Global StoryBridges links youth across the globe, enabling them to share stories of their lives and communities through digital communication as they learn English and technology skills. At each global site youth, with adult facilitation, collaboratively create, share and discuss digital stories. Project work and interactions are in English, and are not part of school curriculum. Youth participants live in communities of poverty and are English language learners.
The goals are:
- Globalization: To enable youth across the world to learn about others globally, gain cultural awareness, and become global citizens
- Language: To increase language and literacy skills (including English) for educationally at-risk students globally
- Technology: To develop technology skills, critically necessary for youth throughout the world
Participating youth represent their unique lives and communities through the creation of video stories, utilizing a full range of multimodal communication. Youth in each site work collaboratively; they decide what to represent and how to tell their stories, watch and discuss videos from other sites, decide together what questions and comments to pose and how to respond to questions and comments from others. Through these collaborative communications and interactions participants expand their language, literacy and technology skills and develop global awareness and understanding.
Sample Global StoryBridges Video: