Hi, Internet! I was wondering if I could ask some of you for a little bit of assistance with a project I'd like to do with my students next spring....
The theme of my next semester's classes is going to be about telling and sharing stories, and that led me to the idea of a class web site, featuring photos, small essays, and short video clips from students, all telling stories about - whatever - to get them talking about their daily lives and experiences in English. From there, it was a short step to "Hey, I know a lot of folks around the world who know a lot of people with interesting stories to tell. Could we make this more global?" So my idea now is to get a web site going where students who are learning English can go online to see videos, photos and short essays from other people around the globe, which is where all of you (and your students, if you have any) come in.
If you are willing and able, I could use your help in one or more of the following ways:
1) Do you know anyone doing something interesting / inspiring in your local community who would be willing to put a short story about themselves online? It could be in the form of a short video, a series of photos, or even a short essay. The target language is English, but other languages could also work if a translation is provided.
What kind of stories? Anything that's interesting! I'm telling my students to act as tour guides, and asking them, "If you had three minutes to show a guest from another country anything about your life or your community, what would you show them?" Your responses don't have to be extraordinary - other people may be very interested in very ordinary details that you take for granted.
2) Would you yourself be interested in putting a small bit online describing something about yourself or the place where you live? Again, any bloggable format is welcome - see #1, above.
3) Most importantly, if you or anyone you know in your community is teaching English, I'm looking for teachers and classes to partner with. The involvement could be very simple (having a few students post a few stories, photos, or even short videos about themselves online), or more in-depth (integrating the web site into your class curriculum in some way, having individual students correspond with other students from other countries, etc.).
That's the project! So far, I've got participants lined up in China, Bosnia, Brazil, Indonesia, Kosovo, and the United States. Ideally, of course, it would be nice to have our range of participants be as diverse as possible. So far, I've had people reading this blog from six of seven continents, and it would be very cool if we could get them all represented. (By the way, do any of you know anyone in Antarctica?)
I have no specifics yet other than my quite general ideas, so I'm open to any and all possibilities that any of you may think of as well. Any feedback you have is more than welcome, and if you know of anyone else that may be interested in the project, please feel free to pass this email and my contact information along to them as well.
If you are interested in participating, please feel free to contact me in the comment section below, or at dwellsinchina at gmail dot com. I know that my students (who are very curious about the world outside of small town China) would greatly appreciate it!
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