learn about foreign culture
 by Jessica Harper
Thisweek Newspapers
Technology has vastly changed the way society communicates, whether it be cell phones, Facebook or webcams.
Students are able to learn this firsthand in Kim Gernandt’s
eighth-grade class at Scott Highlands Middle School in Apple Valley by
participating in video conferences with students in Turkey.
PHOTO: Scott Highlands Middle School eighth-grader Drew Ciriacks talks to his pen pal in Turkey via Skype, a software program that allows users to make calls over the Internet. A webcam allows the students to see one another. Photo by Jessica Harper
“The goal is to not only appreciate different cultures but to also gain knowledge in vast communication skills, verbal and nonverbal,” Gernandt said.
The students talk three times a week in groups of nine using Skype, a software program that allows users to make calls over the Internet. A webcam allows the students to see one another.
Gernandt started the program this year after meeting with Filiz Gokdemir, a middle school English teacher in Caycuma, Turkey, on an international pen pals Web site for teachers.
Gernandt said she originally thought of communicating with a European class when searching for a class overseas.
“I never thought of Turkey, but anything that is a learning experience is wonderful,” she said.
 The conference gives the Turkish students in grades six through eight an opportunity to improve their English skills, and the Scott Highlands students get a chance to learn how to communicate with foreign cultures.
Scott Highlands eighth-grader Ryan Mather said the program helps him better understand some of the lessons in other classes, too.
“In global studies, I learn how we should respect cultures,” he said. “This is a way to see what the teacher is talking about.”
The students limit their conversations to basic words because the students in Caycuma speak limited English and the Scott Highlands students speak almost no Turkish.
“It forces students to use all their communication skills and to rethink how they communicate,” Gernandt said.
Students at Scott Highlands have learned a few Turkish words from their conversations such as “hello,” “goodbye” and “good night.”
The program has been on-going for about two weeks, and the two teachers plan to integrate topics into the conversations once a month.
They also hope to the have the students create a project online together using an English-to-Turkish translation program.
In addition to Skyping, Gernandt’s 90 students are each given a pen pal.
“I hope students develop life-long friendships from this,” Gernandt said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 December 2009 )
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