A VIRTUAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE

 A VIRTUAL CULTURAL EXCHANGE ("computer mediated communication activity") 🌍

Sara Moruno Aguilera

In this activity, students will have to describe and compare their own city (or the nearest one) with a super city like New York, Tokio, Dubai, etc. They will have to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of life in each and highlight the aspects that make one city more attractive that the other. Finally, they will have to reflect on what wakes a "super city" and consider whether their own city meets those criteria.

This activity is connected to Unit 9B: Super Cities, specifically to both readings of the units (parts 1 and 4), since they deal with urban-related vocabulary and concepts. Moreover, it will help students improve and develop their comparative, descriptive and persuasive language skills.

For this activity, students will begin by watching a short video or reading an article about a super city (provided by the teacher previously). They will have to gather information about it, such as its population, sustainability, quality of life, touristic attractions, etc., and prepare a short oral comparison between their city and the super city, which they will create using ScreenPal and post to a shared Padlet. This oral presentation should be accompanied with a visual presentation created with PowerPoint.

The students will be able to communicate with their classmates, since they will have to comment on 2 peers' videos. This comment should consist of a one thoughtful question and one additional comparison, and this communication will be asynchronous, allowing students to engage flexibly and thoughtfully. 

Finally, this activity will be assessed using a rubric focusing on content relevance and depth, use of target vocabulary, quality of peer's comments and questions, pronunciation and fluency in the video, and creativity and clarity of the PowerPoint visuals.