World Languages Next Gen Standards – Connections, Comparisons, Communities Tuesday April 9 th, 2012 Michelle Olah

7. Connections: The student will be able to acquire, reinforce, and further his/her knowledge of other disciplines through the target language. 8. Comparisons: The student will be able to develop insight into the nature of the target language and culture by comparing his/her own language(s) and cultures to others. 9. Communities: The student will be able to use the target language both within and beyond the school setting to investigate and improve his/her world beyond his/her immediate surroundings for personal growth and enrichment.

Introduction to the ePals Global Community Learning Objective: To know what ePals Global Community can do for your classroom.

What is the ePals Global Community? The ePals Global Community is: The world's largest network of K-12 classrooms Committed to core concept of creating Global Citizens, Digital Citizens Safe and protected environment Free to classrooms worldwide Global Citizens, Digital Citizens Authentic Learning Global Awareness Digital Literacy Collaboration Students in Kenya write to their ePals in Connecticut, USA

Who is the ePals Global Community? Who belongs to the ePals Global Community? More than half a million educators Millions of students who speak 136 different languages Parents and home school families In 200 countries and territories

Why use ePals? Students live in a world increasingly digital and global Students VERY likely to , chat, video conference, etc. with someone who speaks another language. Meets Communication AND Intercultural Standards!

ePals Helps Build Global, Digital Citizens ePals allows students to: Use 21 st century communication skills See authentic material from teens like themselves Participate in a global community Compare languages with another English language learner Broaden their understanding of other disciplines based on data collected from students in another country.

What You Can Do with ePals? School-safe , SchoolMail® with teacher monitoring Classroom Match, a tool to find collaborative partners -based collaborative projects Member-created projects – easy to replicate Forums for students, teachers and families Media galleries for uploading, sharing and viewing student work Students Speak contests and more! ePals’ Mission: Support Learning through Collaborative Experiences On ePals, discover:

How to Navigate the ePals Site. Let’s tour the ePals website and see the various activities in which you and your students can participate.

The ePals Homepage The purple navigation bar, always available, maps the ePals website: Projects Collaborate Teachers Students Families About ePals Sign In, Help and Join Now are above bar, on upper right Sign in | Help | Join Now

The ePals Homepage Sign In: If you already belong to ePals, log in here. New to ePals? Join ePals! here Sign in | Help | Join Now

Projects Tab ePals projects offer various standards-based collaborative projects ready to use in your classroom Choose a Project  ePals/National Geographic Projects  Teacher-Created Projects Talk About It  Find a partner and discuss in Project Forums Share Your Work  Upload the project you created to share with other teachers

Participate through Projects

Collaborate Tab: Find a Partner ePals enables powerful learning experiences, helping you find a collaborative partner teacher Search Classroom Profiles Search by Geography Search by Project Search Teacher Forums  ePals Wanted  Ongoing Projects  Literature in Classroom  Teacher Spotlight

Search by Country

Teachers Tab Teachers tab has ePals activities for educators Choose a Project Talk About It (Forums)Forums Administrators/IT Coordinators ePals Teacher Spotlight ePals Wanted Global Issues/Current Events Literature in the Classroom Mentoring Share Your Work Resources Ongoing Projects Other Research Special Education Teacher Resources Technology Please note: you must be logged into ePals before uploading any work.

Students Tab Students tab has ePals activities for students Learn About It Student Explorations eFilms Talk About It ePals Book Club Student Forums Share Your Work ePals Video Vault Please note: you must be logged into ePals before uploading any work.

Family Tab Families Tab has ePals activities for families Projects Digital Storytelling The Way We Are Talk About It Family Forum Homeschool Forum Share Your Work Please note: You must be logged into ePals before uploading any work.

Help Link Gives Online Support FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions The Administrator's Guide to ePals SchoolMail ePals Parental Permission Forms Tips on Building Great Classroom Match What can a Teacher Do with ePals? ePals Skillbuilder Library Using in literacy activities Internet etiquette Best practices for student ePals SchoolMail Guide Internet Safety Tips (in English and Spanish) Still have questions? us at

Español Link for Spanish

Task: Join ePals Global Community 1.Go to 2.Click “Join Now” and fill out information 3. Create your classroom profile (see Example)

Please write a brief profile description including any information that you think might help potential ePals partners find your profile. Describe the types of correspondence and collaboration you are seeking, including the age, language and location of the ideal partner. Include any relevant keywords that someone might use in a search.

What is ePals SchoolMail? ePals SchoolMail is an system was designed for K12 use with safety features beyond mass market systems.

A webmail communication tool built specifically for the K-12 education market Offers opportunity to with peers in 200 countries, part of the ePals Global Community Safe and secure student communication tool Has TRUSTe certification of student privacy What is ePals SchoolMail?

Like regular with the addition of “policy management” and monitoring Teachers can monitor mail written by their students, a feature not available in general market systems Features different types of accounts, with different roles and abilities for each What is ePals SchoolMail?

Share Your Exchange Digitally Showcase your students’ collaborative exchange in a digital format.

Digital Presentation of Exchanges Exchanges Can be Captured Digitally into a Variety of Products and Formats PowerPoint Presentation Video Glog (digital poster) Blog or Wiki Website Wordle (word frequency count) Prezi

1.Go to “Teachers” tab 2.Choose “Skill Builders” 3. Review Safety and Etiquette 4. Think about what information you need to teach your students BEFORE starting your collaborations

The French / American Alliance Sarah Lacomb, New York, USA Create a PowerPoint

From Kari To: Viez M Correction of your reply: Hey, In my last holiday (in February), I went skiing in the South of France. It was funny. Have you been skiing? The rest is correct. I am very happy that you had a great holiday. My last holiday was over winter break, it was very fun. I hung out with my friends and played a lot of softball. My next holiday is spring break in April and I am going to North Carolina which is actually in the south of the United States. I am hoping to bring a friend with me when I go and cannot wait to see the beach. In reply to your question, no I do not do much skiing, but I do go snowboarding. But we will not be doing much in the snow soon because all of the snow is melting. Also softball is starting soon and that is exciting. I play on the school team. We are pretty good and last year we were D-west champions. Well I have to go, we are watching the movie Joan of Arc in French class. Goodbye, Kari From: Theo To: Sarah Hi Sarah, I ’ m sorry to have not answered you earlier, but we had big tests for a week and I had to work hard. Last week, we received your parcel: thank you for Oreo, I like that, I discovered this when I was in USA. And we ate the popcorn yesterday while watching a good movie with 3 mates. I don ’ t know if our Christmas late package arrived. To answer your question, I ’ m crazy about pasta, I could eat everyday but my favorite French dish is roast chicken with saut é ed potatoes and French beans. And I often go to restaurants and to discover new kinds of foods. I am eager to be in NYC with my friends and you, it will be great. Bye-bye, Theo. Create a PowerPoint French-American Alliance Exchange

Video of Students Sending Items to Their ePals Create a Video Students in one class created a video saying hello, as they prepared to mail a package to their ePals’ classroom.

Belarus Students Create Video for ePals in USA Create a Video At the end of the exchange, the Belarus students sent a video showing a typical school day. They all spoke in English.

ePals from USA and Poland Exchange Glogs Create a Glog – Online Poster The 8th Grade students are ePals with students from Poland. Since October 2009, the students have been exchanging information describing themselves, their families, and a day in their lives. Information was exchanged through . A Glog is an online poster with creative effects. - Dawn Krueger, Wisconsin USA

Students from USA and Lebanon Share Letters in a Blog Create a Blog or Wiki Young students from Beirut, Lebanon, exchange book marks, letters and cultural information with students from Colorado, USA in this blog. This project was a winner in the Microsoft Innovative Educator Forum contest, announced in July

Create a Website Bill Reilly, Bethlehem Central Middle School, NY, USA has used this website to collect the exchanges in his ePals global projects since

Create a Wordle Use to give a visual representation of each student’s exchangewww.wordle.net This is made from text from one letter in a US-French student exchange Which words did students use most often?

Create a Prezi Prezi.com offers nonlinear presentations. Viewers can zoom in and out of a visual map that includes word, links, videos, or images. Create nonlinear presentations with Prezi.com Prezi created about an ePals collaboration between English Language Learners in Paris, France, and students in Massachusetts, USA. Students in both classes were ages

TASK: Teacher Resources and Exploration Time Go to Teacher Tab and review Teacher Guide/Student Guide and best practices resources AND/OR Go to “collaboration” and start finding possible collaborators and/or projects