In this four-week exchange, elementary classes in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico collaborated on a project about various holidays and celebrations of their culture. To ensure that the time zone difference and any technology breakdowns did not get in the way of building relationships, the project started with an exchange of hand-written letters that were sent as photographs via email and text between the teachers. In the letters, the students in each class answering the following questions based on the Know My World SECAL critical thinking list:
- Who is a person who is important to you and why?
- How would you describe who you are as a person?
- How can you be aware of, and kind towards, people who are from a different background or culture from you?
Both groups of students are English Second Language learners, and teachers agreed this was an opportunity for students to practice multilingualism.
“I like helping someone I don’t know. I am curious so I like the cultures of others.”
The questions prompted interesting answers that reflected on various attributes of being culturally competent, such as curiosity, acceptance, and respect.
After the students were introduced, they spent a week exploring and identifying many celebrations of their culture including:
- Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the dead)
- Christmas, Ramadan
- Dia de Independencia (Independence Day)
- Tabaski
- Carnival in Bouake
- Fête du Dipri (Festival of Dipri)
- Sonfu (a celebration of people from the northern part of the Ivory Coast)
The students created a small presentation outlining the main ideas of each celebration and/or holiday and shared them with their partners in the other class. The short and asynchronous timeline did not stop the students from getting super creative and sharing a whole bunch of wonderful content. This is even more impressive when you consider the fact that the majority of students were using their second or third language, English, to communicate!
