Clicking Across
Today’s digital tools help language students make global connections from their classrooms.
Sandy Cutshall
I want to make sure that English-speaking children get foreign
languages. This world is becoming more interdependent, and
part of the process of America’s continued leadership in the world
is going to be our capacity to communicate across boundaries,
across borders. —Barack Obama
As President Obama noted during the 2008 presi- dential campaign, a new generation of inter- nationally savvy citizens will increasingly need to know multiple world languages. And they will need to have more than a technical facility
with these languages. As the Partnership for 21st Century
Skills (2009) framework states, future citizens will also need
global awareness: the ability to learn and work collaboratively
with individuals representing diverse cultures, religions, and
lifestyles in a spirit of mutual respect and open dialogue in
personal, professional, and community contexts. World
languages are a core subject in the partnership’s framework of
essential skills.
The Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st
Century affirm these ambitious goals, noting that students
cannot truly master a language until they have also learned to
understand the cultural contexts in which the language occurs.
These standards, known as the 5 Cs, focus on communication,
cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities as
essential elements of skill in foreign languages (National
Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 2006).
How can we not only teach foreign languages but also
further such sophisticated global awareness? In the past, only a
few lucky students who could study abroad had the opportunity to learn in authentic cultural contexts. But today’s technologies make authentic international connections both necessary and possible for any student in an Internet-connected
classroom.
