Building Intercultural Competence in 4th graders by using ICT

Resumen

This paper describes a classroom intercultural experience among the Abraham Lincoln School in Elementary and two different schools in United States (US) through a virtual exchange called IVECA (Intercultural Virtual Exchange of Classroom Activities). A team of teachers in both countries worked together to foster Intercultural Competence in an environment full of friendship and motivation. First, three teachers of the English Language Arts of fourth grade in the Abraham Lincoln School, were provided with theoretical foundation and strategies on integrating intercultural activities along with virtual exchanges into regular classroom activities during 16 hours. This training was led by Eunhee Jung (O’Neill) creator and director of IVECA. After that training, teachers in both countries guided students to have a regular written communication on different common agreed topics based on the schools’ syllabus, in order to have students exchange personal information and promote international interaction. After that, students were prepared on other topics as a base for a final oral performance. Finally, in a Live Class was shown a final product of interaction between the classes, in which it was also shared cultural and talent demonstrations. Written products provided learning experiences about friends and culture in both countries. Each stage demonstrated a process in which activities in classrooms also allowed growing of competencies such as communication, culture, and cooperation.