World Wide Learning Through World Wise Schools
By Robyn Davis

Would you like to take your students on a trip to another country? Through a program called World Wise Schools, the United States Peace Corps lets you do just that by connecting Peace Corps Volunteers serving around the world with educators in the United States. Students gain a perspective on a different country-its people, cultures, languages, and government by corresponding with a Volunteer currently serving there.

World Wise Schools (WWS) is open to all educators-in or out of the classroom-and provides activities and lesson plans on all grade levels. Educators who contact World Wise Schools will be matched with a Volunteer and will receive an annual poster, inclusion in special events, information about countries where volunteers serve, and stories of volunteer experiences. A handbook designed to help you get started and to incorporate the correspondence into your lesson plans is also provided. For more information, visit the WWS website at www.peacecorps.gov. This site is loaded with facts on different countries, volunteer experiences, and lesson plans for all levels.

Activities for your Program

• Bring books or folktales from your Volunteer's country to be read to or by your students. All cultures have children's stories whether they are recorded on paper or not. Do some research on stories in your Volunteer's country and ask the Volunteer to record children's stories.

• Research information on the country to share with your students, so they will have a basis for asking the Volunteer questions in each letter.

• Based on what the students learn from the correspondence, have your students write stories of their own about the country. Send the stories to the Volunteer. Not only will this activity give students a chance to practice their writing skills but the stories will give the Volunteer an idea of what the students find interesting and how they perceive the information she or he is sharing.

• Have students create a scrapbook about their community to send to the Volunteer. They can write about everyday life in their community and include pictures. In return, ask the Volunteer to do the same with her or his new community.

• With the information you receive, discuss the similarities and differences between your community and the Volunteer's. Ask questions that challenge stereotypes.

• Encourage your students to keep a journal chronicling the correspondence. This journal might be a place for students to record their questions, thoughts on the Volunteer's experience, and information on the country that they learn.

• Have the Volunteer send stamps, food labels, and paper money. If the writing is not in English, ask her or him to translate the writing. Your students will have a chance to compare items common to both countries.

• Ask your students to look for articles on the country in the newspaper. Discuss possible reasons for a presence or absence of material on this country.

• Have your students collect newspaper and magazine clippings and cartoons from local resources that may be of interest to the Volunteer. Although the information may seem outdated, most volunteers enjoy keeping in touch with news from home. Find out how the Volunteer gets news from home and discuss with your students what people in the country might hear about your community in their news sources.

• If you have access to the Internet, look up the country with a search engine. Many citizens and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers have built websites on their country with interesting information and links to publications from that country.

For more information on becoming involved with this program, please contact World Wise Schools at: Peace Corps, World Wise Schools, 1111 20th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20526; telephone: 800-424-8580 x 1450 and (202)692-1450; fax: (202)692-1421; email: wwsinfo@peacecorps.gov.

Robyn Davis, a member of the LEARNS Training and Technical Assistance team at the Southern Regional Council, served from 1994-96 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Volta region of Ghana.