2018 IIME REPORTCountry/Region [ Taiwan ]School[ Wen Ya Elementary School ] Teacher [ Ruth Hou ] Grade (5)JP school [Souri Elementary School ] Teacher [ Tetsumasa Ishikawa ]Member (54)# Subjects, Activities and Hours of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson
Social Studies
ICT
EnglishArt
IntegrativeActivities

We made a research on the cultural features in Taiwan.
We surfed on the Internet to look for possible reference materials that we can usedon the mural. We also had Skype talk 4 times during the year.
We wrote the speech content for monthly Skype talk in English and definitely
presented it during the Skype.
All of us learned the basic skills of water painting and the mixture of different
colors. Some art-talented students designed the drafts, presented the draft to ourclass and the Japanese partners. We made some changes after negotiation with theJapanese partners.
We were set into different groups to do the painting. Every one of us had theopportunity to take part in the process of painting.

Hours
3355

10

# Theme and Message of the mural
ThemeMessage
United thoughts toshare with the world

Beauty of Culture
Every culture is unique. The diversity of cultures inspires the necessity of globalcommunication. We learned to cherish our own culture. At the same time, we learn to respect
cultures from different parts of the world. The more we understand each other, the betterworld we will live in.

# Effects and Problems
Effects your students have gained
1.

2.

3.

Through Skype talk, our students have clearer
impression toward our partner school. Most of thestudents can list the features of Souri Elementary,such as their plum trees, plum rice, school lives andso on. We strongly feel that Japanese students arevery polite, well-behaved and they can write
beautifully.
Our students are very interested in the Skype talk.
Even though both of us have limited English abilities,
we loved to participate in the talk.
For those who were brave enough to give a shorttalk in the Skype session, they were very satisfied
to gain the sense of achievement and they would
be more confident to speak in English in public.

Points for further improvement
1.

2.

Holidays and Culture is an interesting theme tostart the global communication. However, living in acountry with multi-cultures, like Taiwan, it issometimes difficult for the students to focus on
one specific holiday. We may need to encourage
more talk and participation among students so thatstudents can choose their favorite theme or topics
to share with their Japanese friends.
Due to the limited time and busy schedule, we
could only meet our partners on Skype once in amonth. We are wondering if it is possible to create
a forum for students. Teachers in both countries
are too busy to visit the forum frequently.
Students need to acquire the ability to4.

We appreciated the warm, positive feedbacks that
Souri E.S. gave us during the last Skype talk. We felt
so touched when so many Japanese students tried
to write on the whiteboards to tell us theircomments after reading the completed mural andthe hand-made gifts. Every one of us experienced
the beauty of friendship at the end of the project.

communicate with one another. Setting up a safe
platform for student-to-student talk might benecessary to promote mutual communication as
well as long-term friendship.

# How has your impression toward your partner’s country/region and the world changed?
Changes in the students
Changes in the teachers
The students are Wen Ya E.S. are quite familiar withJapanese school lives. However, our students received
new and clear impression about Japanese students by
way of reading, listening and watching every topic thatwas shared in the Skype talk every month. Ourstudents loved to get prepared before the Skype talkand they did witness what the teachers have always
praised about the Japanese students. The special
characteristics in Souri E.S. and their community
broadened our view of Japan.

# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonthMEET
Selfintroduction

Sep.

SHAREResearch onthe theme

UNITE
United message/Oct.

Nov.

What you did

Your students attitude/reflection

We created the greeting cards
to say hello to our partners inSouri E.S.

At the beginning, our students thought
making cards is like another assignment inart class. They finished their cards on time
but they did not know that the cards weregoing to bring something valuable in theircoming school lives.
Students spent some time surfing on theInternet and reading in the library to get abroad view of their theme. They
understood the message but they werelack of authentic live experience, such as
rowing a dragon boat. Besides, there were
too many different versions of information
for them to choose from. They had a hardtime finding the true stories behind theholidays.

We had a class-to- classSkype meeting.
Teachers concluded thelearning contents in the
textbooks of different
subjects. Students in groups
worked on worksheets tofigure out what information
they would like to share withJapanese partners.
We had a class-to- classSkype meeting.
Students created theirindividual drafts and readthrough the drafts from othergroups, too.

Mural design

We had a class-to- classSkype meeting.

CREATE
Mural painting

Dec.
&Jan.

The teachers at Wen Ya E.S. strongly felt theseriousness of the Japanese teachers. Comparatively
speaking, Taiwanese teachers do not ask that much on
the details during Skype process. Japanese teachers
encouraged a student-led talk but Taiwanese teachers
were still used to be the leaders/monitor during theSkype talk. We would modify our own teaching style toencourage more student work in the coming Skypetalk.

Art-gifted students drew theoutline and the rest of thestudents painted.

Students were interested in drafting andthey did a good job presenting what theywanted to say on the drafts. They wereopen-minded enough to read others’
draft and made some changes afternegotiation.
Some art-gifted students drew on themural first. Later, students took turns todo the painting. Everyone had the time
painting on the mural.

Subject

Art
EnglishChineseSocialStudies
ICT
EnglishArt
ICT
EnglishArtAPPRECIATE
Reflection/
Appreciation

Feb.
&Mar.

We had a class-to- classSkype meeting to share what
we had painted on the mural.

Students understood the hard work ofpainting a mural. They appreciated thegreat efforts that the partners have put on
the project. They loved to see the muralcompleted in a beautiful, meaning way.
They felt so proud of themselves and theirpartners.

ChineseSocialStudies
ICT
English# Effect and evaluation gained through the collaborative learning
Evaluation: Rank 5 to 1 (5: very effective / 4: effective / 3: so- so / 2: not so effective / 1: not effective at all)

Expected effect

Understanding yourown cultures

Understanding yourpartner's cultures
Information literacy(research, share)

Communication ability(interactive exchange)

Critical thinking(objective, logical views)

Active learningand action

Collaboration(in the class, with partners)

Expression ability(in words, in pictures)

Evaluation

4Since there are too many holidays and festivals in Taiwan, our students
have been confused by some origins of the holidays and festivals. Maybe,living in a society with multi-cultures hinders them from focusing on
specific holidays and festivals. On the contrary, Japanese students havea better, clearer ideas of what they cultures are like.

5

Our students are so interested in our partner’s cultures and most ofthem can answer teachers’ questions correctly and offer appropriate
evidences to support their answers.

4434

Our students have good ability in researching via reference books in thelibrary or Internet. In order to encourage more student-to-student
communication, we might set up a forum/ platform for student talk.
Our students are brave enough to share their ideas in class and with
their Japanese partners. They have had enough desire to communicate
with others.
Since the theme of the mural is beauty of culture, it is hard to find achance to promote critical thinking. We aim to respect the differences indifferent cultures so we do not like to comment on the good/bad of ourown culture or our partner’s culture.
Compared with regular homework doing after school, our students are sohighly motivated to finish the learning tasks given in the mural project.
They love to spend time getting ready for the presentation during themonthly Skype talk.

5

Our students are willing to collaborate with one another while making drafts
and painting. Different opinions are offered and taken into seriousconsideration to make the art project better. So, we do not have problem
working with each other.

4

Although our students had limited English ability, they got prepared inadvance so that the teachers from Souri E.S. could help both school tounderstand the message for efficient communication. Wen Ya E.S. always
sent the speech content to Souri E.S. earlier and it helped to solve theproblem of occasional internet connection failure.

4

During the last Skype talk, the students in Souri E.S. presented theircomments by writing Chinese characters on the mini-whiteboards. Thekind-hearted behavior showed their positive encouragement toward themural this year. The students in both schools have shown their sincere
appreciation to the completion of the mural this year.

Appreciation ability(the mural, the wholecollaborative learning)

Scenes / points teachers felt the effects