My name is Akash Patel. I created the Happy World Foundation. Thanks to technology today, we can connect our students so easily, in a matter of seconds, with people in communities around the globe, opening a world of possibilities for a child who lives in an inner-city community or a rural community who may have never traveled, for them to consider college, for them to consider volunteering, for them to consider interning in other parts of the globe, creating meaningful cultural connections via technology.

We facilitate what’s called Mystery Hangout. Students do not know where the person’s from. They have to have maps out, and they have to ask questions to solve the mystery of where this person’s from. Once they figure that out, they can engage in a conversation with that person about their careers, about their lives, about their countries, about the governments, creating cultural connections through technology. You could be teaching them history, geography. You could be teaching them math, like “Hey, let’s talk about currency and the conversions.”

When young children realize that we as humans are a lot more alike than we are different, it’s a game changer. As long as you have internet and a laptop with a camera, you can connect your classrooms with people around the globe, forging cultural connections via technology. It’s inspiring the love for lifelong learning and changing our world for the better.

Language teacher and world traveler Akash Patel knows the academic value of immersive language and cultural experiences, which is why he regularly connects his students to people around the globe via video calls—and helps other teachers do the same, so they can start making cultural connections through technology in their own classrooms.

Patel began his education career teaching Spanish in rural Oklahoma, where he brought his experiences as a traveler and an immigrant to all his lessons. After seeing how live conversations with people living in other countries opened up his American students’ worldview and helped them build empathy and perspective-taking skills, Patel started a nonprofit called the Happy World Foundation in 2014 to start connecting volunteers virtually.

Read the full article about cultural connections through technology at Edutopia.