Global Issues in Language Education: Issue 31. Jun. 1998. (p. 14)
This article is reprinted with permission from TESOL Matters, Vol. 8 No. 2 April/May 1998.
When my son was in third grade, he had to write a report on Mexico.
It was an independent project to be done outside of class. Of course, being
only 8 years old, he couldn't be left completely on his own so Mom had to
help out. We first went to our local library, looked through the card
catalogue, and selected some books on Mexico to take home with us. I then
looked for additional books at my university library and made a stop at the
Mexican Embassy for some booklets and brochures.
Although I found it an enjoyable and worthwhile project, it did
take time and, for a working parent with two small children and a husband
working abroad at the time, free time was in short supply. Today the
situation would be infinitely easier. My son and I could sit down at the
computer, get on the Web, and in short order locate sufficient information
for an excellent report.
On the World Wide Web there is a wealth of information about the
countries of the world that can be of use to students, to teachers, to
travelers, and to anyone interested in learning more about the world. Let
me give you a few examples.
Australia
Many thanks to Bruce Laidlaw for introducing me to ERIN, the
Australian Environmental Resource Information Network.
This site focuses on the environment, but one learns a great deal more about Australia than just its environment
while visiting the numerous pages of this excellent site.
Austria
"Austria offers urban sophistication and rustic simplicity,
excellent restaurants and music festivals, towering mountains and green
valleys, and spectacular winter snow." So begins Expedia's excellent
guide to Austria. Created
by Microsoft, the World Guides provide information on many countries that
includes the following categories: overview, almanac, geography, history,
arts, culture, people, and highlights.
Japan
Kids Web Japanis a
very useful, attractive site for learning about Japan. The home page
has a very colorful and user-friendly table of contents. For example, you
can click on a boy playing soccer for information on sports or on a kabuki
actor for information about tradition and culture. The other categories are
regions of Japan, politics and the constitution, daily life, schools,
outside the classroom, nature and climate, protecting the environment,
history, international relations, and economy and industry. Each section
has clearly-written material accompanied by excellent photos. An added plus
for teachers is the list of questions at the end of each section to test
the reader's knowledge of the material. This site also includes a map of
Japan and an annual calendar of Japanese holidays.
Vietnam
Hitchhiking Viet-nam: Letters from the Trail can be found on the
PBS Online page at http://www.pbs.org/hitchhikingvietnam/. It is Karin
Muller's personal account of her 7-month adventure hitchhiking around
Vietnam. The Boston Globe calls it "a breathtakingly sensitive personal
statement." Muller explains why she chose to go to Vietnam on her own and
describes life in Vietnam as she saw it. It is, as TV Guide observes, "a
fetching first person account of an exotic culture." Be aware that there
are numerous photographs that are very interesting, but they do slow up the
downloading process considerably.
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates site, located at http://www.uae.org.ae/,
offers a map and a variety of information about this Arab nation's
culture, tourism, and history. Although there is not a great deal of text,
many beautiful photographs give the visitor a good idea about the country.
Italy
The Italy Home Page is
the source of an incredible amount of information on Italy. Separate pages
deal with Maps of Italy, Regions and Main Cities, the Italian Language, Current
Events, Fine Arts, Italian Literature, Music, Italian Cuisine, News. And
the list goes on.
Peru
The Web site Peru Explorer at
describes Peru as "one of the most remarkable countries on earth." This
site offers a wealth of information about this South American nation with
descriptions of geographical locations such as Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu,
and Lake Titicaca as well as explanations of Peru's history, government,
arts, folklore, contemporary culture, archeology and mountain climbing.
Beautiful photos accompany the texts.
The United States
The Web site Yahoo! offers guides to 12 cities in the US: Atlanta,
Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas /Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami,
Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.
Many categories are covered, such as arts and humanities, business and
economy, education, entertainment, society & culture.
Countries of the world
Yahoo! also offers guides to a number of countries outside of the
US: Australia and New Zealand, the UK, Japan, Korea, France, Canada,
Denmark, Germany, Norway, South East Asia, Sweden, and Ireland. As these
guides are designed for people who speak the language of the country, most
are not in English. The Yahoo! for Korea, for example, is in Korean, and
the Yahoo! for Denmark in Danish. These are, therefore, not useful for
students studying English or for teachers unfamiliar with the language of
the country. (But if you know the language, they do provide many worthwhile
links. As a student of French, I visit the Yahoo! France site often for its
wealth of authentic language.) Do, however, visit the sites for Australia
and New Zealand, Canada, the UK, and Ireland. You will find links of interest.
Student Sites
The students in Heidi Shetzer's class at the University of
California in Santa Barbara have created a very informative and visually
attractive site called the Global Travel Guide.
Each student has written a travel essay about his or her country. Seventeen different countries are
represented. What a great idea!
Travelocity
The Sabre Group, Inc. offers Travelocity -
although this is a commercial site whose main purpose is to sell plane tickets and book hotel rooms, it offers a wealth of information about
world places that could be of value to teachers and students as well as
travelers. Information is arranged in several categories: flights, cars,
hotels, weather, overview, attractions, culture, essentials, business, and
social. Although paragraphs are generally long with no illustrations, this
makes downloading faster and the site accessible to non-graphic browsers.
Conclusion
I must conclude with a confession. Although the Web does have lots
of wonderful information, I still love going to my local library or a local
bookstore for travel books with their glossy photographs of breathtaking
sights around the world. But for speed and accessibility, you cannot beat
the World Wide Web. And often the text and photographs are exceptional.
Keep in mind that Web sites have a tendency to change addresses or
disappear. All the URLs in this article were active and accurate at press
time. If you have any suggestions for sites to feature in future, please
contact me. I'd also welcome suggestions for my ESL Web site
designed to help students improve their English proficiency.