The World Online
	SNAPSHOT "My story's ready, Madame Buzak!" "En francais, Michel, s'il vous plait." "Oui, Madame." Michel adds his current events story to the class' Web page. This week, he's reporting on the New Year's celebration in his town. His story has been written in both French and English and will appear alongside stories written by the other foreign language classes in his school. They form an international news page called The World Online, found on the school's Web site. Partner schools in six other countries read the news and send feedback. Occasionally, they even write collaborative stories from across the world! What started as an attempt to improve students' writing skills has expanded to become a lively, ever-changing part of the school's site. UNIT OF PRACTICE Invitation How do students of a second language gain proficiency in writing and reading that language? How can students become aware of and analyze the popular culture of other countries using the Internet as both a resource and a publishing forum? This unit gives students experiences as consumers and creators of the news using their second language. Situation This unit takes place in a classroom equipped with an Internet connection. Tasks: Each month, students are required to find interesting stories in a foreign language newspaper and write a summary in that language. Peer editing using Aspects ensures a degree of quality before the stories are submitted to the teacher. Students communicate with keypals in their second language (using e-mail) to find out more about the story from a native's perspective. Approved stories are converted to Web pages and, once a month, the best stories are published on the school's Web site. Students are responsible for responding (in the second language) to any e-mail that comes in reference to their stories. Interactions Students work with a class partner to draft and edit their stories using Aspects over the local network. Class-to- class partnerships are established between American and foreign schools. Students send questions and get information back from the native student on the story, adding that information to their news story. Standards This unit meets standards set by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), by the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), and by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS): The ACTFL standards call for students to have opportunities to gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures, to connect their study of language to other disciplines and to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world. The NCTE standards state that students should adjust their use of spoken, written and visual language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences; use a variety of technological and informational resources to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge; and use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes. The NCSS standards call for programs that include experiences that provide for the study of interactions among individuals, groups, and institutions; the study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time; the study of people, places, and environments; the study of how people create and change structures of power, authority, and governance; and for the study of global connections and interdependence. Assessment Students are graded for their accurate and appropriate use of language, for their success in communicating in their second language, and their successful completion of bilingual news stories. Tools This unit uses the following tools: ¥ Computers equipped with modems, an Internet connection, school Web site ¥ Scholastic Network; Dragnet; Myrmidon; and Aspects ¥ Electronic Teacher's Guide for direct links to the Web sites referred to in this Unit of Practice Getting Started This unit depends on access to a wide range of online newspapers as well as being able to partner with other schools in a foreign country. Getting ready to do this kind of activity requires the following preparation: ¥ Finding a Partner: This unit can be carried out by a single classroom but is considerably richer when foreign partners also participate. One source for finding partners is the Scholastic Network. Suggestions for locating others willing to join your project are found in the "How To...Communicate and Collaborate" section of this guide. ¥ Introducing the Internet: Students will need to understand how to get around on the World Wide Web and how to use e-mail. Both topics are introduced in the tutorials found in Internet, the City. ¥ Student Research: To help your students find foreign newspapers quickly and easily, you'll want to compile a folder of links using DragNet. Place the folder on each computer used for this project. As they work, students may add new links that will be valuable to their peers. In addition, the "How To...Access Information" section of this guide provides tips for using other software in this kit to help make searching the Internet safe and efficient. ¥ Students select the newspaper they wish to read. They can print the stories off the Internet using ClickBook or save them as text documents onto their computers. ¥ Students send questions to their foreign keypals about the story to get "local" input before writing their summary in this second language. They can use e-mail or HotLine as the method of communication. ¥ Collaborative peer editing is carried out using Aspects which allows for students to work on the same document simultaneously online. Tips for setting up this kind of collaboration are found in the "How To...Communicate and Collaborate" section. ¥ Publishing: Students prepare their articles using a word processor and converting their text to HTML using Myrmidon . The "How To...Distribute Information" section of this guide gives tips for publishing, as well as information for using Myrmidon. If you are planning to publish your newspaper on the Web, you'll want to contact the Webmaster for your school and get directions for how to post to your school's Web site. Internet Resources A comprehensive index of online American news sources as well as international newspapers can be found at http://www.newo.com/ news/index.html.