Getting to Know You: CrossCultural Penpals to Expand Childrens World View.

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Getting to Know You Cross-Cultural Pen-pals to
Expand Childrens World View.

• by
• Hibajene Monga Shandomo Ph.D.
• Assistant professor
• Buffalo State College
• Elementary Education and Reading
• shandohm_at_buffalostate.edu
• Bacon 316H

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INTRODUCTION

• Nineteen- American second graders in an urban
  Professional Development School in Buffalo, New
  York, introduced themselves to nineteen Zambian
  elementary urban school children for the purpose
  of making pen-pals.

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GOALS

• To provide elementary school students with a
  broader view of the world or social cultural
  awareness
• To develop content knowledge on the area where
  pen-pals live
• To determine the projects impact on second
  graders and preservice teachers

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Innovative Approaches To Teaching Children About
The Broader World Are Especially Important For
Urban Children

• because of their limited exposure to
  international topics
• A pen-pal project could address this need by
  addressing issues such as knowledge of world
  history, geography, customs, current events,
  similarities and differences between places and
  people in other places/cultures, accurate
  cultural content knowledge and even writing
  ability.

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Pen-pal Programs Have Similar Educational
Objectives

• Writing for authentic purpose and audience
• Practicing letter writing for appropriateness to
  audience
• Providing exposure to a different culture,
  encouraging cross- cultural communication
• Celebrating differences and similarities

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Quinn, Knight (1994)says it all.

• If we could in some way transport students to a
  country and immerse them in its culture, their
  learning experiences would be much more vividly
  remembered and their motivation would increase
  However such experiences may not always be
  feasible because of the cost and time factors.

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POPULATION

• The nineteen students from Poplar Street Academy
  consisted of 11 girls and 8 boys between the ages
  of 6 and 8. Of these children, 2 were Caucasian,
  3 were Hispanic and 14 were African American.
  From the Zambian side all the nineteen students
  were of Black African origin. Eight of these were
  boys and 11 were girls. The Zambian children were
  either in the 2nd or 3rd grades all between the
  ages of 7 and 9.

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PURPOSE OF THE PAPER

• The purpose of this paper is to
• document procedures, experiences, and preliminary
  learning outcomes for student participants.
• make the method available to teachers, and
  teacher educators.
• show the results of the pen-pal project in
  particular that of overcoming stereotypes.
• provide a preliminary assessment of the
  potential to meet specific learning objectives by
  using a pen-pal program.

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METHODS

• I am often asked to tell us about African
  students ! In response to this request, I set up
  a cross- cultural" pen-pal project.
• Prior to planning the project activities, the 2nd
  grade class teacher, the principal and I met to
  discuss pen-pal projects we discovered in the
  literature.
• Several of these utilized electronic mail methods
  which were fast and inexpensive.
• The school in Zambia that we had identified
  because it was small in size and also in the
  urban area did not have Internet facilities.
• We therefore agreed to use the mail services of
  DHL. We also agreed on four activities for this
  project.

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METHODS

• The first activity at Poplar was a brainstorming
  exercise in which students discussed what they
  knew about the continent of Africa and their
  initial views of the Naledi pen-pals, using a
  K-W-L format.
• For the second activity, we decided to give the
  students several assignments to research
  different countries in Africa.
• The third activity involved the production of
  letters of self-introduction to the pen-pals, a
  video of selected class activities. Still
  pictures were taken and carefully placed in a
  photo album. The letters, video, and the photo
  album were sent to the students at Naledi School.
• The fourth activity included making reflective
  journal entries while the students waited for
  their pen-pals to reply to their letters.

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Activity 2 ASSIGNMENTS TO RESEARCH
DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN AFRICA.
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Activity 3 Letters of Self-Introduction
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THE REPLY from Zambia
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Activity 4 REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRIES
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Reflective Journal Entries

• What if the Africans come to Buffalo?
• I just cant wait to meet my new pen-pal
• What if my pen-pal is a boy or a girl?
• What if my pen-pal sends a letter with
  decorations on top?
• I wonder if we might be friends forever like
  having a pen-pal!

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Overcoming Initial Stereotypes

• At the beginning of the project, all nineteen
  students talked and wrote about how excited they
  were to be connected to pen-pals in Zambia.
  However the one topic that they all wrote about
  was how they would play with animals in Africa.
  Elephants, snakes, camels, and monkeys were the
  most cited animals. Students imagined that they
  actually would ride on elephants, monkeys and
  camels. They wanted to see the deserts, jungles,
  and caves.

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Overcoming Initial Stereotypes.

• After the letters from Zambia arrived and were
  read, the children changed their focus to talking
  about their pen-pals. Each student seemed to be
  looking for similarities with their pen-pal.
  American students praised their pen-pals dress.
  Others wrote about the similar subjects the
  children in Zambia were learning. They talked
  about foods they ate, some of which, to their
  surprise, were similar to their own. Students
  also were surprised to learn that their pen-pals
  spoke and wrote in English.

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Overcoming Initial Stereotypes
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The Impact of the Project on the Preservice
Teachers

• In looking at the experiences I have had in the
  classroom having an opportunity to work with the
  Africa project stands out as rather special and
  unique. She went on to explain how working
  one-on-one-and talking to students about their
  lives and feelings have made her experience at
  Poplar truly memorable.

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The classroom teacher

• What we learned from this experience was more
  than just facts and information. It was a true
  inspiration for everyone involved. Students from
  such a great distance were sharing very personal
  thoughts and feelings. To see and engage one
  another in this way made the learning personal,
  real and rewarding. And so we learned how to
  embrace new people, situations and cultures. We
  learned how to accept others for who they are.
  We learned to appreciate differences and marvel
  at similarities. WE learned that we can love
  someone else no matter how far away they live.
  Most of all, we learned how to hold an experience
  and a new friend in our hearts forever.

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Milton (1993) Ethnocentrism to Ethnorelativism

• Denial In the denial stage, people dont
  really believe in cultural differences
• Defense In the defense stage people believe in
  cultural differences and have accepted the
  reality of it, but they are deeply threatened by
  it and believe that other cultures are decidedly
  inferior.
• Minimization In the minimization stage people
  are still threatened by difference but they don't
  think that those who are different are inferior,
  misguided, or otherwise unfortunate. In this
  stage people trivialize the difference
• Acceptance In the acceptance stage people
  accept differences as being deep and legitimate.

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Milton (1993)

• Adaptation and integration In the adaptation
  and integration stage people have gone from being
  neutral about the difference to being positive.
  They not only accept cultural differences, but
  are willing and able to adjust their own behavior
  to conform to different norms. They are able to
  empathize with people from different cultures. In
  many ways, they become bi- cultural or multi-
  cultural, effortlessly adjusting their behavior
  to suit the culture of the people they're with,
  "style switching," in other words. They do not
  give up their own values and beliefs, but they do
  integrate aspects of other cultures into it. In
  the integration stage, certain aspects of the
  other culture or cultures become a part of their
  identity