Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991 TAG: 9103220636
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH/ SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The message had come all the way from Argentina.
"It doesn't seem that far away when it's just on a computer," student Deborah Kurshan said later.
Community School's eighth grade is participating in a special project with seven other schools. They are writing a newspaper in both English and Spanish.
What makes the project so unusual is that the other schools are in Texas, California, Florida, Mexico City and Argentina. And when the project is finished, said Community School Director Tina Dawson, she, the six students who make up the class, and two teachers will travel to Mexico City to present their work at an international conference.
The Roanoke County private school is one of 200 schools from around the world participating in WorldClassroom, a special program sponsored by GTE Educational Services.
More than 6,000 schools in Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Iceland, Peru, the United States and the Soviet Union are linked by a computer network that allows students to learn about other people and other cultures through modern technology.
The cost of the program is $395 per semester, Dawson said, but with the trip to Mexico City for the Second International Seminar on Educational Computing in Latin America, the cost will be nearly $4,000.
This is the first year the school has subscribed to the program, Dawson said. The project uses software provided by GTE and an Apple II GS computer lent by Barbara Kurshan, Deborah's mother.
Barbara Kurshan also leads the class through the program, helping them to access the computer network and to generate ideas. Spanish teacher Elena Isler is on hand to help with translations. Kurshan and Isler also are going to Mexico.
When the students are using the network, they tie up one of the school's telephone lines, a luxury most public schools can't provide, Dawson said.
At the end of February, Kurshan's class was getting to know the other students and beginning to discuss the newsletter. Each class will contribute to it.
Although long letters are translated into Spanish, most short messages are in English, Kurshan said, because Latin American students usually have a good grasp of English.
Barbara Kurshan said the class has communicated with the school in Monterey, Calif., and with Teresa, who teaches the class in Argentina. Each time a class joins the network, Community School students send a letter describing themselves and their school.
"The telephone system is not the greatest" in Mexico, Barbara Kurshan said, so the Mexican students hadn't logged on by the end of February. But there are good telephone lines set aside for facsimile transmission, so the Community School students will fax their messages to the Mexican students.
The students will receive a grant from GTE to help finance their trip to Mexico. In addition, the class plans to hold a car wash, sell coupons and ask for donations. Two magazines also have agreed to pay them for articles about their experiences, Deborah Kurshan said.
The conference begins on April 23, but the class and teachers plan to arrive in Mexico three days earlier. They will stay with the families of the students with whom they are working before moving to a hotel for the conference.
Erica Hodgin admitted she is a little worried about the presentation they will have to give in April. They haven't really started working on the project yet, she said, and "sometimes it's hard to get ourselves together."
The best part of the project, said Deborah Kurshan, is meeting other people.
The other students participating in the program are Claire Francis, Jesse Laplante, Tonya Smart and Mark Finney.
by CNB