Students Provide Online Language Learning Resulting In Diverse Cultural Exchange

Globalization has increased the flow of goods, services, capital, people, learning and ideas over international boundaries with everything being more tightly connected than ever before.

Severna Park High School rising senior Kateri Jarvis, alongside Howard County rising seniors Connor Wu and Lucas Du, started a nonprofit four years ago to provide English language education classes and various learning opportunities through their Global Conversation Café discussions.

“Youth Bridge Inc. (YBI) is a nonprofit initiated to promote globalization through tailored English classes and diverse learning opportunities,” Lucas said. “The nonprofit was started to bridge the gap between cultures and create a space for language learning and a worldwide culture exchange.”

YBI was born from a shared commitment among Lucas, Connor and Kateri to create an online inclusive environment for engaging students who want to explore English as a second language, aiming to break down language barriers and promote positive cross-cultural exchanges.

“We facilitate students' language learning through personalized, interactive and challenging online English lessons, enabling them to enhance their communication skills and cultural understanding,” Kateri said. “The platform encourages interactive experiences, allowing students to engage in real-time Zoom calls with various students. The nonprofit not only provides weekly lessons but also facilitates monthly conversation cafe sessions for students to share about global topics and their relativity in their communities.”

YBI has approximately 300 students from 28 countries consistently engaging in either the conversation cafe or weekly English lessons, fostering cultural connections that transcend geographical boundaries and allow students worldwide to learn and connect with others.

“The objective is to build connections between foreign students through a common language and contribute to the globalization of worldwide issues,” Lucas said.

Conversation topics during the discussion cafes include technology, global warming, food and local cuisine, to name a few.

“These discussion cafes are important as they introduce a diverse spectrum of views to current event topics,” Lucas said. “With so many different perspectives, an understanding of circumstances around the world is fostered, allowing participants to understand their similarities and differences. Furthermore, a sense of familiarity is created as students share how they are affected by the same events.”

YBI offers a virtual experience where everyone is encouraged to appreciate commonalities and differences while expanding their perspectives and developing new skills.

“A vivid memory that comes to mind originates from (a summer) climate change webinar,” Lucas said. “One of the students from Kyrgyzstan presented information about the impacts of climate change on his country. An interesting fact I learned was the importance of glaciers in Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan, glaciers act as natural reservoirs of freshwater, crucial for the country's water supply and agriculture. However, climate change is causing these glaciers to melt and collapse, endangering the economy of the country.”

Most youth, no matter where they live, are worried and concerned about the same issues. However, as the students are usually younger, they do not recognize many issues beyond the circumstances in their countries. By seeing how others are also concerned about the same issues, students are more prone to be more involved.

“The work we put into our nonprofit has shown to be significant for students by offering individuals across the world an accessible language education,” Kateri said. “Learning English is a crucial skill for global outreach and communication due to the vast amounts of resources, information and opportunities that can come from international relations using English. For educators, the diverse platform provides for a fulfilling opportunity to contribute to making a meaningful impact on multinational individuals.”

Knowledge is power. The students hope that as people and ideas move more easily around the globe, the connections and experiences people have around the world will help in understanding that people cannot truly succeed unless they succeed together.

“The lessons in place not only empower students with learning skills and cross-cultural connection; they also provide all participants, including me, valuable insight into the diverse perspectives of all individuals,” Kateri said. “Mentoring students with varying experiences allows us educators to improve on our cultural understanding and adaptability, fostering immense growth in contributing to a more inclusive educational environment globally.”

For more information or to get involved, go to globalyouthbridge.wixsite.com/youth-bridge.