TESS the Moose Travel Buddy

I. Briefly review the project form. Discuss the project theme, outline and time line; review the project and curriculum objectives.

The project involved a grade 5 class sending a stuffed toy to a class in England for the purpose of giving students positive and worthwhile writing experiences as they improved their computer skills. The children were encouraged to share information about themselves, their school and their community and ask their key-pals to share the same kind of information. This would allow the students to appreciate their similiarites and differences.

Included in the package sent to England were brochures, pictures, maps and information leaflets about the community /province. Also included were class-made materials, such as a booklet made by the students describing their school. Each child typed his/her story on the computer and digital pictures were then added.

Contact was first made with the host school in September 1998, and by October every child had their own e-pal. Every week the students sent e-mail messages to each other. Children in the host school began sending e-mail reports of the travel buddy's activities in January. Both classes continued to write each other, sometimes asking about everyday activities and sometimes asking about cultural issues. The project was officially over as of June 22/99, when Tess the Moose arrived home from England.

II. Show the audience the outcome of the project proposal.

Results and a tour of the project can be seen at: http://www3.nf.sympatico.ca/gorner/tess.htm

III. Briefly comment on any successes or problems that were encountered throughout the life of the project.

(A) The project was a big success. The children in both countries made new friends and learned a great deal about each other and their communities. (See the Comparison Chart on Tess' web page.)
(B) The only problem encountered was that since school closed almost a week earlier than expected, the students did not receive Tess back in time for the last day (she actually arrived on Tuesday, June 22/99 which ordinarily would have been fine.)

IV. Comment on any aspects of the project that you would do differently.

The next time Mrs. Ryan-Gorner plans do this project, she is going to send Tess to the host school earlier (October instead of December) and she is going to set a definite date for her return ie. April if she is only visiting one school, December if she is going to a second location. She would then set the second return date to be approximately April 1st.

V. Comment on if and how the project can be expanded next year.

Mrs. Ryan-Gorner plans to expand the project in the future by having the travel buddy visit two or more host schools in the same school year.

VI. If you are presenting a project other than your own, provide breif anecodotes of the project leader's expereinces.

Generally, everything about the project went as planned. The host school was found without much difficulty, though the teacher I was originally set up with in that school opted out and I had to go with a second choice. When Tess arrived in England, in her special box with all our souveniers, stories etc., we received an e-mail postcard from the host teacher that told how excited she and the childen were. She did include one other interesting comment, however. She said that the other teacher (who opted out) now wished that she had done our project. While completing the comparison chart we discussed the differences between our languages. We all speak English, however there are many terms that we use in our everyday language which are different from those used in England. We came up with a long list, but what was interesting was that we knew more of their English words than they knew of our Canadian words. (Eg. Canadian vs English : candy = sweets, truck = lorry, sweater = jumper, stove = cooker, bathroom = loo ) One thing we found interesting was that when completing our comparison chart about favourites, the English children listed Barry Manilow (an American) as their favourite singer, while our children had barely even heard of him (their choices were Shania Twain and Celine Dion).