一、前言
    去年年底，我收到了一封来自挪威一位大学老师Diana的来信,她想在中国、挪威、新西兰和美国年龄在15-17岁之间的中学生中做一个课题研究。题目是：Climate Exchange for Language and Learning。这个课题主要是让同学们“explore and discuss issues related to global warming through an online wiki site.” 她认为并且希望中国学生有机会分享和学习其它三个国家的气候问题。她还说：“This cross-cultural exchange is intended to help students develop a strong command of conceptual and academic language in English as well as to help foster a community of budding researchers as students learn and talk about issues of global climate change.In addition to developing English for authentic academic purposes, Chinese students would benefit from gaining feedback from Native English speakers on their language skills.? If teachers are interested, I would be happy to offer additional feedback (as an English native speaker and teacher) to the Chinese students.? It is my hope to build a connection to teachers in China, so there are many possibilities that would be beneficial to teachers and students in China….”
    从以上的描述中，不难看出这是一个非常好的一个跨文化交流和沟通的机会。或许对同学们的英语学习会带来好的影响和结果。

    二、过程
    看完信后，我觉得无论对学生还是我自己，都是一次很好的学习地道英语的机会。通过邮件沟通以后，得知Diana的课题将在4个国家开展，和Diana 同时参与这个课题的还有4个不同领域的科学家：一个社会学家，一个生物学家，一个地质学家还有一个气象学家。同学们有任何问题，他们都会给予帮助。多好的机会啊，真想看看她怎么来做这个课题，以及如何通过这个课题来帮助我们同学们提高英语能力。再说，我们学校不是正在提倡教学和研究相结合吗？也许他们就是我学习如何做研究的师傅呢。心里一高兴就答案了Diana的请求。实际上，帮助她，也将是帮助我的学生们。当我把这个消息告诉我的学生们的时候，他们高兴极了。一直期待着Diana的到来。
    几番商榷后，终于，Diana 于今年2月19日来到了中国。 第二天下午，在广外大康雷老师的带领下来到我们学校。当晚，她给我介绍了课题性质和学生们要做的事。我要怎么才能帮助她。了解更详细的工作方法后，在Diana的帮助下，我注册登录了她的网络平台。
    21号和22号的晚上，Diana给我的学生们做了个interview。她一开始就提了五个问题。What is science? What do scientists usually do in their work? What caused global warming? What do you want to learn in the project?接着，让学生看了一些图表，有10年气温变化情况的，有关于动物情况的，还有水位方面的等。同学们要根据图表要发表自己的看法。或者直接表达图表的意思。23号，她带着学生们一起做了第一次阅读，告诉学生如何参与这个项目的学习和研究。25号晚上，她教学生如何进入她的网站，进行9个问题的问卷调查(问题略)。值得一提的是，她生病了，很严重，但她还是带着病体，完成了这许多的工作。她的敬业精神，让我非常感动。
    根据Diana的要求，我为学生向学校申请了每周一次的上网机会，固定时间是每周三下午5：30—6：30。每次上网前，我带领同学们阅读她提供的材料，在同学们对材料中的问题全部解决后，再上网与平台上的科学家们、其他国家的同龄同学或老师讨论相关问题。学生们在各抒己见中学到了全球变暖的知识，以及解决问题的具体方法。更主要的是通过话题的讨论，学生们了解了不同的文化，掌握了跨文化沟通和交流的有效方法。
    同学们的参与热情让我感动。全体学生5点半准时到达，而且热情高涨地上网学习生词，阅读材料，认真思考，并按要求提出自己的问题。他们都是急切地等待着网络另一端的科学家、社会学家，美国、挪威、新西兰的同年龄同学，以及Diana的回答。我真的很期待，通过这次学习，同学们在英语表达方面有很大的提高，在全球变暖话题的交流中能获得很多的知识，实现跨文化的沟通和交流。我更期待同学们的学习热情能通过这次活动持久保持下来。
    刚开始几次，同学们的参与意识的确极强。很多同学提出的问题很有创造性，引起了Diana的极大兴趣，得到她的赞扬。同时她号召其它领域的科学家们认真回答孩子们的问题。看到这些，我相信了Diana 在做完interview的时候很有信心地说，在这短暂的六个星期里，她可以帮助我们的同学们提高英语。但是，随着阅读材料的难度加大，图表很难看懂，刚开始的那种热度慢慢降温。在第三周开始就有同学就找各种借口不去电脑室了。还有个别同学 会上网做点别的。面对这种情况，我不得不和他们沟通，讲道理，讲做人的道理。经过几次交流和沟通，这些同学觉得不去会丢了中国人的脸，特别是当他们知道Diana7月份还会来中国时，他们更是不好意思。在最后2周，他们都能坚持，并能认真去完成阅读和讨论。

    三、成果
    经过6周的学习讨论，Diana的课题暂时告一段落。在这6周的跨文化网络课堂研究中，我不断地观察同学们的变化。我发现，积极参与这次课题的同学在期中考试成绩有明显的提高，尤其是阅读理解的速度和准确度有明显提高，思维也活跃了很多，尤其是增强了沟通能力。而那些不能坚持的同学则变化不太明显。
    课题结束后，广外大康雷老师替代Diana做了个后测，题目跟前测相同。但结果有明显的变化。下面是学生D 的前测和后测结果，从中可以看出该学生的变化。
    PreQ1:  What does science mean to you ？
    subject that teach the students to learn more about the world, that inventions of the scientists that can bring that can make our life happier, do thing for us, helpful to us
    PostQ1:  What does science mean to you？
    It is a theory that someone to prove his opinion about some questions in the nature.
    很明显，通过学习，D同学在后测时能用一句话给science下定义了。
    PreQ2: What do you think scientists do in their work?
    stay in their room all days thinking of their inventions their very I think they are very strange people
    PostQ2: What do you think scientists do in their work?
    maybe they are in the lab all the day to do some experiment to prove their opinion sot let others to belive their opins true.
    对比前后，虽然后测表达过程中有些语法错误，但是对科学家所做的事有了清晰的认识和了解。
    PreQ3: What do you think global climate change means?
    very harmful thing to us, can cause the level of the ocean getting higher and the temp is getting higher too, can do many harmful effect to us.
    PostQ3: What do you think global climate change means?
    it affect our life do may harmful things, global warming, contaimed co2,level increasing in atmophere
    PreQ4: What do you think climate change scientists do in their work?
    think their ways can solve this problem
    PostQ4: What do you think climate change scientists do in their work?
    maybe many other problems which is difficult to do their work such as the global warming will cause temp incease; need to find other ways to solve the questions
    PreQ5a:  Look at this graph.  What do you think this graph is telling you?
    that the temp is getting faster going faster and the ice on the top of the mountain is becoming water
    PostQ5a:  Look at graph.  What do you think this graph is telling you?
    because of the pollution by human, the resources exist in the earth is decreasing. Maybe after many year, we will use up and human beings will die because we haven"t get any resources to make us still living on the planet
    通过学习，D同学能读懂图了，前测时，对图表一概不知。
    PreQ6a:Look at this table. What do you think this table is telling you?
    (point to gases, what do you think these are, carbon dioxide) idk
    PostQ6a: Look at this table. What do you think this table is telling you?
    the global climate change has caused the decrease of the biology. The number of the animals is decreasing. Maybe the gcc chang some gene in the biology to cause the extint
    PreQ7: What do you think both this graph and table are telling you? (transcribed response)
    if don"t do something to stop the temp getting higher, then our earth will be dissappear one day
    PostQ7: What do you think the graph and table are telling you? (transcribed response)
    it means gcc is a very serious problem to us, it has caused many changes for our envnmet, such as the decreasing of resource, the effect to the biology if we don’t do something to this problem, or protect our envnment, it will cause anther new problem

    PreQ8: How do both the graph and table help you understand this? (transcribed response)
    PostQ8: How do both the graph and the table help you understand this? (transcribed response)
    the first one is the time, the second one is the percent, third one is the trend of this line, and some words there tips us to know the graph and table
    前测时没有回答该问题。
    PreQ9:  Why do you think this is happening? (transcribed response)
    many reasons, comes from human, destroy the forest, open the factories and the things they do cause the harmful gas, let the air become very bad.
    PostQ9:  Why do you think this is happening? (transcribed response)
    the most important reason is that with the development of economic and tech, people will do lot sof thing to get the benefit for them, such as factories and cars will get lot of harmful gasses, this will harmful for the atmosphere, and will cause air pollution. another reason is maybe because in our minds we don;t think the earth is very important for us, so we will do many things really bad to the evnmetn, we donlt throw rubbish into the bins
    从前后侧的答案长度可以看出该学生的进步。
    PreQ10:  What would you like to learn about global climate change during this project?
    want to know more things that happened in the world, the things very close to us, just like the environment, how the envir is on the earth, maybe we can do things in our daily life to make the world brighter.
    PostQ10:  What do you think you have learned from participating in this project? (transcribed response
    I have learned many new vocabulary, many serious problem cause by gcc, can know more about the science, maybe also make me interested in the science and let me to protect our envnment
    PostQ11:  What would you still like to learn about global climate change? (transcribed response)
    what are the sciencist doing now to slove these problem?

    四、思考
    通过参与此次课题研究，我学到了许多，不仅仅是从关于全球变暖的话题中学到了有关知识，还从国外学者做研究的方式和严谨的态度上学到了很多。通过此次课题研究，我对网络教学有了一些想法，对跨文化背景下的当代英语教学有了更深的认识。
    我想，我们学校的网络如此发达，是否可以建立一个不同学科的网络平台供学生提问？当同学们在家有问题时，把问题贴在网上，平台上的老师针对同学们的问题给出自己的答案。这样，学生们随时都可以得到老师们的帮助，而且所有的老师都可以回答问题。学生在这种环境下，思维是否会更加活跃？学习的积极性是否会提高些？学习的主动性是否会更强？我们学校有中加班，是否可以开通加拿大网络平台，中国学生可以直接与加拿大同龄同学进行学习上的沟通和交流？是否可以直接提问加拿大老师一些学习上的问题？我们学校如此多的外教，能否为外教专门建立一个平台，让中方老师和同学们有机会与他们进行交流和学习？如果做到了，这应该是一种利用网络进行的开放教学模式。
    五一前，我被教研组派往苏外参加一个国家级研讨会，话题恰好是跨文化背景下的当代英语教学。在龚亚夫报告中，我认识到我们之前对教学过程中渗透英语文化的理解有一些偏差。他认为，真正的文化是“一种理念，一种世界观”。而这种理念和世界观是在交流和沟通中产生的，不是书上学来的。听完龚亚夫的报告后，我更觉得在我们学校建立一个供师生交流的网络平台，学生的思维将会更开阔，我们的校园文化将会更精彩。