Roger Williams, a former United States Marine Corps combat pilot and retired airline pilot, is in the midst of realizing a long-standing dream of driving around the world. He has already completed the first two legs of his journey. In 1993-1994 he drove his 1982 Dodge truck from the United States through Mexico, Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama) and South America (Chile, Argentina, and Brazil) to reach Tierra Del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. In 1994 he shipped his truck to Brisbane, Australia, , and spent the next seven months driving around that interesting island-continent. From February through June 1995 Roger traveled throughout Japan. He toured the earthquake area around Kobe, saw the Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo, and enjoyed the people of Japan. Beginning in July through October 1995, Roger traveled across Russia visiting computer camps and schools. He sent reports describing the life and scenes in the rural areas of Russia.
During his travels, Roger visits schools, , meeting students and teachers and sending greetings and reports on his travels back to classes participating in the "Where on the Globe is Roger?" project. Students learn a great deal about geography and cultures as they receive his reports and observations about the interesting places he visits. Many of the schools he visits on the way join the project and share their local culture and geography with other participating classes.
Roger has finished his travels through Russia and is planning his travels through the countries in Europe. He will visit almost all of the European countries between now and June of 1996. After he completes his visit in Europe, he will visit many of the countries in Africa. Sharing his aventures with us.
As Roger begins this next leg of his journey, he is inviting you to vicariously join him on his travels. Roger describes this trip as "a round the world adventure with greater goals than just geography." His vision is "to get children interested in communicating with children in the United States, to foster better understanding between countries and cultures." He believes that this kind of international communication between children "will somehow enable them to find a better way to deal with problems in the future rather than resorting to armed conflict."
As Roger travels around the world, he will send his observations, adventures, and discoveries via email and fax to our "Where on the Globe is Roger?" lists. They will be posted to the Global SCHLnet/FrEdMail newsgroup "schl.proj.roger" as well as to our "Where_is_Roger" mailing list. When new messages arrive, download and print out these reports and let your students read them, and plot his progress on maps of the countries he is visiting. When possible, schools are also invited to participate in special live interactive video conferences with Roger via the Internet and CU-SeeMe software
If you have specific questions you would like to ask Roger or the people he visits, send them to roger@bonita.cerf.fred.org. Depending on the number of questions we get we may consolidate and combine questions; then we will forward them to Roger. Your questions and Roger's answers will be posted for all to see.
Whenever Roger gets the chance to visit a school, he likes to encourage the classes there to communicate with other classes and to conduct direct inter cultural exchanges. These exchanges can include electronic mail (that is if the distant school has access to electronic mail), as well as the exchange of other materials via "snail mail" such as local newspapers, school and community memorabilia, audio and video tapes, and other things.
Classes are encouraged to submit a class biography which is sent to all participants. Through the biography, classes learn about each other. The group can communicate directly with any of the classes. Other projects also provide information for direct communication among participants.
This project will be a great way to get your students to look with new eyes at distant lands - to learn more about their geography, customs, and way of life. Your students will be eager readers when Roger's dispatches arrive. This project will lead to many opportunities to make new acquaintances and friendships. As Roger's travels unfold, we will suggest additional project activities and ideas to supplement and enhance your participation in this project and encourage you to make suggestions, too.
Global SchoolNet Foundation
Linking Kids Around the World!
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