IVECA Makes the Front Page Story of Carmel Schoolhouse News

From The Carmel Schoolhouse News, Volume 11, October 2011

Carmel students connect with Korean cyber pals: How do you say “hello” in Korean? That’s easy for GFMS fifth graders who were on Rick Bishop, Robin Cohen and Marybeth Magnetti’s team (Team 5B) last year. It’s “an-nyeong-ha-se-yo.” That is just one of the words the students learned from their new Korean “cyber pals” in a classroom nearly 7,000 miles away, when they took part in a virtual inter-cultural exchange program last spring. GFMS students thoroughly enjoyed “meeting” their partners in Korea. Mary Esposito, now in sixth grade, summed it all up in her good-bye message to her new found Korean friends. She said, “We realize that our future depends on growing strong relationships with people in our neighborhood, people in our country, and people across the globe. We are grateful for the opportunity to learn about Korean culture and history but…even though you are thousands of miles away, we feel you are close in our minds and in our hearts. We hope this live conference is not the end of our relationship. We hope it is only the beginning!” Read the full story >>

Virtual Schooling Connects Students in Carmel and Korea - Putnam County Courier News

Eric Gross

Two dozen Carmel middle school children didn’t mind returning to class at seven o’clock Monday night.

After all, the 5th graders were about to culminate a year-long activity with their “pen pals” nearly 7,000 miles away in Gwangju, Korea.

As the hour approached, enthusiasm reached a fevered pitch inside the library at the George Fischer Middle School with teachers Rick Bishop and Robin Cohen providing last minute instructions while other faculty and staff put the finishing touches on the Skype hookup that brought a classroom at the Mogryeon Elementary School into clear view.

With the 13-hour time difference, the time was 8 am in Korea when children in the far off land introduced themselves to the Carmel 10 and 11-year-olds. The International Virtual Schooling network had made its latest connection.

Eunhee Jung, organizer of the program, traveled to Carmel for the event. Jung explained that the Center for International Virtual Schooling “pursues to implement the intercultural education program into all levels of schools around the world.”

Jung said the Center was dedicated to connecting K-12 classrooms in order to promote “global collaborative learning. (The network) supports educators allowing them to engage in 21st century globalized learning while helping children in both developed and developing countries share quality education together through an intercultural virtual exchange.” …

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Watch the Latest Video

Please stop by our video library and watch informative videos about the IVECA program. In the latest video technology teacher Jacob Tanenbaum shares his experiences and insights about the IVECA Virtual Classroom Exchange Program.