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GLOBE Offers Lessons in Language
"The GLOBE Program lends itself as a vehicle for learning foreign languages, social studies, and culture," reported GLOBE Teacher Teresa Kennedy of Moscow, Idaho. "This model provides the perfect foundation for interdisciplinary study."
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| GLOBE es divertido. Me gusta el programa de GLOBE! |
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-- Sara, GLOBE Student, Moscow, Idaho |
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Kennedy, who also teaches at the University of Idaho's College of Education, has already begun to incorporate GLOBE into the curriculum of the Idaho Foreign Language Elementary School Program with great success. She and her colleagues at the University are beginning this initiative at the elementary school level, when students have a greater aptitude for learning a new language.
The students in Kennedy's classrooms are using Spanish versions of the GLOBE printed and online materials. The students are also using GLOBEMail to practice their Spanish by contacting their peers in Spanish-speaking countries. For example, the Idaho elementary school children correspond in Spanish with students in Colegio La Misericordia and Colegio El Buen Aire, GLOBE schools in Argentina.
Kennedy emphasizes that, when kids enjoy using a foreign language, they are more likely to learn it. "GLOBE brings everything into perspective. The students are not learning isolated vocabulary words. It's true to life. The kids love it, and I really think they are going to come out with a higher proficiency," Kennedy says.
"GLOBE es divertido. Me gusta el programa de GLOBE!" exclaims Sara, a fourth grade student in Kennedy's classroom.
Tony Magnelli, a GLOBE Teacher in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, describes another example of the interdisciplinary model. At Quaker Valley Middle School, sixth graders study South America in social studies and use GLOBE to study Spanish. They are establishing an information exchange program with South American GLOBE schools that want to use GLOBE in their English studies. The students in Pennsylvania will get online assistance in sharpening their Spanish skills while offering to tutor the South American students in English.
Magnelli's students will also be producing email bulletins and weekly videos - in Spanish - to report weather data to their classmates. "GLOBE activities give these students the chance to really put their Spanish lessons to work, not just engage in role play," Magnelli said.
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In other classrooms, GLOBE is being used to teach English to students for whom English is not their first language. For example, for many deaf and hard-of-hearing students, American Sign Language (ASL) is their first language.
"Deaf students are communicating among themselves in ASL when they're using their hands in sign language, but when it comes to writing or reading, they have to switch over to English," explains Jerry Jones, a GLOBE Teacher at the Mississippi School for the Deaf in Jackson.
"There are grammatical differences between the two languages." Jones said her students are using GLOBEMail to help practice English writing skills.
During the summer of 1998, students from the Mississippi School for the Deaf will be presenting the results of research on El Niсo at the GLOBE Learning Expedition in Helsinki, Finland. As part of their presentation, the students also hope to teach their peers from other GLOBE schools some important GLOBE words and phrases in ASL.
In Greece, where students are required to learn a second language, schools are using GLOBE materials to improve their English skills. "The students are excited about having a real opportunity to practice their English through communications with GLOBE scientists and students in other countries and by using the GLOBE Web site," reports the Country Coordinator for GLOBE Greece, Costas Cartalis. "Participating in the GLOBE Web chats is particularly exciting as it requires the students to quickly read and respond to messages in English."
