All the children in my English class for young language learners are multilingual. German is their native language, but many also know French, Spanish, and Italian and they are learning English! I find this amazing because the youngest child is four years-old. I love that I can be part of their journeys towards becoming a global citizen, but I highly praise their parents. The parents are committed to helping their children become global citizens. Outside of attending classes, the parents actively use our class wiki and have participated in our class collaboration project with children from Turkey and New Zealand. Additionally, the parents read to their children in other languages, designate different times to speaking with their children in a specific language, and sing children's songs in various languages. Our children will be the next generation and part of solving global issues and preventing international conflict is an understanding of various cultures and knowing how to effectively communicate with each other. Can parents, teachers, and school leaders meet the challenge of helping our children become global citizens?
This past Wednesday on the #PTCHAT chat educators, parents, and other stakeholders from around the world gathered to meet the challenge of helping our children become global citizens. We were joined by Deron Durflinger, @DeronDurflinger, a Secondary Principal at Van Meter Schools in Iowa. His blog, Vanmeter Schools Transforming the Educational System, highlights many of the ways the school district is helping raise global citizens through a 1 to 1 laptop program and virtual component.
The image is provided by www.wordle.net
Here were some of the great ideas shared:
Parentella: Parenthood.com offers some light, easy to follow suggestions on raising global citizens. http://cot.ag/aVn5kz
DeronDurflinger: I think one key to raising global citizens is to provide opportunities for students to connect with other stdts/learners globally
cybraryman1: I think it is important for our students to be aware of what is going on in the world by listening to or reading news items
readtoday: Could someone define "global citizen" for me?
DeronDurflinger: @Parentella Our role as parents is critical in any learning. Parents attitudes have a huge impact on how and what kids think
soapdivine: @readtoday Travel if possible, yes. For those that it may not be possible, the world can come to the student via technology. G' idea
ainsliehunter: the old adage on "a village raises a child" really takes on a whole new meaning now
aprilabtbalance: Are there sites where parents would feel safe letting their children connect with other children worldwide?
studymentor: globally aware chn are more than just spectators of world views, they participate,and involved in thinking, helping and
ESLlibrary: What can parents do to help educators create global students?
DeronDurflinger: @Parentella There are so many free tools that allow kids to become global citizens. Skype, Nings, Twitter,etc. free networking tools
hadleyjf: Finding people to skype with can open the world to students
studymentor: global stereotypes can only be broken down by learning and listening
helainebecker: Travel. RT: @Parentella What advice do you have to fighting global sterotypes?
ainsliehunter: i think an imersion approach would work – not have a global citizen subject, but find opportunities in all subjects, all year levels
BrandonFrame: History Curriculums need to be revamped so that students learn more about other cultures and the rich heritages of others
swigant: @DeronDurflinger @colonelb I think it would be wonderful for a method to connect my spanish 4 students.
DonaKimberly: @swigant Any of your classes could benefit from exchange students!
readtoday: I took my son to Spain for three months when he was four. He played with children from all over. We had a blast
thinkingparents: I love talking multi-lingal immersion & multi-lingual literacy! Fascinating and such valuable skills!
ApsatParentella: RT @DeronDurflinger: Embrace the change needed by supporting schools/teachers and advocating for a change in the system w/lpolicymakers
FaizaK: @aprilabtbalance History is past. Its boring for most kids anyway. Teach them how to live and respect others in the present.
MarieTN: @Parentella I feel that we are on the brink of something that is huge in education.
Parentella was created to solve the issue of parent and educator communication at elementary, middle school and high school levels. As part of this mission, we are hosting weekly #PTCHAT discussions to encourage a productive dialogue between parents and educators. We hope you will join us Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST and 9pm PST.
You may also want to join Parentella on Facebook to keep updated. We invite you to propose questions for the next topic on March 3rd. View the entire transcript here. Vote for the topic on the poll here.
If you are new to following hashtag discussions, you may want to check out this video tutorial on using Tweetdeck for hashtag discussions.
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