LET'S EXCHANGE FOLK SONGS

It is unfortunate but true to admit that there are some countries in 
the world that are associated in the mind of young people of American 
with apprehension.  Walls of fear have fallen down on the young 
people of America and of these countries alike.  And the fear that is 
perpetuated by default ends in utter ignorance of each other culture, 
art, music and overall form of cultural identity.
The application calls for the exchange of folk songs from one (or more) 
of these countries.  The educational objective is to learn a little bit 
about the culture that is behind it, the origin of this song, what does it 
represent to the people who sing it and for what social event is it 
used?.  I leave the context of the grade level to the choice of the 
teachers who choose to use it.  The objective of this application is to 
call the attention of kids along the boarder of fear and ignorance to 
the other dimensions of love, art and music that exist in the other 
countries.  

This application relies on two Internet resources; electronic mail and a 
discussion group and the assumption that students have the 
knowledge of how to use these services.  The application also calls on 
teachers of cultural studies across the border to use it within the context 
of one of their cultural study section.

The educational learning goals of this application are:
1)  to expose young people across the boarder to the cultural 
manifestation of other civilization through folk literature.
2)  to develop a sense of bonding with kids of other countries.
3)  to introduce the students to the new forum of learning and 
communication through the new form of telecomputing.

Steps in implementing this application:

1)  The teachers and students across the boarder must identify the 
themes for the exchanged songs.  
2)  The choice of the songs is left to the students who will choose 
several candidate songs, compile their lyrics and uploaded them across 
the network for each group to chose from. (Extra work is expected 
from the non-English speaking students and their teachers to translate 
their candidate songs into English).
3)  When the choice of songs is made, the students will be divided into 
two groups, the first will write a short essay about the historical and 
cultural background of the song they chose and the second will write 
the story that is woven into the song.  In each group across the 
boarder two students will be teamed together.  
4)  E-mail messages will be exchanged between the students of 
corresponding team who can communicate with each others before 
they upload their essays across the networks for approval of content 
and accuracy of tale.
5)  In the discussion group students are expected to post their views, 
opinion and reactions to the songs.

The progress of the students can be evaluated based on the research 
students do, the final essays they write and perhaps a new dimension 
of an experience of cultural conversion made possible by networking 
facilities and services.