American and Brazilian Students Study Collaboratively about Energy and Its Effects in Daily Life

On December 10th Bellows Free Academy (USA) and Olímpio Vianna School (Brazil) had their so expected Live Class. The global exchange had as a theme the ways their respective countries have been dealing with energy and its effects in daily life. Both classrooms presented to each other the most common usage of energy and its resources.

Brazilian fifth grader Matheus C. da Silveira shared his critical thinking when mentioning “Brazil has spread throughout its territory rich vegetation consisting of rainforest […]

Unfortunately most of the population does not treat the environment as it deserves”.

American 4th-grade student, Tommy, learned about the impacts of energy usage in Brazil and demonstrated intercultural competency by relating to his peer and comparing geographical differences from both countries. He says: “I am so sorry about the damage. I learned that it’s bad to mine near huge rivers. Your country is different from our country because we don’t have many mines. I hope the damage gets fixed soon.”

After such rich sharing of knowledge, both nations inspired each other by with cultural presentations. Olímpio Vianna demonstrated how to prepare the most famous tea in Southern Brazil called Chimarrão. Bellows Free Academy engaged the Brazilians with American traditional holiday songs.

Congratulations! Bellows Free Academy and Olímpio Vianna’s students are now Global Citizens!

IVECA Is Now Associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN DPI)

In November 2015, the United Nations Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) recommended association to the Department of Public Information (DPI) for IVECA Center for International Virtual Schooling. The Department of Public Information (DPI) approved the recommendation on November 20, 2015. Mr. Jeffrey Brez, Chief of the NGO Branch, congratulated IVECA Center in its letter of approval:

“It is my pleasure to welcome your organization to the Department of Public Information. We look forward to a productive partnership in pursuit of our common goals.”

IVECA has also been in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since February 2013 and is aligned with the new goals for sustainable development determined by the UN Secretary-General’s Global Initiative on Education-Global Education First Initiative (GEFI).

Our community of students, teachers and alumni are proud of another achievement. Together, we are engaged to promote global education and intercultural competencies worldwide.

IVECA wants to collaborate with you. Click here to join us: http://website.iveca.org/how-to-join/

A Three-Way Connection that Went Beyond Hello

Learning together in a three-way, was also possible because of the commitment of three great teachers, Ms. Moonsok from Jeonmin High School, Korea, Ms. Gibson from Hoover High School, Alabama-USA, and Ms. Wilbert from What’s Up Language School, Novo Hamburgo- Brazil

A new implementation of classroom activities took place in IVECA virtual environment. For the first time in IVECA’s history, three countries joined together the program and collaborated in a way that went beyond simply hello.

Korea, United States, and Brazil partnered for the Fall/2015 session with three High School level classes that are integrated with language arts and social studies subjects of each school. After getting to know each other, the classes reflected on current issues related to their countries, shared perspectives and possible solutions.

Later in the semester, the three classes introduced modern short stories from their respective nations. A beautiful selection of authors and writing styles was  shared and everyone enjoyed learning the different cultural and historical settings that each story was related to.  

According to Michele Wilbert, Brazilian teacher, such collaboration “Inspired her students to think critically, have a broader idea of the world and the importance of literature in a country’s development”. In her opinion, IVECA contributed to her student’s academic development and motivated the class to use the English language as a means of communication in a real-world situation.

The results were not only perceived by the teachers but also by the participants. Students in Korea demonstrated their excitement in communicating with two countries at the same time. After the live class, student Jin Mi Park stated: “We are very lucky… because we can exchange many things with three countries. Through IVECA, I now know about Brazil’s and USA’s social problems and modern short stories and cultures…Today’s virtual class made me better [because I learned] about you guys’ countries. I want to learn more about you and your countries.”

Besides learning social issues and literature, this experience also changed the way students think and gave them new perspectives in life. An example of this is Chase, an American student who showed interest in continuing learning about both countries. He says: “I had an amazing time getting to learn about your different countries. I feel so fortunate to be apart of this program and hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Hopefully, in the future, I will have the opportunity to travel to both countries and learn even more.”

Being a Global citizen means being able to live peacefully together and collaborate for a better world, regardless differences. American, Brazilian and Korean students from IVECA Class 123 graduated on that subject!