REPORT Artmile International Collaborative Learning 2023
Country/Region [ Madagascar ]School[ The Excelsior School ] Teachers [ Nirina and Fanja ] Grade ( 5 ) Member ( 26 )JP School [ Ogawa School ]Teacher [ Keisuke Oba ]# Subjects, Activities and Hours of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson
International
Education

HoursSDGs

18

EnglishSelf-introduction – Using English as a language of communication

4Culture

Understanding the similarities and differences in culture between Malagasy
people and Japanese people.

6ICTUsing technological tools

6Art

Creating a mural16# Theme and Message of the muralThemes

Message
United thoughts
to share with theworld“Let’s end poverty” and “Peace and Justice for All”
We have been learning a lot about « Let’s end poverty » and « Peace and Justice for All ».
These themes are based on the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs (#1 and #16). Thestudents from The Excelsior School, Madagascar and those from Ogawa Elementary School,
Japan have reflected on these SDGs and made a lot of research in order to find relevant
solutions. Then, they exchanged their viewpoints on each theme.
Throughout the discussions, the Malagasy and Japanese students have noticed that there isa contrast between Japan and Madagascar. Malagasy students learned that in Japan there
are many multinational car and motorcycle manufacturers such as Toyota, Suzuki, Honda,etc. It is not the case for Madagascar since we do not have global companies. This situation
showed already the case of poverty. Malagasy students and Japanese ones talked as wellabout the differences and similarities in cultures. They knew that Japanese people eat riceas Malagasy people do. Of course, the way of preparing it is not the same.
In the painting, Madagascar is shown by a map. We could see Baobab trees and a lemur which
are species only found in Madagascar. The message is that despite the low standard of livingof Malagasy people, Madagascar has considerable natural resources. The theme about
poverty is really relevant to Malagasy students’ situations.
As far as Japan is concerned, the students of Ogawa School drew a dove in the painting, as
it is a symbol of peace. Malagasy students now know that peace is one of the ideas or beliefs
that Japan wants to promote and that all countries in the world can aspire to it. And thegood thing is, it is really part of the SDGs.
Japanese students also drew a bowl containing a typical Japanese dish.
As there are similarities between Japanese people and Malagasy people in terms of cultures
and ways of living and as both peoples live in Islands, combatting poverty is not a pipe dream,
especially for Malagasy people.
Our mural depicts the relations that can be established between the two countries in theframe of the SDGs and these relations can be enlarged among all countries in the world tomake a better world, peaceful and freed from poverty.

# Effects and Problems
Effects your students have gainedStudents know how to make research. The program
helped them to think about the situation of Malagasypeople. It is a way to relate learning to real life
situations. Throughout the discussions, they know thatthe world is faced with challenges and all peoples in
the world have the responsibility to address them.

Points for further improvement
Our students should improve in terms of the use of
the new technology. During the video conference,
we happened to meet problems due to the lack oftechnical skills.

# How has your impression toward your partner’s country/region and the world changed?
Changes in the students
Changes in the teachers
Students know more about Japan, especially about its Teachers are convinced that the learning is more
economy and its culture.
productive if teaching is performed in a practical way
They are more aware of the global challenges of the and more connected to real life situations.
21st century.

# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonthRESEARCH
the themeJune.
Jul

What you did
The teacher gave basic
information about SDGs.
We exchanged photos andvideos with our Japanesepartner.

Your students’ attitude/reflection
Subject
Students were very excited. Thestudents from both schools introduced
International
one another via the forum. We learned
Education
about Japanese school system andculture.

SHAREwith thepartner

UNITE
the thoughts

CREATEthe mural

APPRECIATE
the wholelearning

Sept.
OctNov.
Dec.

Jan.
FebMarch.

We had an online meetingwith our Japanese partner
to exchange ideas.
SDG#16 was chosen byOgawa School Students as
SDG#1 by Excelsior Schoolstudents.
We gathered the informationcollectedthroughtheresearch. We united ourthoughts and made amessage to convey to theworld.Japanesepartner
started painting their part ofthe mural.

We received the muralStudents made some research throughthe Internet about the SDGs, Thestudents gave a presentation about
SDGs to other students in our school.

ICT

EnglishStudents deepened their knowledge
about SDG#1 and SDG#16. They asked
some old people about the situations
here in Madagascar and here inAntsirabe.

InternationalEducation

EnglishStudents thought about how they deal
with our part. Then we combined ourideas in a rough paper.When the mural
arrived, we started painting

It was reflection time to lookback to the whole project andthe experience.
We organized a Zoom meetingwith Ogawa School students
as a final stepArt

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 effectEvaluation

Cross-cultural
understanding

4

Active learning

4

Critical thinking

4Collaborating withdifferent people

3

They were divided into groups and encouraged to brainstorm ideas. It wasa little bit difficult for some students but finally it worked.

Expressing in words,
in shape

3

They were encouraged to use English as a language of communication
and use realia (concrete objects or photos).

Scenes and reasons that teachers felt the effects
The program helped our students to know more about the culture of Japanesepeople, In the classroom, they discussed and compared it with ours.

They had to make research and build their own general knowledge
related to the themes.
During the discussions, we, teachers, noticed that they try to listen toothers’ opinions, explore all options, and then analyze ideas if they are
good, true, bad or fake.