NY meets S. Korea, collab on world problems

This fall, students in three classes participated in a virtual exchange program that pairs classes from around the world to work collaboratively on projects aimed at solving global issues. The organization that runs the program is called IVECA, which stands for Intercultural Virtual Exchange of Classroom Activities. 

Each student was assigned a partner from one of four schools in Korea. Then they worked on several activities related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for each activity students shared their work product and gave and received feedback with their Korean partners.

“It was an interesting experience seeing people from different places of the world and getting to talk to them about their culture – like issues in their area, and how they’re trying to solve it,” said Aaron Lee, a sophomore.

After each of the activities, students reflected on what they learned from their partners. For example, after the students shared their SDG presentations, they had to answer questions about what surprised them about their partner’s country, similarities and differences and how their partner’s solutions might be adopted by their own country. Then they shared their answers with their partners on IVECA’s message board.

“Our project was about how plastic waste affects our world and how by recycling plastics it can help reduce plastic waste,” said junior Margo Timin. “The issues in Korea were different because for them, they have an issue with packages and how that can create pollution. COVID-19 affected them in a way that people didn’t really leave their houses, and they ordered a lot, so that accumulated a lot of pollution and a lot of extra waste that they don’t really need.”

At the end of November, students got to meet their partners in a “live” class to share their presentations from the third activity. Students shared presentations, quizzed their partners and watched cultural performances.

During the quiz parts, called “O / X Questions,” happened at the end of the presentation and were true and false statements that their partners had to answer. Students responded to questions by shaping either an “X” if the statement was false or an “O” if it was true. Principals from both schools made short speeches and then the students shared farewell letters.

“My personal favorite, [was when] we watched the cultural performances,” said sophomore Lara Joy Jusi. “I definitely appreciated the Korean students cheering on my peers and me during our presentations. I learned so much that I couldn’t help jotting down notes during each presentation.”

This intercultural exchange broadened students’ perspectives and students agreed that they would definitely relive the experience.

“Depending on where you live, you can have different climate issues. Between us and them, it’s more of a global issue that we really need to come together and work on,” said Timin.

“My experience with IVECA was very cool considering I could talk to people from an entirely different country and I would probably do it again,” said junior Jake SanPaul. “My partner was great.”