Ayat has subsequently started a number of other cross-cultural projects, raising the
awareness of her learners and motivating them to become involved in using the
language to communicate with, and learn about, other people in different parts of the
world. This year, after the success of the Skype project, she started a collaborative
online book project with Bernadette Rego, a Canadian teacher, and her classes,
concentrating on the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling,
and using Edmodo, a private social network (www.edmodo.com). Edmodo has proven
to be an ideal safe environment where the students can meet and discuss the book
as well as share information with the other class. Voxopop (www.voxopop.com),
an audio forum tool has also been used, for recording introductions and sharing
questions and answers.