Exchange of Cultures and Knowledge
With the size of online community doubling every year, it is now clear that Internet is transforming the way people live, work, and play (Rizvi and Lingard, 2010). It has become a part of daily life and although it has demerits, it's usefulness is far-reaching. If computers and Internet are available in the classroom, it can be a Britannica of knowledge for the students with the guidance of teachers.
Schools and schooling were used in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for standardizing national languages. They were used as forums for imposing national standards over dialect differences and also assimilating immigrants and indigenous people to the “proper” standardized colonial language (Anderson, 1983; Dewey, 1916/1966; Gellner, 1983; Kalantzis & Cope, 1993).
According to Dewey (1916/1966), schools play a pivotal role in assimilation and creating homogeneity out of the differences. However, now classrooms are reconfiguring the relations and have to include the different subjectivities - interests, intentions, commitments, and purposes - students bring to learning. US classrooms represent a very mixed population consisting of different cultures, races and ethnicities. Moreover, students are bi-lingual with English being the dominant language in school and speaking a different language at home. Although second language classes are available in schools, it is not enough for cultural exchange.
Children learn more when they are with their peers and this project has emerged out of the notion to increase literacy about a culture and practically learn through interaction about the differences in cultures due to national territorial differences. “When learners juxtapose different languages, discourses, styles, and approaches, they gain substantively in meta-cognitive and meta-linguistic abilities and in their ability to reflect critically on complex systems and their interactions.” – The New London Group
“Curriculum needs to mesh with different subjectivities, and with their attendant languages, discourses, and registers, and use these as a resource for learning.” – The New London Group. When this occurs, school curriculum focus will automatically move towards multiliteracies. Until this happens, this current websites and cross-cultural sharing can enhance the students learning of a different language, culture and form an inter-exchange between children of different countries who share similar ancestry.
Schools and schooling were used in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for standardizing national languages. They were used as forums for imposing national standards over dialect differences and also assimilating immigrants and indigenous people to the “proper” standardized colonial language (Anderson, 1983; Dewey, 1916/1966; Gellner, 1983; Kalantzis & Cope, 1993).
According to Dewey (1916/1966), schools play a pivotal role in assimilation and creating homogeneity out of the differences. However, now classrooms are reconfiguring the relations and have to include the different subjectivities - interests, intentions, commitments, and purposes - students bring to learning. US classrooms represent a very mixed population consisting of different cultures, races and ethnicities. Moreover, students are bi-lingual with English being the dominant language in school and speaking a different language at home. Although second language classes are available in schools, it is not enough for cultural exchange.
Children learn more when they are with their peers and this project has emerged out of the notion to increase literacy about a culture and practically learn through interaction about the differences in cultures due to national territorial differences. “When learners juxtapose different languages, discourses, styles, and approaches, they gain substantively in meta-cognitive and meta-linguistic abilities and in their ability to reflect critically on complex systems and their interactions.” – The New London Group
“Curriculum needs to mesh with different subjectivities, and with their attendant languages, discourses, and registers, and use these as a resource for learning.” – The New London Group. When this occurs, school curriculum focus will automatically move towards multiliteracies. Until this happens, this current websites and cross-cultural sharing can enhance the students learning of a different language, culture and form an inter-exchange between children of different countries who share similar ancestry.
References:
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education. New York: Free Press. (Original work published 1916)
Gellner, E. (1983). Nations and nationalism. London: Basil Blackwell.
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (1993). Histories of pedagogy, cultures of schooling. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), The powers of literacy (pp. 38-62). London: Falmer Press.
Rizvi, F. & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing Education Policy. London and New York: Routledge
The London Group (1996). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. In Harvard Educational Review, Volume 66.