Image: ‘math problems for girls‘

by :: Anamaria

Note: This post is part of a series on direct and indirect communication. Here are the previous posts in the series:

:: What is your communication style?
:: We’re not fighting. We’re just being Romanian.
:: Indirect-direct communication styles.

In this post, we touch on communication styles in the classroom. It’s an important cross-cultural topic because everything that goes on in a classroom is impacted by students’ and teacher’s communication styles: student participation, student-student interactions, student-teacher interaction, classroom management, etc.

In previous posts we talked about two specific communication styles: direct and indirect. You can either re-read the posts (here, here & here) or read the “cliff notes” version below:

Direct communication is when the meaning of the message is communicated mainly via words, and is explicitly stated. With this communication style the onus is on the speaker to make sure the message is understood. (Example: I’m cold. Please close the window.)

Indirect communication is when meaning is not only in the words someone says, but also in the surrounding context of a conversation. So, somebody who is indirect will often leave it up to the listener to fill in the blanks and make out the meaning by correctly reading the contextual clues (e.g. what’s not being said, non-verbal communication, status and/or age of people involved in the conversation, attire, etc.). With this communication style, the onus is on the listener to make sense of the message. (Example: If the speaker wants the window closed they might say It sure is cold in here, isn’t it? or quietly putting on a sweater.)

Just like with cultural dimensions, it is important to remember that:

• Both communication styles are found in every culture.
• Context is key (how you communicate with your sister might be very different than how you communicate with your new boss).
• People have their own personal communication style preferences.

That said, cultures do tend to favor one style more than the other in many contexts. That said, the style a culture favors is best understood in contrast to another. So, for example, does the USA tend to favor direct or indirect communication? In comparison to some cultures (e.g. Japan), US Americans are more direct. In comparison to others (e.g. Germany), Americans are more indirect.

In the context of education, it’s interesting to think of how these two communication styles shape interactions in the classroom.

Students in direct communication cultures may:

• Feel free to offer differing opinions frankly.
• Feel comfortable directly contradicting someone else’s idea (in some cases, including the teacher’s).
• Tend to make many brief comments, emphasizing the self: “I said”, “my opinion”, etc.
• Sometimes jump from idea to another idea, as they believe a comment is worthwhile only if it is different from what was already said. Direct students might find expanding on somebody else’s thoughts, or build on somebody else’s idea not worthwhile.
• Try to keep ideas flowing, and avoid “dead air” when no one is talking.

Students in indirect communication cultures may:

• Speak fewer times in a conversation, but when they do, they usually connect things together.
• Don’t find “dead air” uncomfortable; silence is valued as a time to think through what is being said and make connections between ideas.
• Phrase their own ideas as building on someone else’s idea. Quick turn-taking is unusual in an indirect classroom.

An Example

Let’s assume that you are a teacher who’s used to a more indirect style of communication and you begin teaching students who are more used to a direct style of communication. Wow! Where do we even begin to talk about the difficulties that will most likely arise out of that situation?

Here are a few things likely to happen:

1. The teacher could perceive the students’ direct communication style and quick turn-taking as disrespectful.
2. The teacher could feel as if he/she has no authority in the classroom.
3. The students may perceive the teachers as not knowledgeable. In direct cultures, a sign of knowledge is being able to come up with new, fresh ideas. Being vocal is important. Less emphasis is placed on being able to expand on an existing idea, or on quietly thinking through issues. A teacher perceived as “quiet” in a vocal, direct classroom will have difficulty managing his/her students.

We’ve barely scratched the surface here with these three examples, and with communication styles in general. The topic of communication styles seems deceptively simple, when in reality the deeper you go the more complex you realize the topic is.

What are your thoughts on communication styles in the classroom? What’s the favored communication style in your culture? Classroom? What’s your personal communication style preference? Do you communicate differently with different people? Have you ever taught in a culture that favored a different communication style than you were used to?

Tell us in the comments!

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photo by jumbledpile

by :: Anamaria

A while ago Cate and I came across a very interesting discussion thread on one of the on-line groups we belong to. We are grateful to Martina Rehm, who is originally from Germany, for allowing us to post her comments below.

The constant “praise” in the American school system (at least as I see it in my son’s school) surprised me after we relocated to the US from Germany. Although I try not to undermine the teaching methods the school decided on, my son (only 9 years old) sees and understands the “cultural difference” in the teaching approach. It takes a very confident 3rd grader to decide “against”some of the “reward methods”.

Let’s take the “Pizza Hut Book-it” competition every year. The children have to read a certain amount of pages in order to receive a free pizza. If they reach the class goal as well, they are invited for a pizza party in school. Do we really care more about HOW MANY PAGES the children read than WHAT they read?

My son’s friend explained to me that it is easy to reach the goal, you just read a book you already know from last year or listen to an audiobook or even cheat…. It does not seem to be important what they read, if it is a non fiction book the children might actually learn something from or if it is a comic. It also does not seem to matter if they read so fast that they don’t even remember what they read.

I can’t remember how many “Pizza Parties” or “Ice Cream Socials” my son’s school had last year for the children that reached a goal (reading, passing all spelling tests, running x. laps…..). Don’t get me wrong, I am all for rewards. But not too much. Hearing “good job” several times a day for average work makes it almost worthless.

First time I helped in school, one of the kids showed me their work (a very good friend of my son). I said that I liked the work but I believe that he could improve it by… Already the teacher took me aside to explain that we do not criticize the young children’s work.

Just like Marina, we are curious to hear what others think of the “praise/reward” methods in school systems around the world.  In other words, how are students where you live praised and rewarded in school? How much and what kind of praise and rewards do you think are helpful? When do you think it becomes too much?

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photo by pmorgan

Photographer’s note: Ba Li Ba Gai Village Middle School (China) students heading home for lunch. The new school building is part of a national government project to upgrade unsafe school buildings. Alas, there is no additional money for resources or teachers salaries.

See more of pmorgan’s school photos here.

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photo by bachmont

by :: Anamaria

A few weeks ago a colleague asked if she could interview me for a grad school project (she is getting a Master’s in International Education).

There was only one interview question: Who was your favorite teacher and why?

At first, the question did not seem to be very difficult. Since I have been in the U.S., I have witnessed many conversations on this topic. Many of my American friends like to reminisce about their favorite teachers. So when I heard about my colleague’s project, I thought oh, easy, I can answer that!

But then I started thinking about it. And I couldn’t come up with a favorite teacher.

Talking about your favorite teacher is a conversation that I never heard or was part of before coming to the U.S.

In Romania, my friends and I never talked about it. Many of my American friends did, though. Why? Could it have anything to do with culture? I think it does.

When I went to school in Romania, the educational system was very formal, and the power distance between teachers and students was huge! The teacher was a guru, whose role in the classroom was to transfer personal and professional wisdom. The teacher was not there to be the students’ friend. As such, the closest that a student could get to having a favorite teacher was defined in terms of how much the student respected the teacher.

In other words, there were teachers I highly respected, but I wouldn’t single them out as my favorite teachers. I didn’t think in terms of favorite. From my conversations with my American friends, I believe that a “favorite teacher” in the U.S. is somebody who breaks some rules, in favor of students, who takes a close interest in the academic performance of a student, or who is willing to help the student with a personal matter.

For instance, an American friend told me that her favorite teacher was a woman who trusted her students enough to leave it up to them to decide whether or not they needed to do their homework, depending on how well they thought they understood the concepts taught in class.

When I went to school in Romania, the relationship between a teacher and students was so formal that this left little to no room for any other feelings towards teachers except for feelings of respect.

In high power distance classrooms, such as they were when I went to school in Romania (my understanding is that this distance has decreased since then), the level or respect for a teacher was sometimes so high, that students would often feel intimidated by that teacher. The idea of feeling intimidated by a teacher is not part of any conversation that I heard in the U.S. about somebody’s favorite teacher.

A favorite teacher, for my American friends, does exactly the opposite: that teacher is able to get close enough to his or her students that feelings of friendship develop, rather than of intimidation. A favorite teacher is somebody one respects. But a favorite teacher is above all someone who has managed to get to know their students on a much more personal level. Somebody who takes an interest in their students’ interests, and uses this knowledge in their teaching.

The reason why I don’t have a favorite teacher is something that I have been thinking about for a while, and I would be very curious to know what you think about this subject.

Do you have a favorite teacher? Why was that person your favorite?

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photo by bachmont

CulturallyTeaching is on vacation until January 4, 2010! Until then, we hope you enjoy a selection of favorite articles from 2009. This one was originally posted in  March 2009.

by :: Anamaria

When I was in 9^th grade in Romania, an international teacher from the U.S. walked into my classroom and changed my life. His name was John, and my classmates and I absolutely loved him.

Before I met John, my knowledge about the U.S. was limited to what I learned from the show Beverly Hills 90210, which I was a big fan of (my excuse? I was 16).

But then John came to our school and corrected all these distorted perceptions about the U.S. that I had learned from the show. He told us that not everybody drove expensive cars in the U.S. Or lived in big houses. Or dined at fine restaurants.

He also talked about his own life in the U.S., his family, his friends, the school where he taught and his students. And my classmates and I were just mesmerized.

We met John in 1994, roughly 4 years after the fall of communism. Back then, we, just like our parents for that matter, were still learning about the outside world. We were learning not to fear it, after many years of almost complete isolation, when any contact with foreigners could have had devastating consequences.

So John was somebody we slowly became very curious about. John talked to us about his country, he told us about Thanksgiving, he taught us how to play baseball, and he sang “Row row row your boat” with us.

John started conversations about how he was different from us, and how we were different from him. He started conversations about the rest of the world. And one day, I woke up with a feeling that I had never experienced before: I was curious. Curious about John, about his life in the U.S., about his culture.

For the first time in my life I had a genuine interaction with another culture. John brought his culture to us, he brought the world to us, and I became curious about it. I became curious about the same world that had been forbidden to us for so many years. Suddenly this world was no longer a mystery: it was fun, and interesting.

It is because of John that I had the courage, and curiosity a year later, in 10^th grade, to get on a plane and live for 5 months with an American family that I had never met. It is also because of John that I decided to study in France for one year in college. And it is because of him that I decided to return to the U.S. as a graduate student. The world had opened up to me in 9th grade, and I just couldn’t get enough of it.

I now realize that my life forever changed the minute John walked into my classroom when I was only 14. I am not even sure that John even knows the impact that he had on my life (I didn’t either back then), which is a shame.

Did you ever have an international teacher at school?

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photo by mysza831

by :: Cate

CulturallyTeaching is is on vacation! We’re spending time with our families during this holiday season, and doing some behind-the-scenes work on the website. We’ll be back to posting new articles on January 4, 2010. Until then, we hope you enjoy a selection of favorite articles from 2009. This one was originally posted in December 2008.

Looking for a holiday gift that’s fun and fosters cultural awareness?

Look no further! Here are 7 ideas for the culturally curious kid, teen or adult on your gift-giving list, each for $20 (US) or less.

Gift Idea #1: Putumayo World Music

Travel the world with Putumayo! Kids, teens, and adults will be tapping their toes in no time to the likes of African Party, Celtic Crossroads, Tango Around the World, Arabic Groove, or even World Playground (click on the links to listen to clips of each CD, $14.95). 

>> For more information about Putumayo, watch this video or visit their website.

Gift Idea #2: Fair Trade Items by World of Good

If you’ve shopped at Whole Foods recently, you’ve probably seen a World of Good display. Fair trade bags, jewelry, t-shirts, housewares, notebooks and journals — there’s something for everyone.

Here are some of my favorite items: (yes, this is a hint to my husband )

• Hold Your Own coin purse, handcrafted in Nepal ($7.95)
• This Bag is Trash clutch, handcrafted in India ($17.95)
• Wild Things ornament, handcrafted in Peru ($9.95)
• Save the Date! basket, handcrafted in Bangladesh ($9.95)
• Knock on Wood olive tray, handcrafted in the Philippines ($9.95)
• Amazon Harvest Coil bracelet, handcrafted in Colombia ($19.95)
• Daily Calcium paperclip magnet, handcrafted in India ($6.95)

>> Learn more about the World of Good organization.
 

Gift Idea #3, 4, 5: Three Options for Three Cups of Tea

I’m half-way through this book and recommend it to anyone who likes being inspired by amazing people who are changing the world (and doesn’t mind feeling really lazy in comparison to “Dr. Greg”). If you by some chance haven’t heard about Greg Mortenson’s book, here’s a synopsis:

Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse’s unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world’s second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town’s first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Here are the three options for Three Cups of Tea:

1. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time
(Adult Version, $8.51 on amazon.com)

2. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World, One Child At A Time
(Young Adult version, $8.99 on amazon.com)

3. Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea
(Children’s version, $11.55 on amazon.com)

If you click through to amazon.com through the Three Cups of Tea website, up to 7% of the proceeds will benefit the Central Asia Institute.

Gift Idea #6: Help U.S. Students Learn about the World with DonorsChoose.org

A Kindergarten class would like a world rug for their classroom. Seventh graders want to build a Ugandan stove in their science class. And a group of elementary ESL students hope to create picture books to exchange with students in another country through Kids to Kids International.

And they need our help funding these projects.

Why not make a donation in your gift recipient’s name and at the same time help students learn about the world. Just go to DonorsChoose.org and search for an international project that catches your fancy. This is a perfect gift for that person who has everything.

Gift Idea #7: Art in History

I learned about Art in History a few years ago at an international education conference. At their session, they handed each participant a replica of an earthenware drinking vessel from Ancient Greece, a paint brush, and a cup of paint. As we sketched and then painted our designs on the vessel, we learned how it was created, decorated, and used in Ancient Greece. I had so much fun painting my vessel that I snagged a couple for gifts for my nieces and nephew.

Not interested in a drinking vessel from Ancient Greece? Well, then, how about an African Kuba mask, a 19th century Japan Ceremonial Tea Bowl, a Mughal Empire India Khurja Box, or one of their many other world history projects.

Projects cost around $8.50 and contain paint pods, a code for a downloadable lesson plan that explains the history of the artifact, history of the time period, full color motifs, and decorating instructions.

Happy Holiday Shopping!

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Álvaro in snowy Madrid (!)

by :: Cate

After teaching for 2 years in the U.K. and 3 in the U.S., Álvaro Mediavilla returned to Madrid, Spain to co-found Bablingua, a company that provides “great videos that really show our country, and that are interesting and understandable for a foreign student.” As a former world language teacher, I know how compelling authentic and up-to-date videos can be for students, so I’d like to help Álvaro and his business partner Laura get the word out about Bablingua. Back in July Álvaro wrote up a School Snapshot and today he’s talking about education in Spain, his experience teaching abroad, and what Bablingua offers Spanish teachers.

Álvaro, please tell us a little about yourself.

I feel very glad of living at the moment in one of the greatest places of Madrid: La Plaza Mayor. I was very lucky to find an apartment here, and I love getting up in the morning facing the famous square.

I’m currently teaching English to adults through different programs: I’m doing some courses for unemployed people, courses in companies and also teaching in what we call Formación profesional, which is an alternative to college.

This is my seventh year teaching. I started in Salamanca (Spain), doing my student teaching in a high school, then I moved to North Carolina (USA), where I stayed for three years. I’ve been teaching here in Madrid since I got back three years ago.

Why did you decide to teach in the U.S.?

Our educational system in Spain is in a very deep crisis. This is not only a personal opinion, many international reports and the main Spanish political parties share this point of view.

Going to the U.S. was a great opportunity for me to learn from another system, to improve my teaching skills and to get new ideas I could later use in my country. Apart from my professional development, there were also personal reasons, such as my love for traveling and knowing other cultures.

Álvaro with students in Madrid

How did living and working in North Carolina change your perspective on Spain? The U.S.?

I don’t think it changed my perspective on Spain. I had already lived in the U.K. for two years and I had the experience of looking at my country from abroad.

My perspective on the U.S. did change dramatically though. All I knew about the U.S. was basically from TV and movies, but there are many things you can’t learn unless you live in a place.

One of them is that the U.S. is a huge country. I know you can see that on a map, but it was when I drove from North Carolina to California (and back) when I truly understood what that implies. I had visited many countries before going to the U.S., but none of them was close to it in size.

The U.S. is so big, and the regional differences so significant, that I don’t dare to generalize about the whole country since I finished that long trip. I know many people here in Spain who might say Americans are…or the U.S. is…, but I don’t think you can finish those sentences with adjectives you can apply in such a generic way.

People from North Carolina are quite different to New Yorkers, and Florida doesn’t look like South Dakota at all. Even the language sounds so different that it’s hard to consider it the same language!

How would you describe education in Spain?

In Spain, the educational system is in a critical moment that requires brave and innovative changes, but it’ll be too hard or impossible to change it because there are too many groups benefiting from the current situation.

And in the U.S.?

In the U.S., at least in the region where I taught, education is not so rigid, principals have more freedom to do their job and it’s easier to take decisions that have a real impact in school life.

I think there were more and better training opportunities for teachers, and all those factors make me be optimistic towards the future of the American educational system.

When you were in the U.S., what did you miss about/from Spain? Now that you’re back in Spain, what do you miss about/from the U.S.?

I think I’m a person who adapts very well to live in a new country, but there’s always something I miss: people. When I was in North Carolina, I missed my family above all, but also my friends, and now that I’m in Spain I miss the friends I made in the U.S.

Apart from that, I really miss American cost of life. Spain is a much more expensive country, and our wages vanish at a surprising speed compare to American’s.

Now tell us about Bablingua…why you decided to start this business?

Laura and I were always shocked by the interest that students, teachers and the members of the community where we lived had about Spain. It didn’t matter who we talked to, from the postman to the person who helped us with our taxes, we were always bombarded with questions about our country, and we loved that.

In school, our culture was constantly linked to teaching the language, but it was difficult for us to present Spain as it is with the resources we had. Pictures were a great help, but there is nothing like videos.

The problem is that the videos we had were too focused on stereotypes: bullfighting, flamenco, Feria de Abril, etc. I think all those are important, but I don’t believe they should be the only thing to show about our country.

We realized students were mainly interested in seeing what ordinary people of their age look like, what clothes they wear, their hair styles, the houses where they live, their schools, cars, etc.

That was the way we started thinking about Bablingua. It was our last year in the U.S., and we decided to fill that gap when returning to Spain, filming regular people in ordinary situations, with some activities to help students to get the most of each video.

How does Bablingua help students learn about other cultural perspectives?

When we were thinking about this project, we came up with the idea of a door as a symbol. Our goal was to help teachers to open a virtual door in their classrooms so they could take their students to Spain at a reasonable price. 21 short videos and a DVD later, we think we have achieved this goal.

Our audiovisual resources, in our opinion, present Spain as it is. Some of our videos are filmed in touristic areas, but many others show the kind of residential places that are usually left behind because they don’t seem interesting enough. We think culture involves extraordinary events and also ordinary ones, and by including examples of both of them we think our materials give a very realistic perspective to students.

How does Bablingua help teachers?

As teachers, Laura and I are perfectly aware of the importance of good resources in a Foreign Language class. We know there are many great textbooks for Spanish language teachers in the U.S., but we also think that overusing textbooks lead to certain problems such as boredom and an excessive repetition of the kind of activities done in class.

We didn’t start this project to compete with the existing resources, but to offer new ideas and additional materials that can spice up Spanish classes. Many teachers have written to us to thank us for offering something different and appealing for students.

We try to help them by covering as many topics as we can, paying a lot of attention to the activities that come with the videos. We want students to be ready to watch them, to understand them, and that’s why we need to provide teachers with some good exercises to introduce the topic in class, including the key vocabulary and the grammatical structures covered in the video.

What’s in store for both you and Bablingua in 2010?

We’re more and more excited about Bablingua as we receive positive feedback from other teachers. Our main satisfaction comes from seeing that almost every teacher who tries one of our materials buys another one in the following weeks.  That is something that make us feel very proud of what we’ve done this far, and it’s the reason why we’re going to try to put more time into this project in 2010.

We have many ideas in mind, such as offering online series of short episodes, or visiting other Spanish speaking countries so teachers can take their students to as many places as possible.

Editor’s note: Click here to preview the awesome videos Bablingua offers! If I were teaching Spanish, I’d definitely use them.

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photo by by travel with Soumen

So today I was going to post an interview with Bablingua co-founder Álvaro Mediavilla, a teacher from Madrid. Álvaro has taught in Spain, the U.K., and the U.S., and has recently started a company that creates authentic Spanish-language videos for language students.

(Álvaro also wrote up a School Snapshot about one of the schools he teaches at in Madrid – you can read it here.)

I was going to post my interview with Álvaro but I encountered a wordpress issue that will take me a little more time to solve. So I’ll post the interview with Álvaro early next week.

Today We Return to Sleeping in School

I’ve been wanting to point you to an article we posted way back in February – Sleeping in School – A Cultural Thing? – due to readers’ comments about this topic.

Here are a few snippets – you can read the post and comments about sleeping in school in their entirety here.

In Argentina it is also be considered something really disrespectful. If a student decides to fall asleep in class it would probably be done on purpose, as a sign of disrespect and a challenge to the teacher, defying their authority… – Pamela

In the US, I think it’s a matter of home discipline, as well. Parents don’t make kids go to sleep at a reasonable time and they don’t feed them properly in the morning…- John

Yes American students sleep in school. ALL THE TIME! It’s not uncommon and it’s not looked at as disrespectful…-Laura

In England (where I go to school) you can’t really get away with sleeping in most lessons…It’s not seen as a sign of disrespect,just a lack of sleep… – Lee

Today our 9th grade literacy class read and analyzed Anamaria’s article and one of the accompanying comments (the one by Laura Kaplan)… -Adolescent Literacy Lab

Take a look – it’s really worth reading the comments in their entirety.

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photo by Éole

It’s all about you: our readers.

No matter how passionate one is about something, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to devote ourselves to that passion as much as we would like. We’re sure you know what we mean!

We know our readers are passionate about education. And that you’re also interested in cross-cultural communication. In other words, we know you enjoy reading our blog.

However, we also know that life might not have permitted you to read every single one of our posts this month. So we started an It’s All About You: Month in Review series, which we’ll post at the end of every month.

The goal of this new series is to highlight for you, our readers, some of the most interesting posts in each topic we blog about. So whenever you have a busy month, don’t worry, we’ll help you catch up!

Month in Reviews are also perfect posts to forward to your friends and colleagues who might enjoy sampling CulturallyTeaching.

Month in Review – November Edition

::: How you count cash: A cultural thing?
According to the video, yes! Watch it to find out if you count cash the way the video says people in your country do.

::: What’s your communication style?
There’s no question that culture has a huge impact on how people learn to communicate with one another. In this Culture School post, Anamaria kicks off a series of articles on communication styles across cultures by explaining how doing and being cultures often communicate differently.

::: The danger of a single story
Reader Lisa Velazquez mentioned this video in her comment on Cate’s post about a thought-provoking Mercy Corps commercial. As Lisa noted in her comment, this video sparked her (and us) to consider the question where do I hold a single story that prevents me from seeing the complete story of a person or a place?

::: The stories of culture
Stories make up a large part of any conversation we have about culture. Life offers some of the best examples to illustrate the cultural theory that we both learned in school, so we’re always on a quest for more stories. Read this post for two stories that beautifully illustrate how deeply perceptions of time permeate cultures.

What’s in store for December?

Here’s a glimpse of what we’re working on for the final month of the year:

::: A holiday gift-giving guide for 2009

::: An interview with Álvaro Mediavilla, an English/Spanish teacher and Bablingua co-founder living in Madrid, Spain. (Bablingua creates culturally authentic videos for Spanish teachers and their students.)

::: Pamela, who’s wrapping up the school year in Argentina, shares her students’ School Snapshots and an exciting new project we’re taking world-wide

::: Anamaria turns her Romanian on

::: Cate discovers  30+ everyday ways to learn about other cultures

And much, much more…

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by :: Cate

Check out this great resource by Oxfam: Cool Planet and meet 4 kids who live in various countries around the world:

:: Anusibuno – Zuo, Ghana.
:: Sasha – Lekarstvennoye, Russia.
:: Cidinha – Ludovico, Brazil.
:: Shakeel – Hyderabad, India.

Follow these students through a typical day, from waking up and going to school to playing. Learn about where they live, what kinds of food they eat, what their dreams are, and how they help others.

After getting to know Anusibuno, Sasha, Cidinha, and Shakeel, take a short quiz, play a wordsearch game, and browse artwork created by children around the world. 

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