Communicate » Kiva

Kiva in the Classroom

ckendall — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:44:36 +0000

So today a colleague asked me, “How could you use Kiva in the classroom?”

I have been involved with Kiva for a couple years now, volunteering to translate budding entrepreneur loans from Spanish to English so multitudes of Kiva users can make loans. Over the last 12 months I have volunteered as a Team Leader, serving as a point of contact for a team of volunteer translators. So in brainstorming how Kiva could be used in the classroom, the following ideas came to mind!

lending groups – students can form groups, fundraise locally, and support entrepreneurs abroad
volunteer translating – although the translating would be from the target language to English when you are a native English speaker, translating would be a way to connect to the global community, perform community service, and it is an interesting way to learn localized vocabulary while providing a service
use the pictures as writing prompts
use the pictures for cultural visuals
capture several loan photos and descriptions – mix and match pictures and narrative descriptions of loans
read the loan and hypothesize as to what the photo reflect or create a visual to accompany the description
view the photo and hypothesize what the lender is seeking funding for
compare loans for the same service/product across countries – compare cost, loan use, etc.
analyze the loans – discover the trends by country, gender, loan category, etc.
look at group loans vs individual loans – compare use, gender, group size, country, within and between group demographics
read the loan journals at http://www.kiva.org/journals – “follow-ups” are posted regarding some of the loans – so students could read the loan as well as the follow-up posting to track the loan
Kiva Fellows blog postings – http://fellowsblog.kiva.org – are interesting because they almost always deal with cultural issues that can lead to rich, comparative discussions
Kiva Fellows have a YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/kivafellows#p/a/u/0/WZTwiUmDEl8 – access authentic video rich in cultural content
use Google maps to geotag the loans
compare the loan percentage rates across sectors, countries, microlending organizations; calculate the total amount to be repaid
Kiva app gallery – http://www.kiva.org/apps – will also have tools to help do some of the above tasks
Kiva in the classroom – http://www.kiva.org/do-more/classroom – is Kiva’s webpage to help educators think about integrating Kiva
KivaFriends – http://www.kivafriends.org – is a community (not associated with Kiva) of avid Kiva fans who are also a rich resource of information

Kiva launched some advanced search options which make it easier to do some of the above ideas.

Kiva has much to offer – consider how you can use Kiva to help your students connect to the world!

Kiva and the holidays

ckendall — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:05:22 +0000

Kiva had record traffic over the holidays. As I was home for the holidays, I volunteered for several shifts. As quickly as loans were translated they were moved to the live side of things. Millions of dollars came through to the budding entrepreneurs in developing nations. Volunteering to translate is interesting – I’ve translated loans about stores, artisans, agriculture, hardware and car repair shops. If you are a language teacher, consider volunteering to translate. It’s a great way to keep your language skills up to date. And there is a terrific support community for the translators, too!

Kiva update

ckendall — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:12:04 +0000

Tonight I translated 16 microloans at Kiva - whew! I think one of the funnest things about translating at Kiva is the variety of vocabulary. Tonight I translated about embroidery, radiators, grocery stores, and chickens. It could be interesting for … Continue reading →

Volunteering at Kiva

ckendall — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:31:52 +0000

Ever hear of Kiva? Kiva lets you select entrepreneurs in developing nations and contribute a loan to that person through financial partner organizations. Basically, it works like this:

Pretty cool! Creating that connection by personalizing the loans. I admit, I have few loans out – and it is very addicting to want to help others. And you can see the other people who have also contributed loans. Loan recipients submit 1-2 journals over the course of the loan, enabling the lenders to receive news of the endeavor.

In the spirit of helping, I noticed that Kiva needs volunteers to translate microloan descriptions. So I am now officially a Kiva Volunteer. Every week, on Fridays, I translate loan descriptions from Spanish to English. Pretty neat thing going on here, connecting every day people from around the world to give a helping hand to our fellow human beings!