The International Orillas Proverb Project grew from a long-standing interest Orillas's teachers had in exploring folklore in networked classrooms. The families of students are involved, encouraging oral histories. Analyzing proverbs encourages discussion, critical thinking and an appreciation of culture. Students studying a second language gain from the cultural knowledge embodied in proverbs. Young students can participate since the actual amount of text is small and easily typed.
Proverbs can encourage much longer writing, such as opinion statements or modern fables.
Categorizing proverbs by themes facilitate cross-cultural comparisons. Collecting proverbs is a provocative yet discrete task resulting in a rich concrete product. Folklore collections of all kinds can be instrumental in building bridges between schools and families and within the wider community of a particular language. Telecommunications make it possible for students from diverse regions to collaborate readily in a wide-ranging investigation of proverbs. In this way cross-cultural awareness and language skills can be developed in students who otherwise would never have access to people from distant lands and other world views.