.

  Overall feeling of the project by Harry Markowicz

It think it was a very good project from a conceptual point of view.
First the partners got acquainted by having to write a poem with each
other. The they had to collaborate to do the guided tour in the other's
culture. Having two very different cultures (Orthodox Israeli vs deaf
American/foreign) provides numerous opportunities for learning about the
other. On the other hand, the differences are so great (or the lack of
knowledge about the other is so immense) that it is difficult to relate
to each other?? It is certainly worth repeating.

Reflections by Elaine Hoter- the instructor for the pre-service teacher trainees in Tel Aviv.

For the teachers and teachers to be who took part in this project, this was their first experience of having an Internet connection with anybody.

The idea of pairing up the students allowed for some of the students to make areal relationship with their partner. this was not the case in a number of paiirs because of the time factor and the fact that the whole concept of sending emails and the technology were the "barriers" for a number of students during the first half of the course.

  Reflections by Adrienne Rubenstein - assistant for the students in Washington

We first acquainted students with the idea of a cultural project, explained the purpose of having contacts, and then led them through the internet program




.  Our class consisted of 10-12 deaf freshmen students from Gallaudet University.

 Here is an idea off the top of my head: Each student  has to learn about
the partner's life (whatever aspect of life they choose to inquire
about). To respond to the questions the partner selects web sites which
provide answers and guides the partner to specific areas by explaining
what to look for in relation to specific questions.  We could start by
asking the students to write what they know already about the topic
which interests them. Then they   write what they want to learn about
that topic. Finally, each partner writes a report to explain what he/she
learned through the project.

The students were excited about the idea of doing a cultural project, but it took a while for them to get used to the idea that the project would be about their partners culture and not their own!

Students require much more time than we palnned to be able to work together on the projects and get feedback from one another. without this time for correspondance, many of the projects were individualized efforts of half of the partnership.

  Some students didn't see the point of the project at the beginning because they didn't directly see how it would help them improve their English skills. They also didn't see how the biopoems and original emails were for the purpose of getting to know their partners before working together on their cultural projects.  Maybe an overview and purpose of the course would be a good idea to post at the beginning.

Students on both sides often did not return emails promptly.  The biggest challenge was locating sites with valuable information.  I also think there was difficulty in helping each other locate sources of information

 The big disappointments were that
(1 ) the communication was not working
well between partners and
(2) the time available to work together was very short. I believe that if the communication had worked better my
students would have invested more in their projects.

Overall, the students all felt that the project gave them an opportunity to get to know a different culture and population that many didn't even know existed before. they all felt that their English improved through the project as did their general knowledge and technological skills.

  Students learned how to paraphrase and summarize information, how to attach pictures from the net, and learned about specific topics and issues relating to Israeli culture

I feel that this project is wonderful for deaf stduents because they are given an opportunity to use written English for communicative purposes.