Exposing kids to the wider world has become more than just a cute exercise informally taken on via a pen pal. These days, it’s an opportunity that every child needs to experience if they are to succeed in our increasingly global economy.
If you are a teacher at a public, private, or home school wondering how you can make an experience like this happen for your students, then welcome to the Global Community, a digital cultural exchange with collaborative projects for kids worldwide.
Our new version of the Global Community features “Experiences” or explorations that students can work on collaboratively with peers around the world. Want to find out what bird’s nest soup means in Chinese culture? Don’t google it, ask a child in China. Want to find out what daily life is like for a child in Cambodia? Ask a peer who lives there. Want to practice speaking Spanish with a native speaker? Log and start chatting. Taking part in the Global Community is a unique and inspiring way to build relationships and develop ideas with the potential to change the world.
On the Global Community you’ll find real-world and in-depth project-based learning Experiences that integrate the Cricket Media content you know and trust. Some of these Experiences are designed to be quite comprehensive and others are shorter “lite” Experiences, such as playing and learning about games from other countries, exchanging folktales, and designing flags. These projects allow teachers to plug the Experiences into their own instructional units. There are even teacher materials created by the ePals team of education experts that will help make the Experiences easier, smoother, and more meaningful for everyone involved.
Hey parents, we didn’t forget about you. We’re working hard to make the Global Community available to students outside of their classrooms, so sign up to receive updates of when this feature will be available to you. In the meantime, you can pass along this information to your child’s teachers so they can get their entire class meeting new friends all around the world.
Oh, I didn’t even mention one of the best parts of the Global Community: It’s free! So don’t delay. Check it out and get your kids interacting with peers from around the world. They could make friendships that will last a lifetime.
