Welcome to Hello Buddy/Hola Amigo home page

Introduction

This is the official site of the World Wide Volunteer Week (WWVW) 2008 project named "Hello Buddy/Hola Amigo".  The project managers are Gilda in the Bay Area and Juan Carlos in Sun Chile.

NOTE: On May 28th, we were notified that this project was one of the top ten Worldwide Volunteer Week projects that touched upon the digital divide and a US$100 grant was donated to James Leitch School PTO. Congratulations to everyone!!!.

Mission

One of the goals of a WWVW project is to bridge the digital divide using technology and in this particular project we will use a virtual space to improve the second language among primary school-age kids. In this project, we are planning to connect two primary schools, one in the Bay Area and one in Santiago, Chile using Wonderland, a collaborative environment developed at Sun Microsystems Laboratories. By using the resources provided by this virtual space, children will communicate with their buddies and practice their second language while playing games.

The schools selected are:

1. James Leitch School in Fremont, CA
2. Escuela Basica Juan Verdaguer Planas E 74 de Recoleta, Santiago Chile

When and Where

At the schools

Due to the different timezones the schools are (Chile is 3 hrs ahead of CA in April), the games will be played around lunch time in CA and at 3PM in Chile. As of April 9, 2008, we would run two sessions:

    - On April 29th, 2008 from 12PM to 1PM PST

    - On April 30th, 2008 from 12PM to 1PM PST

NOTE: For now, we are planning to work with one school in the Bay Area and one in Santiago however we might be able to accommodate more schools if we get more volunteers. 

Training

Volunteers will receive training; prior to the actual event. For those in the Bay Area, the training would take place in the week of April 21st during lunch time.

What Games

At first kids with interact through a white board where they would play

1. Hide and Seek (jugar a la escondida en Chile)
2. Tic-Tac-Toe (jugar al gato en Chile)
3. Hangman (jugar al ahorcado en Chile)
4. Pictonary or drawing game  (nunca lo jugué en Chile  )

Depending on the time and resources, we could increase the complexity of the games and play

1. A simple flash card where pictures are uploaded and kids have to say the name of picture in their second language
2. GoFish

How to Help

We will run the project in two sessions: session1 on April 29th and session2 on April 30th. Volunteers on site are needed at Fremont and Santiago from 11:30AM to 1:30PM PST.

1. To help in the class rooms with the kids. For those in the Bay Area, it will involve to go to Fremont and spend 1hr approx. from noon until 1PM helping with the kids in the computer lab. We will also go the schools on April 28th to do the final tests. So we need 3 groups of volunteers that are willing to go to the schools. If you want to volunteers for any of the time slots below, please add your name.

1. To help refining the games to play and preparing documentation.
2. To help  designing a postcard to be distributed to the kids so they can send a message via normal mail to their buddies in Chile/US.
3. To help with training. If you are familiar with Wonderland, this is a perfect task for you.
4. Java developers to help with the installation of Wonderland in our dedicated server
5. Java developers that can help with the avatars to use
6. Java developers that would have time to modify the code and do minor changes to the code.
7. Be the virtual photographer. The pictures would be available in here.

How to become a volunteer

If you are not a Sun employee, then contact Gilda/Juan Carlos.

If you are a Sun employee, do as follows:

1. Go to Sun's Global Volunteer Program Website and log in. Please note that the link is only valid inside Sun Intranet.
2. Use the search by keyword option to search for HelloBuddy/Hola Amigo
3. Click in the register column

JavaOne CommunityCorner

We did present this project at the JavaOne CommunityCorner on May 6th, 2008 and here is our presentation. The podcast of the presentation can be found here.

Pictures/Videos 

Pictures/videos of this event were uploaded into the Global Citizenship Facebook group and for those in SWAN, pictures taken by Howard can be found in here.

Publicity/Media

Here is a list of activities helping us to promote our project

1. Juan Carlos and educalibre.cl
2. Gilda and her blogging
3. The Global Citizenship Group
4. WWVW posterto promote our project within Sun employees
5. Juan Carlos in java.net