Making Connections - A Practical Guide to Online Intercultural Exchanges

Online collaboration can be a powerful means of encouraging language learners to make connections between their local community and people from other cultural backgrounds, and to develop their language skills while exploring different attitudes, values and beliefs. This book draws on 20 years of participation in numerous online intercultural exchanges to offer teachers a guide to finding partners, choosing a platform, preparing learners and ensuring deep intercultural learning occurs alongside language development. The authors offer realistic strategies for mediating conflict with partners and participants, and guidance on the assessment of linguistic and intercultural competences. The book is a practical, down-to-earth resource for language teachers, informed by the latest research on language teaching and intercultural telecollaborations, and situated in the reality of classrooms around the world.