WAI Presentation for Parents

1	Introducing "Who Am I? to parents	Explain to parents that these next five slides will address these topics: What is Kidlink? Is Kidlink a safe place for their youth? What is "Who Am I? How can "Who Am I?" benefit their youth. How parents can assist their youth in "Who Am I?"
2	Main Goal - Empower youth with free educational programs and global collaboration Participants - Since 1990: youth from over 160 countries Communication - 86 mailing lists in 19 languages Staff - 500 volunteers in 42 countries Recognition - Global Junior Challenge Award (Italy, 2000); Global Bangemann Challenge Award (Sweden, 1999) Recommendation - by US Department of Education in "Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet."	Explain to parents that Kidlink's main goal is to empower youth by providing a vehicle to meet other youth. This vehicle includes e-mail conferences supporting educational programs and free form discussions in Kidcafe lists.
3	Kidlink is a volunteer network of concerned adults. We help kids and youth connect with peers in other countries, to exchange views and ideas, learn about other traditions and cultures. We attempt to protect our young participants from any covert collection of personal information by outsiders. We do not collect home addresses, telephone numbers, race data, family income, social security numbers, as such information is not needed to realize our goal. All participants in Kidlink must use their full name. We ask for this because your full name indicates personal identity, responsibility, and commitment to Kidlink participation and ideals. Use of fake names or aliases ("unfriendly" nicknames) is not permitted. There are no advertisements on Kidlink's web site, and we never look at the specific usage of our website by identifiable individuals. Generally, Kidlink does not link to external web sites, except when such will enrich our educational programs and activities.	No one can guarantee that youth will not see or experience something inappropriate for their age when using the Internet. Kidlink, however, takes measures to make our online environment as safe as we can possibly make it. The webpage lists ways we try to do this. Kidlink cares for our youth.
4	extending over 8 months of the school year. scheduled for Northern and Southern Hemispheres. divided into 6 modules that are translated into several languages. Who Am I? Where Do I Live? What Are My Rights? My Friends and Family What Are My Roots? Virtual Vacation	For a more in depth picture of WAI, parents can link to this page: The Fifteen Minute Presentation of WAI
5	Benefits for Life promotes independence, autonomy, and the ability to master one's own life helps youth strengthen their social networks and build networks with peers around the world strengthens youth psychologically by providing them with more knowledge of themselves motivates them to be life-long and engaged learners provides cultural and spiritual stimulation supports efforts to fight mobbing, violence, racism, absence, lack of concentration, depression, lies, broken promises, emotional problems, irregular habits, criminality and broken borders Benefits for the Classroom It is student centered. gives students an audience and a purpose for writing brings real world meaning to classroom tasks promotes and supports engaged learners stimulates inquiry and problem solving encourages learning across curriculum areas broadens multicultural perspectives It supports your child's teacher. provides discussion questions and classroom activities offers web publishing of student work facilitates interaction with global colleagues includes curriculum connections for each module gives online resources for each lesson suggests tips for using "Who Am I?" in the classroom includes a support team and coordination lists	The WAI program gives students learning opportunities in the classroom that can extend beyond the school doors and last a lifetime. Kidlink includes resources and lesson suggestions to facilitate teachers as they use the WAI program with their students.
6	becoming familiar with the 8 month program. knowing your child's personality, likes and dislikes. identifying topics of "Who Am I?" that will appeal to your child. discussing issues and topics within "Who Am I?" with your child. connecting your child with other students in the "Who Am I?" program. Read Kidwai list messages with your child. Suggest other participants for your child to respond to on Kidwai. spending time doing some of the suggested "Who am I?" activities with your child in your home. providing materials for your child to organize and collect "Who Am I?" correspondences. supporting publication of your child's text and drawings in Kidlink's web area called KidSpace.	Parents know their children best. By showing an interest in what their children are doing, parents can encourage active partiicpation in WAI and thereby increase the benefits of the program for their children.