Author Biography: Veronica Woo Eu Cheng, an AFS volunteer, is a TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) teacher and independent

TESL trainer with thirty years of experience in the education and training industry. She graduated with a Bachelor of Education (TESL/Literature) degree from the University of Otago, New Zealand. . She is currently teaching English to 15-17 year old students in a secondary school in Malaysia. Her key areas of specialisation include: teaching of English as a second language to a diverse range of learners from young children to college students, training working adults in the different areas of English studies, organising English boot camps and workshops, conducting professional development courses, planning and designing and conducting teacher training courses. Activity Summary
Students will connect, collaborate and communicate with their counterparts around the world to learn or work on projects. They will share perspectives about issues concerning themselves or the world at large. In an environment of learning beyond borders students also learn social skills and develop a better intercultural understanding of each other. Web 2.0 tools and technology like Wikispaces and Skype are used to create a common platform for interaction and sharing of ideas or opinions with each other. This, helps to develop a sense of connectedness and friendship with others in their pursuit of sharing and learning from each other. Some of the projects undertaken by the students, so far, are the Green Tourism Project and Global Storytelling. In addition, impromptu Skype lessons incorporated into Internationalisation also serve as a powerful way for students to learn about other peoples cultures or participate in their ongoing lessons in the classrooms. Class or subject area: Internationalisation (TESL) Grade level(s): Form 1 5 (High School Grade 7 12) Specific learning objectives: To build and develop global awareness in terms of language and cultures To build and develop global competence in terms of global knowledge and skills To learn about nature, heritage and cultures of countries around the world To celebrate diversity and promote intercultural understanding and peace To build and develop a sense of goodwill and fostering friendship

Anniversary Book Project

5th

The World is Your Classroom, The Classroom is Your World

Internationalisation (TESL)

By: Veronica Woo Creative Commons License: CC Author contact: veronicawoo2002@yahoo.co.uk

In introducing and adopting Internationalisation as a subject area in the Teaching of English As A Second Language, the language immersion approach in the teaching of English as a second language in a classroom setting is now made possible with the use of 21st century learning tools and technology. The idea of classroom has now taken on a whole new level in meaning in the 21st century. With Web 2.0 tools and technology, learning in the 21st century now transcends all boundaries in a borderless classroom. Under such circumstances, learning is indeed an exciting adventure whereby students learn to expect the unexpected in a learning situation where The World Is Your Classroom, The Classroom Is Your World. Global competence is certainly being actively promoted in an environment of learning beyond borders whereby Web 2.0 tools and technology play an important role in helping to create the platform that has allowed this to take place. In this sense, global competence can then be defined as the global knowledge and skills that is so needed in the 21st century workplace. With technology integration in the classroom, students learn social skills and responsibilities, media literacy, organizational and management skills and at the same time expand their knowledge and understanding of issues at a more global level. Global competence is embedded in the learning and teaching process when schools around the work get to connect, collaborate and communicate in a virtual environment of learning in a classroom without walls. Besides gaining a global perspective of current or common issues like climate change and peace that is affecting every single citizen in the world and finding ways to overcome it, by working on online projects, students will also get to learn how to use 21st century learning tools to convey their ideas and opinions in order to reach out to a wider audience worldwide. This will definitely have a better impact on their learning which should be geared towards learning for the future and not learning for the past. Impromptu Skype lessons is another door which opens the opportunity for technology integration in the classroom whereby students can gain access to classrooms around the world to participate in the ongoing lessons in the classroom and to learn about other peoples cultures and language. Skype School Event Broadcasting is another mode of interaction and sharing of language and cultures in real time and experience of various kinds of happenings in the school which gives one a different perspective of school life in another country. The four areas of technology integration in the Internationalisation classroom will be highlighted and shared in greater details as follows: Green Tourism Project Wikispace Our school in an urban setting in the city of Ipoh in Malaysia, SMJK Poi Lams Green Tourism Project wiki aims towards reaching a wider audience in our concerted effort to make a difference in tourism education. Based on the concept of The World Is Your Classroom, The Classroom Is Your World and with the creation of our project wiki, learning beyond borders connecting, collaborating, creating and communicating with schools worldwide has now been made possible. Besides raising global awareness in terms of language and cultural awareness, our school firmly believes that teaching or raising green tourism awareness should be deemed necessary in todays world of climate change as we strongly hold on to the principle that education is the key to address some of the serious global warming issues that we are currently facing. In addressing a serious issue, our Green Tourism Project wiki aims to promote tourism education in a fun and interactive way to local and virtual audiences around the world. Subsequently, our project idea for Green Tourism is also in line with our Perak State Tourism Departments Visit Perak Year 2012 tagline Green Tourism,, Yours To Discover, Nature and Heritage!

Project Summary Students from various countries will learn about the role of green tourism in helping to promote awareness about conserving nature for the benefit of mankind in a world faced with climate change. They will collaborate and share perspectives about places and tourism education through using computer software and a shared wikispace. In doing so, students will also learn about nature, heritage and the cultures in these different countries. Project Background The Green Tourism Project initiative is the result of schools which have registered themselves for a 4-month Learning Circle Project with **iEARN. The Project ideas are sponsored by the Choral Speakers of SMJK Poi Lam and their Project Adviser, Veronica Woo Eu Cheng. Students from a number of countries involved in this project will discuss and agree on a common stand for the definition of green tourism. discuss issues related to climate change in terms of green tourism. create their own parallel projects in line with the project ideas set out here. share ideas, information and photos to promote green tourism in their own country. connect, collaborate and interact cross-culturally in a global village setting. Schools participating in the Green Tourism Project will use ICT tools or applications to create a 1-2 minute video clip of their work. The video clip may include images, text, voice and music. Copyright materials are prohibited. Project Goals The goals of the Green Tourism Project are : 1. To learn about green tourism and to promote it to the local and international community. 2. To build and develop a sense of love and social responsibilities towards nature. 3. To learn about nature, heritage and cultures of countries around the world. 4. To specifically promote green tourism in line with Visit Perak Year 2012 tagline Green Tourism, Yours To Discover, Nature and Heritage! Project Submission The ideal number of submissions from each school for this project is as stipulated below: 1 Introductory/Welcome Message (Team) 3 completed tasks TASK 1 - My Story (Team) TASK 2 - Green Tourism (Team) TASK 3 - Promoting Green Tourism (Individual) 1 featured article (250 words) (Team) 1 photo blog / slide presentation (1 - 2 min.) ppt, vwm, utube, etc. (Team) Students own blogs - to be linked from Student Pages (Personal) (OPTIONAL) Together let us collaborate and work towards contributing and making an effort in raising awareness among people of all levels in society, both locally and globally with regard to the idea of going green in terms of our lifestyle and tourism education! This project has now been adopted as an ongoing project. Contributions from interested parties will

always be welcomed. To find out more about the Green Tourism Project, you are invited to visit us at greentourism.wikispace.com Those interested to participate in this project, please feel free to contact me via email veronicawoo2002@yahoo.co.uk Why Wikispace for Green Tourism Project? In line with the rapid change that is taking place with the use of Web 2.0 tools and technology in education., it is hoped that with the establishment of the wiki for our schools Green Tourism Project, another voice would be added to give dimension to the global picture of the place of Web 2.0 and technology on the education front in other parts of the world and in Malaysia, specifically. As a Web 2.0 tool, the Wikispace is found to be a very powerful tool for promoting and enabling dynamic learning in a digital and borderless world . It easily knocks down the physical barrier of the walls of the classroom and time zone whereby learning can happen anytime, anywhere 7/24. One of the key features of Wikispace is that it allows the organizer the flexibility to invite schools to the established wiki and control the learning environment of the students to meet the learning objectives or purpose of the wiki setup. Besides, blogs, slides and videos can be easily linked to the wiki for a more interesting and powerful presentation of the project. The K12 wikispace is offered free for schools to use and this definitely is a plus factor in terms of promoting education in a global village. Global Storytelling Book Trailers Project An interesting way for students to connect, collaborate and communicate with each other is through the sharing of their favourite books or books about their countries and cultures. For this purpose, SMJK Poi Lam took part in the Global Storytelling Book Trailers Project for the 2011 Melbourne

Skype Video-conferencing at the Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia

Photo courtesy of Anne Mirtschin

Writers Festival by working together with Hawkesdale P12 College, a rural school from Australia. Students from both schools in Australia and Malaysia shared books and created digital book trailers for this purpose. SMJK Poi Lam students used computer software and created two book trailers and put them up alongside with their Australian counterparts book trailers on a shared wikispace. The book trailers were then presented and broadcasted live via Skype Video-conferencing between the two schools from two venues i.e. the Federation Square in Melbourne and the Multimedia Language Room at SMJK Poi Lam in Malaysia. This event was graced by the Australian City Councilor and on the Malaysian side, it was the State Executive Member-cum-Chairman of Perak Tourism. This news was reported in the local media in Australia and Malaysia. Impromptu Skype Lessons Impromptu Skype Lessons often leads to a lot of surprises of what learning in schools around the world can be like Photo courtesy of Anne Mirtschin for students as well as teachers. Some of the lessons that have been shared by students via Skype Video-conferencing are simple exchanges of greetings and normal conversations which revolve around students daily lives, both at home and in schools. The Skype connection normally starts off with the teachers who are in the Skype In The Classroom community first finding each other online at the same time. After the usual short chat, teachers will then briefly talk about what can be done with their classes before the students get to see each other live via video-conferencing. To illustrate, here is a brief description of an Impromptu Skype Lesson shared by students of SMJK Poi Lam in Malaysia with a school in Indonesia. In Malaysia, the students of SMJK Poi Lam were rehearsing for their Choral Speaking performance for the launch of Visit Perak Year 2012 while in Indonesia the students in a particular school were always ready to perform for anyone who is interested in watching a live performance of their students playing their beautiful traditional gamelan music. For that particular Impromptu Skype lesson, Malaysian students got to listen and learn more about gamelan music while their Indonesian counterparts were given the exposure of how learning English through Choral Speaking can be fun and interesting. Besides, the Malaysian students got the chance to promote their state of Perak via their Choral Speaking presentation to their Indonesian friends while at the same time learning about other peoples cultures. Skype School Event Broadcasting Skype School Event Broadcasting gives students an opportunity to act as journalist reporting at ground zero to bring happenings in school to a live audience somewhere in the world. Working in such a mode of learning, students feel empowered to report school events to their counterparts in another classroom in other parts of the world. This gives them a strong sense of purpose and meaning to their learning in terms of global knowledge and skills. Their perspectives about events in schools will definitely take on a new height and understanding. Besides, students will get to learn how to express and communicate with each other in a real situation in real time. And this will certainly go a long way in preparing students for the future as the world becomes more globalised with the advent of 21st century learning tools. Widening Participation Bring Technology to the Learners In view of current 21st century classroom trend, there is an urgent need to bridge the widening gap

in the use of Web 2.0 tools and technology in schools around the world. First for this to happen, schools especially those in the developing countries need to break away from the old ways of doing things and learning. And once this is put into place, there will be an urgent need to retrain teachers so that they will be professionally well versed with what is expected of them as agent of change in society and in schools in particular. It is only then that efforts to promote learning beyond borders and widening participation by bringing technology to learners can truly materialize. Undeniably, Web 2.0 tools and technology is here to stay, hence change in 21st century learning is imminent. Those who fail to learn, unlearn and relearn will definitely be left far behind!