The Winner Is ...

On November 15th, students from Hoover High School (US) and Daejeon Jeonmin High School (South Korea) engaged in a memorable World Speech Contest as part of their long-awaited live class. This virtual session was the closing ceremony of a semester-long exchange where these high school students shared their thoughts on current issues related to their countries and identified possible solutions.

During this one-hour contest, six teams presented speeches based on literature and articles examining topics ranging from witchcraft and comfort women to political scandals. The presentations were followed by question and answer sessions and culminated with the selection of the winning speech for each country. But, of course, such a ceremony would not have been complete without artistic performances! While on the US side, Taylor Swift and ukulele were honored, South Korean students decided, for their part, to share their passion for danso (a traditional musical instrument) as well as for K-Pop (Korean popular music).

Throughout this fall semester, all these future global leaders exemplified the essence of the IVECA program; a respectful exchange of knowledge and culture. This is why IVECA would like to give a big round of applause to all the participants of the World Speaker Award Competition!

Thank you for your contagious enthusiasm and your remarkable partnership!

And the winner is…global citizenship!

First Steps: Growing Together as Global Citizens

The IVECA Virtual Classroom is an online intercultural exchange platform where students around the world study topics ranging from science and technology, to social studies, languages, and the arts through an integrated curriculum with common learning objectives. One of the most exciting parts of the program is the “Live Class” where students meet “face to face” and communicate directly with their partners through IVECA’s online video platform. The interaction increases students motivation, help them think globally and develop their intercultural communicative competence.

On October 20th, Fletcher Elementary School (USA) and Ssangryu Elementary School (KOREA) held their first Live Class of the semester.  The session allowed the students to introduce themselves and begin getting to know one another as they prepare for their upcoming semester project. The students could not contain their excitement when seeing one another for the first time on screen. Ms. Underwood and Mr. Hong (lead teachers from each school) facilitated the Live Class discussion to enable the students to communicate effectively.

During the question and answer session, the students talked about a wide range of subjects with their partners, including culture, geographical characteristics, language, school schedules, lifestyles, and traditional food among others. Throughout the session, students shared what they have learned about differences and similarities between their respective cultures, socialized and celebrated their new global friendships.

We look forward to seeing these students continue to learn and grow together as the semester progresses.

Korean High School Students Talk About IVECA for Global Citizenship

IVECA Founder Dr. Eunhee Jung gave a speech about “Interculturally Competent Global Youth for the Sustainable Development Goals” at the Global Youth Summit held on August 9, 2016. Virtually invited students from Jeonmin high school in Korea, presented what they learned by studying collaboratively with partner schools in various countries including USA, Tunisia, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea through the IVECA (Intercultural Virtual Exchange of Classroom Activities) program.

Jeonmin students shared that IVECA provides them with opportunities to compare diverse perspectives of people in different countries and to learn similarities and differences in their perspectives. The program helps understand social and environmental issues in their own country as well as in the world. Most importantly, students appreciated that IVECA enables them to collaborate and find solutions to make a better world. They also learned that youth should keep paying attention to global issues and think about what they can do.