Students Across Nations Identify Climate Change Manifestations

On December 9th, Hanil High School in Korea and Cultura Inglesa School in Brazil had their highly anticipated Live Class. The global exchange had the theme “manifestations of globalization and climate change”. Both classrooms wrote op-ed articles presenting their understanding of these two pressing issues then presented to each other.

First, students were encouraged to think critically, take a side and demonstrate different nuances about climate change and globalization as well as their interconnectedness. According to Brazilian students Gabriel Macêdo and Yasmin Silveira, climate change threatens food security in rural communities like theirs in Recife. As they communicate with the Korean, they shared their hopes and positive solutions to the issues. The students stated: “With advanced planning and innovative techniques, it is possible to reduce vulnerabilities and increase resilience in agriculture, now and in the future.”

Meanwhile, Hojin Yum and Jaehoon Han, Korean students explained how a Korean online clothes shopping mall has expanded globally and their concerns related to the emission of gases with home delivery. Students demonstrated their strong awareness of the importance of self-monitoring and being able to educate each other against over-consumption.

This experience changed the way students think about culture and perspectives in life. Appreciating the experience, Jeong-Yun Lee, a Korean student showed interest in continuing learning about both countries. He says: “It has been of considerable significance to participate in IVECA activities. I hope to run hard toward my life’s goals and want to talk again someday if I have a chance. I think it was an excellent opportunity to experience Latin American culture indirectly”.

#IVECA #Education #InterculturalCompetence #GlobalCitizenship #21stCenturySkills #DigitalCitizenship #GlobalEd #GlobalEdChat #SmartPlanet #VirtualExchange

Brazilian Teacher Tells her Story with IVECA

By Ms. Renata Orosco

Being a language teacher in a public school in Brazil is a huge challenge that I accepted 14 years ago. I made the decision to leave the private educational sector as I was inspired by the “new” public educational politics in my country at the time.

Since then, I have looked for and worked with methodologies and approaches which could make my classes meaningful to my students. I did my best so that my students would be able to have a foreign language experience as related to their reality as possible. During this process, I encountered many difficulties such as the lack of appropriate material and technology. Some of those problems were almost overcome while others were not even close to being solved. However, I have realized that these challenges are my “driving force” to keep moving forward.

At the end of 2017, Mr. Lemes, EE Maria Luíza Fomozinho Ribeiro High School principal, suggested a challenge for his school teachers and students to participate with other 4 countries (United States, Tunisia, China and South Korea) in the Global Classroom STEAM Challenge project. The project was to foster intercultural competence and led by IVECA International Virtual Schooling, directed by Dr. Eunhee Jung. We were asked to find innovative solutions to issues in our community and that are related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Mrs. Boim, Mr. Nunes and I, along with 15 Senior High School students had the experience of our life. We worked in partnership with a High School from Alabama, USA to find creative solutions to problems that our community is suffering from by using STEAM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).

We enjoyed working together on the Global Classroom STEAM Challenge project that also involved participants’ culmination on February, 2018, at the United Nations in New York. We had the opportunity to speak about implementing our solutions sustainably for a global impact. We presented innovative elements of our solutions and how they could benefit all. We also shared the final prototypes of our solutions to achieve the SDGs.

Since then, our school has continued to join IVECA intercultural project every semester. In collaboration with high school teachers - Mr. Delgadinho, Mr. Luna and Mr. Aleixo, we have been working with students from South Korea which has been having a positive impact on our school community.

IVECA strives to build respectful and compassionate relationships among people, schools and countries, and makes a positive impact with its intercultural curriculum and activities for global citizenship. IVECA's program provided a great impact on our students’ learning not only in relation to their language proficiency but also in terms of social-emotional competence.

I appreciate that IVECA virtual intercultural program transforms the educational system toward a value-based education which is essential for the 21st Century society. I would say IVECA is the school of the future as it enables teachers and students to share their experiences around the world through the intercultural virtual exchange platform and live video conferencing.

IVECA has been making my students familiar with global citizenship. It has been helping them understand themselves, their individual perspectives, actions, values, practices and impact on the local and global society. This experience helped us expand our global perspective and made learning more meaningful to my students in a way that my students and I would be able to have language experiences as related to real situations as possible.

Undoubtedly one of the most valuable and greatest opportunities of our life!

#IVECA #Education #InterculturalCompetence #GlobalCitizenship #21stCenturySkills #DigitalCitizenship #GlobalEd #GlobalEdChat #SmartPlanet #STEAM #VirtualExchange

High School Student narrates his story with IVECA

Written by Byung-woo Kang

Hanil High School, Republic of Korea

It was an unforgettable time for me to participate in IVECA, when it was my second year in high school. I interacted with the Colégio Militar de Curitiba School in Brazil. The first activity was a brief introduction, and I was quite surprised by my partner. Because the first sentence I faced was in Korean (Hangeul, Korean alphabet). My partner, Yasmim Tanaka, was able to speak Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, and English, so I thought she had an excellent ability even at the age of 15. As the class went on, I could feel my partner's enthusiasm because she was more passionate than anyone else, and she was very thoughtful.

I'd completed the IVECA program as usual, but the relationship with my partner wasn't over. I exchanged messages with my partner using Instagram. It was a great inspiration for me to see my partner go abroad, experience various cultures, and study. I began to contact her by saying that I admired her and promised to respond sincerely if there was anything she wanted to know about Korean culture. Later, she conducted a project under the theme Misconceptions and Racism Against Asians, asking about Koreans' perception of dog meat consumption in Korea. I was surprised that the content was very profound. It's part of a culture that's been going on for a long time. Based on the activities of animal rights groups and merchants, I introduced both pros and cons. By introducing the pros and cons of dog meat, I was able to experience the diversity of values created by cultural differences, and also recognized the importance of respecting another country's society and culture.

Afterwards, my partner actually visited Korea, and had various experiences such as wearing Hanbok, a traditional Korean costume, looking around Gyeongbokgung, etc. Her great interest in Korea was amazing; she was so interested in K-pop that she uploads cover songs on YouTube. I also hope that my partner’s great interest in Korea will continue to grow through various activities. Our relationship made through IVECA didn't end with a simple classroom exchange, but continued afterwards to learn more about each other's culture. This valuable experience taught me a lesson that the shift in perspectives is the basis for accepting social and cultural differences.

#IVECA #Education #InterculturalCompetence #GlobalCitizenship #21stCenturySkills #DigitalCitizenship #GlobalEd #GlobalEdChat #SmartPlanet #STEAM #VirtualExchange