Getting to Know You: Cross-Cultural Pen-pals to Expand Children’s World View.

1. Getting to Know You: Cross-Cultural Pen-pals to Expand Children’s World View. by Hibajene Monga Shandomo Ph.D. Assistant professor Buffalo State College Elementary Education and Reading shandohm@buffalostate.edu Bacon 316H

2. INTRODUCTION Nineteen- American second graders in an urban Professional Development School in Buffalo, New York, introduced themselves to nineteen Zambian elementary urban school children for the purpose of making pen-pals.

3. GOALS • To provide elementary school students with a broader view of the world or social cultural awareness • To develop content knowledge on the area where pen-pals live • To determine the project’s impact on second graders and preservice teachers

4. Innovative Approaches To Teaching Children About The Broader World Are Especially Important For Urban Children • because of their limited exposure to international topics • A pen-pal project could address this need by addressing issues such as knowledge of world history, geography, customs, current events, similarities and differences between places and people in other places/cultures, accurate cultural content knowledge and even writing ability.

5. Pen-pal Programs Have Similar Educational Objectives • Writing for authentic purpose and audience • Practicing letter writing for appropriateness to audience • Providing exposure to a different culture, encouraging cross- cultural communication • Celebrating differences and similarities

6. Quinn, & Knight (1994)says it all. “If we could in some way transport students to a country and immerse them in its culture, their learning experiences would be much more vividly remembered and their motivation would increase”… However such experiences may not always be feasible because of the cost and time factors.

7. POPULATION The nineteen students from Poplar Street Academy consisted of 11 girls and 8 boys between the ages of 6 and 8. Of these children, 2 were Caucasian, 3 were Hispanic and 14 were African American. From the Zambian side all the nineteen students were of Black African origin. Eight of these were boys and 11 were girls. The Zambian children were either in the 2nd or 3rd grades all between the ages of 7 and 9.

8. PURPOSE OF THE PAPER The purpose of this paper is to: • document procedures, experiences, and preliminary learning outcomes for student participants. • make the method available to teachers, and teacher educators. • show the results of the pen-pal project in particular that of overcoming stereotypes. • provide a preliminary assessment of the potential to meet specific learning objectives by using a pen-pal program.

9. METHODS • I am often asked to “tell us about African students” ! In response to this request, I set up a “cross- cultural" pen-pal project. • Prior to planning the project activities, the 2nd grade class teacher, the principal and I met to discuss pen-pal projects we discovered in the literature. • Several of these utilized electronic mail methods which were fast and inexpensive. • The school in Zambia that we had identified because it was small in size and also in the urban area did not have Internet facilities. • We therefore agreed to use the mail services of DHL. We also agreed on four activities for this project.

10. METHODS • The first activity at Poplar was a brainstorming exercise in which students discussed what they knew about the continent of Africa and their initial views of the Naledi pen-pals, using a K-W-L format. • For the second activity, we decided to give the students several assignments to research different countries in Africa. • The third activity involved the production of letters of self-introduction to the pen-pals, a video of selected class activities. Still pictures were taken and carefully placed in a photo album. The letters, video, and the photo album were sent to the students at Naledi School. • The fourth activity included making reflective journal entries while the students waited for their pen-pals to reply to their letters.

11. Activity # 2: ASSIGNMENTS TO RESEARCH DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN AFRICA.

12. Activity #3: Letters of Self-Introduction

13. THE REPLY from Zambia

14. Activity #4: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ENTRIES

15. Reflective Journal Entries “What if the Africans come to Buffalo? I just can’t wait to meet my new pen-pal What if my pen-pal is a boy or a girl? What if my pen-pal sends a letter with decorations on top? I wonder if we might be friends forever like having a pen-pal!”

16. Overcoming Initial Stereotypes At the beginning of the project, all nineteen students talked and wrote about how excited they were to be connected to pen-pals in Zambia. However the one topic that they all wrote about was how they would play with animals in Africa. Elephants, snakes, camels, and monkeys were the most cited animals. Students imagined that they actually would ride on elephants, monkeys and camels. They wanted to see the deserts, jungles, and caves.

17. Overcoming Initial Stereotypes. After the letters from Zambia arrived and were read, the children changed their focus to talking about their pen-pals. Each student seemed to be looking for similarities with their pen-pal. American students praised their pen-pals’ dress. Others wrote about the similar subjects the children in Zambia were learning. They talked about foods they ate, some of which, to their surprise, were similar to their own. Students also were surprised to learn that their pen-pals spoke and wrote in English.

18. Overcoming Initial Stereotypes

19. The Impact of the Project on the Preservice Teachers “In looking at the experiences I have had in the classroom having an opportunity to work with the Africa project stands out as rather special and unique”. She went on to explain how working one-on-one-and talking to students about their lives and feelings have made her experience at Poplar truly memorable.

20. The classroom teacher What we learned from this experience was more than just facts and information. It was a true inspiration for everyone involved. Students from such a great distance were sharing very personal thoughts and feelings. To see and engage one another in this way made the learning personal, real and rewarding. And so we learned how to embrace new people, situations and cultures. We learned how to accept others for who they are. We learned to appreciate differences and marvel at similarities. WE learned that we can love someone else no matter how far away they live. Most of all, we learned how to hold an experience and a new friend in our hearts forever.

21. Milton (1993)Ethnocentrism to Ethnorelativism Denial :In the denialstage, people don’t really believe in cultural differences Defense: In the defense stage people believe in cultural differences and have accepted the reality of it, but they are deeply threatened by it and believe that other cultures are decidedly inferior. Minimization: In the minimization stage people are still threatened by difference but they don't think that those who are different are inferior, misguided, or otherwise unfortunate. In this stage people trivialize the difference Acceptance: In the acceptance stage people accept differences as being deep and legitimate.

22. Milton (1993) Adaptation and integration: In the adaptation and integration stage people have gone from being neutral about the difference to being positive. They not only accept cultural differences, but are willing and able to adjust their own behavior to conform to different norms. They are able to empathize with people from different cultures. In many ways, they become bi- cultural or multi- cultural, effortlessly adjusting theirbehavior to suit the culture of the people they're with, "style switching," in other words. They do not give up their own values and beliefs, but they do integrate aspects of other cultures into it. In the integration stage, certain aspects of the other culture or cultures become a part of their identity