2012 IIME REPORTCountry [ Canada ]School [ Valley View Elementary ] Teacher [ Suzanne Rea and John Mclaughlin]
grade (6 ) student number ( 65 )JP School [ Minamitsurumaki Primary School ] Teacher [ Manabu Abukawa]# Subjects, Activities and Times of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson
Social Studies
Study about history and culture of our country and our partner’s country

Times
10

IT

Use the online forum, email, video conferences, internet research

18

Visual Arts

Create a mural (small groups worked on it rotating each class)

12Fine Arts

Review of other murals, and appreciation and reflection of the whole work

4

# Theme and Message of the mural
The Environment Shaping Culture and Influencing Daily Life and Recreation
ThemeMessage

Where we live influences how our culture develops, how we live our lives and how we enjoy ourenvironment.
We are proud of our own cultures and respect different cultures. We recognize the importantrole the environment plays and need to look after it for future generations.

# Effects and the Problems
Effects your students have gained
They have learned how we have so much in common
with the kids from our partner school.
They have broadened their world view and have madeconnections to the concept of global citizenship.

Points for further improvement
It was a little difficult to use the forum at first but
gradually we got used. Thank you for your kind guidance.
Better and easier student accessibility to the forum
would help improve student involvement.

# Have you made your activity open in your school or in your local area? How was their reaction or reputation?

PR you did inside/out of your school
The project is a big part of our school paper.
The mural was constantly visible so classes could follow
our progress.
The project was written up with pictures in our two local
news papers.

Reaction/reputation from aroundThe kids are very proud of their hard work!
The other students in the school were very interested inwhat we were doing and constantly asking us questions
about the project.

# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonthIntroduction

ResearchComposition

What you did
The students were introduced
to the projectYour students attitude/reflection
They were so excited. They began to ask
questions about Japan as well as draw ontheir own knowledge. They made somecomparisons between the two cultures basedon their prior knowledge.

SubjectSocials

Used the internet and various
sources to study Japan
Had a Skype conference

The kids found this interesting. They gaineda greater insight into Japanese culture.
The kids loved this! They were excited toask questions and interact. Language was a
bit of a challenge.

SocialsIT

Exchange respective ideas on theChildren had great
EXPRESSING IDEAS
COOPERATIVELY.

ENJOYED
WORKING

Socials

Worked well on this and ended up with a very
pleasing result which communicated theirinitial ideas effectively.

Socials

It was great to have a chance to share it anddisplay for other to see.

Fine Art

NovDecDecmuralandtogetherindecided

thedesignourgroupandideas.
ANDcorresponded this to partners.
We studied Japan and other cultures

Painting

Janand compared them with ours. A
group of students painted everyday.

Appreciation

Feb

We displayed our mural in thehall and shared it with all thestudents of our school.

# Aim of the Lessons and Result
AimRank
understanding
2
our own cultures
Understanding
the other culturescommunication ability
interactively / in EnglishIT skills
forum / video conference

Creating friendshipin the class / with partners

Collaborationin the class / with partners

Keeping motivation highpositive attitude in learning

Expression ability
in painting

Appreciation ability
reading the painting

Mark5 ○
4How your students have reached it

3 2 1

25 4 3 2 1○

25 ○
4

3 2 1

They learned from internet, text, prior knowledge
They used the text, watched videos, conference
They created small projects in groups
Email was good. The forum worked well but greater student access is55 4 ○3 21needed. The Skype conference was an excellent face to face opportunity
for student interaction though language was a challenge

We exchanged pictures on the forum but greater student

45 4 3 ○2 1

interaction/pairing would have improved the connections. Again
the language barrier seemed to be the greatest challenge.

It was challenging to agree on how the mural should bepainted, eventually the students came together and were
proud of their final result.

55 4 ○
3 225 4 3 2 1○
just as good.

55 ○435 4 ○
3 2

1

They saw the other side of the mural and wanted to do

3 2 1
1

This was stressful at times. There was quite a range inabilities.
They put the mural in the hall for the school to see andthey understood the influences of the environment.