We believe in authentic learning experiences that support deep, meaningful learning. This is what Worldchat does, as it offers second language learners the opportunity to communicate verbally through the video platform after teachers have paired them.
Founder of Worldchat, Anne-Marie is an ESL professor, certified yoga teacher as well as green committee, zen space and intercultural center coordinator at the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles in Canada.
She has taught in South Korea, in France as well as in Australia, and she did professional development in New York and Helsinki. Her research focuses primarily on active learning, distance education and the Community of Inquiry framework.
In 2018, she received from Université de Sherbrooke the Award for the Quality of Production and Pedagogical Intervention in College Teaching and, in 2019, the Canadian Association for Teacher Education Award.
Her pedagogical articles have been published in various academic journals, including:
Eric Waldman is a Canadian open source programmer and web developer.
His company, Waldman Web Development, specializes in pushing the limits of modern web development. He uses state-of-the-art open source technologies and programming languages in order to create software that captivates users.
Worldchat is his first foray into the delightful world of realtime video communication. It was an excellent opportunity to explore recent trends in web development including the TypeScript Programming Language, as well at the Janus WebRTC server.
It was so cool to speak with someone from across the world! I actually experienced a virtual culture shock! Julien, Reunion island
I really had to give my 100% to understand and make myself understood, which was sometimes funny. I mean, I don't speak Arabic and my English was not so good, but it improved drastically in this authentic setting! David, Burundi
J'ai beaucoup aimé l'expérience et ma partenaire et moi sommes devenues amies. Le fait de résumer chaque séance en notant les nouveaux mots et les nouvelles expressions, ça m'a beaucoup aidée à m'améliorer. Marylou, Canada
Authentic learning activities and material in second language learning environments help maintain a high level of motivation (Edge, 1996; Krashen, 1982; Willis, 1996) while supporting deep and long-term learning objectives (Fink, 2003; Chastain, 1998).
Worldchat is a pedagogical tool to foster such meaningful learning experiences. As students from around the globe verbally communicate on various topics of interest in their second language, they benefit from:
Moreover, they get to:
Worldchat offers several tools to support: