Teddy bears travel the world in online literacy project

Eight years ago, an Australian teacher came up with the idea of getting her class to send a teddy bear to a matched class overseas, whose members would then post a teddy to her class. Each child took turns to take the teddy home and wrote a diary about the bear’s experiences. At the end of the week, the class collated the individual handwritten diary entries and e-mailed the transcript to their partnered class overseas.

Since then, more than 5000 classes in primary and secondary schools worldwide have taken part in the online activity, known as the Teddy Bear Project. The process gives children an opportunity to practice reading and writing in an authentic context and also to learn about their counterparts in other cultures. Learn more about it in The Age (Australia).