Tuesday 6 December 2016

Invitation to nominate students for GYLC

GYLC (Global Young Leaders Conference) is one of the many programs offered by Envision Experience, "focused on giving high-aspiring students in elementary school through college the unique opportunity to turn their career and life aspirations into reality." Needless to say, we can hardly put into words how honoured we feel at having being given this opportunity.

About a month ago, Ms Verónica Maser, our cross-cultural projects coordinator, received an invitation, as an outstanding Educator, to nominate students from our institute.

How we chose our nominees


We took into account not just their command and high level of English, but also personal qualities such as enthusiasm, maturity, responsibility, proactivity, leadership potential, willingness to work hard and in a collaborative way.

Projects our nominees have taken part in


Our students have worked in a number of different projects both at school and in the community as a whole:
  • participation in the course "Young Leaders" in the local Rotary Club 
  • participation in the leadership school Rosario en Acción
  • participation in the project "El Caminante." 
  • participation in the Leadership School "ECO2016"
  • presentation of projects in the Provincial House of Representatives
  • annual project at school on the topic of "Child Abuse" 
  • report on euthanasia and abortion 
  • report on "Femicide", one of the most sensitive issues facing our country these days.
  • school project on social inclusion
  • active participation in conversation classes with foreign volunteers at our institute
  • participation in the cross-cultural projects at our institute (see previous posts) 
 You can see our students' works in more detail in their individual pages on the top bar.
Our nominees

Saturday 3 December 2016

2016 Cross-cultural Projects

After barely a month into the school year, we already had great projects rolling.

April

  • Ms Naty's 5th Adol took part in an exciting SKYPE-A-THON with Ms Cass Parker's students in Wellington, New Zealand.  


  • Ms Daniela's 5th Adol started exchanging emails with Ms Silvana Evans's students at "IGB International School"in Kuala Lumpur, Malasia.

May

  • Ms Vero Maser's 6th Adol started working together with Ms Catherine Tsai's students in Luisville, Kentucky. In this case, the students used a wiki and their teachers paired them up so that they could start writing to each other in the language they are learning. 
         This is the virtual classroom where the students interacted: Around the World

June

  • Time for another exciting SKYPE-A-THON. This time, Ms Susana's 3rd Adol chatted with students in Queensland, Australia.
  • Ms Danisa's 2nd Adol and Ms Magalí's 3rd Adol started working collaborately in another virtual classroom with Ms María Laskaris's students at "Dover-Sherborn Middle School" in Boston
         This is their wiki: From Boston to Rosario

September

  • Another wiki was set up for Ms Susana's 3rd Adol and Ms Catherine Tsai's students in Emminence, Kentucky. It was incredible to see the quality of the work produced by the students at both ends, which goes to show how much more students can learn when they are working in a meaningful way.
           Here's their wiki: So Far So Close






October

  •  Closing the year, Ms Danisa's 2nd Adol got in touch with Ms María Laskaris's students in  Dover, Massachusetts.      


Thursday 1 December 2016

Projects in 2015

By the beginning of April, and coordinated by Ms Verónica Maser, the first two projects of the year were well underway:

  1. Learners aged between 11 and 13 started communicating with peers in Michigan, US.
  2. Students aged between 15 and 17 did so with peers in Canada.
In early June, one of our most cherished projects got to an end. For two years, our 5th Adol students had been exchanging emails with Ms Paloma Soria's students at "Pella Community High School," in Iowa, US, who were finishing high school and were therefore heading for different universities. Everybody was a bit sad but agreed that it had been an incredibly enriching experience and that they had made great friends in the process.  

In September, our 4th and 6th adol took part in a "Mystery Skype" session with students in Owensboro, Kentucky, US. Tools like Google Earth and Weather Channel came in handy to help them discover where their peers were from. This kind of experiences help students develop not only their language but also their digital skills.

Some pictures of the session 


Another lovely "Mystery Skype" session took place in October. In this case, Ms Jamie's students in Wisconsin, US, played with Ms Susana's 4th Adol. Everybody had lots of fun!



Also in October, there was another enjoyable Skype session, this time involving students of different levels. Ms Daniela's 4th Kids together with 6th Adol and FCE students chatted with students at "Pascack Valley Regional High School", New Jersey, US. During the first half of the meeting, the students at both ends played Mystery Skype. In the second half, they had a fruitful talk about their family and hobbies. It was a most delightful meeting, especially because the young kids managed to communicate quite effectively and fluently. Way to go!


The "grand finale" of the year was a two-month project involving students from "The Pascack Valley Regional High School" in New Jersey, US and our 6th Adol, 5th Adults and FCE. They worked collaborately using Canvas LMS to exchange mails, make videos and other artifacts, and take part is discussion forums.

A great year indeed!