Through the IVECA intercultural virtual exchange program, Brazilian and Korean students from Formozinho Ribeiro Public School and Taegwang High School had their first Live Class on October 18, 2018. Brazilian TV Channel ”Band Cidade” reported the event sharing the experiences of the Brazilian teachers and students.
‘’Our students have the opportunity to learn about other cultures while using a foreign language [English] as an instrument of communication’’, said Ms. Renata Orsco, the main teacher who was helping the students throughout their IVECA intercultural exchange journey.
A number of actors contributed to the success of the ‘’Brazil-Korea’’ partnership including the principal of the school and other teachers. ‘’The department of English Instruction in our school had a fundamental part in this project, and so did the Social Studies department. I, for example [History teacher], collaborated in this project by promoting the awareness of global citizenship. Through IVECA our students could understand global citizenship and assume their roles in society’’, added Mr. Marcos Delgadinho who was of great help in the program.
During the final Live Class on December 13, 2018, those students arranged a live meeting to discuss serious phenomena caused by urbanization and impacting many parts of the world.
Students introduced cities in their country that have experienced urbanization. They identified the positive and negative consequences of urbanization these cities are facing. Furthermore, students also exchanged creative ideas about solutions to reduce the negative consequences and new ways to design cities that ensure the sustainability of people’s living condition.
After their presentations to each other, students realized that these challenges do not only happen in their own countries. It is a phenomenon that many countries are facing and that they should work together to overcome the problems. This is exactly what global citizenship is about: working locally for common global goals to contribute to the well-being of people around the world.
Ms. Renata, one of the collaborating teachers from Brazil reflects:
“Moments like those we had today endorse I had chosen the right path and the most special co-workers ever! When I feel integrated into promoting intercultural competence and global collaborative learning, in a safe and respectful language environment, helping students share their cultural aspects and thoughts together in a collaborative way with intercultural dialogues between people from other countries, I can see how we are able to expand our global perspective and international relations. This project is something to be proud of! Thank you very much to allow us to make part of it!”
#Ed4GlobalCitizenship, #InterculturalCompetence, #LiveTogether, #IVECA, #SDG11, #SDG4.7, #GCED, #ESD