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Global Voices is an international cultural exchange that connects high school students all around the world using performing arts. Global Voices began by matching U.S. language classes studying the native language of their foreign partners. So, a Mandarin class in America may be partnered with an English class in Beijing, an English class in Casablanca with a French class in Chicago, and so on, using Internet technology that allows students to interact across borders. However, Global Voices works wherever a language is shared. The vehicle for Global Voices is the performing arts. By design, theater demands cooperation, both within the classes and between the collaborating schools. First, students are taught the basics of playwriting, including an introduction to the elements of drama: setting, character, plot, conflict, dialogue, and theme. Next, they develop a storyline and compose a play in the language being studied. The play can be (and has been) about anything. During the composition stage, the partnered classes exchange their work, helping each other with proper language usage. Finally, the students exchange their plays and perform them for each other over an Internet video connection, most often Skype. Every partnership sets up a group, such as a Yahoo Group, to facilitate communications throughout the process – and continue into the future, long after the school year has ended. Global Voices gives participants a shared purpose that becomes a vehicle for a dialogue with peers around the world that can last a lifetime. Currently, the program is in five countries on three continents, working in five languages: Arabic, English, French, Mandarin, and Spanish. On June 4, 2009, (President Obama, speaking in Cairo ), proposed creating, “…a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo.” He spoke of his wish that America seek “a broader engagement” with the larger world. This is exactly what Global Voices does. President Obama’s remarks reflect a strong demand on U.S. schools to transform themselves—to educate students to engage with and understand the world beyond our nation’s borders. However, our secondary schools currently offer little in the way of international programming, and virtually no systematic opportunities for American students to interact with peers from around the world. Still, there is nearly universal agreement that today’s school children must have skills to function and survive in an environment far more diverse and complex than that of a generation ago. Yet, aside from traditional student foreign exchange programs—in which only one percent of high school students participate – the current regimen of language classes and international studies really do not engage students beyond the walls of the classroom. ==How Global Voices Began== Global Voices was developed by Dr. Arlene Crewdson, founder of (Pegasus Players ), a well-established and respected nonprofit theater and arts organization in Chicago, and grew from two of the organization’s initiatives. The first was Pegasus’ highly successful Young Playwrights Festival (YPF), which began in 1984. The YPF is an innovative, school-oriented writing program that encourages the development of independent, high-level thinking and strong personal values, and enhances understanding of reading, writing, and cultural diversity. The Festival culminates in a professional presentation of four original one-act plays, chosen from hundreds submitted by students every year. During the 2007-2008 school year, the Young Playwrights Festival reached over 5,000 students. 732 scripts have been submitted, written by over 800 student playwrights, several entries being written cooperatively in groups. Through the Festival, Pegasus has reached more than 103,000 teenagers and received and evaluated 10,532 original scripts. In 2007-2008 there were 131 YPF classroom tours and follow-up workshops teaching play writing in the Chicago schools requested by 84 teachers in 40 schools and alternative sites. All but five of the public schools had a majority of their students living in poverty. Eight free YPF matinee performances were held for school groups. Approximately 1,500 students attended free matinee performances of the Festival plays. In all schools and alternative sites that were visited, 90% had a majority of their students living in poverty. In the 2006-07 school year alone, approximately 800 students from 40 area schools submitted more than 700 plays. Since its inception, almost 100,000 students have submitted plays for the YPF. Pegasus was awarded a multi-year grant from the Kellogg Foundation to further develop, enhance, and expand the program. The second initiative was an international theatrical touring program of Pegasus’ productions, sponsored by the federal government. These productions toured Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, India, Senegal, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, and Tunisia. Also, Pegasus has run teacher-training workshops in Lebanon and Uzbekistan. Through these experiences, the idea for a new global program began to take shape – one that would have an international span, combining the methods of the Young Playwrights’ Festival with language instruction, which, like art, can transcend borders and cultures. This became Global Voices. In 2004, Global Voices received initial funding from the Chicago Public Schools and a local family foundation. In 2006, it received help from the U. S. State Department to expand Global Voices to include Muslin students in Jordan and Morocco. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Global Voices Program」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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