KILWORTH, County Cork, Ireland—A little rural school in the south of Ireland can seem pretty cut off from the rest of the world, admits teacher Imelda Fouhy. Modern technology, old-fashioned postal service, and a fun fellow named Flat Stanley are helping her connect her elementary students with children around the world.

The Flat Stanley Project grew out of a classic children's book by the same name. In the story, Stanley is a regular boy who is squashed flat as a pancake by a falling bulletin board. On the bright side, he discovers that his parents can pop him in an envelope and mail him to visit friends in faraway places.

In real life, students in more than 1,000 schools around the world participate in the Flat Stanley project by making their own cardboard "Flat People," then mailing them off on vacations with classmates in other countries. The host children treat the Flat People as their guests, taking them along on outings, snapping travel photos, and keeping a journal about their activities.

Fouhy's students in Kilworth use e-mail to find out how their Flat People are getting along in other countries. "This can develop into a daily diary with photos attached," she says, "so the kids can get an insight into the daily lives of children across the globe. It's a very exciting, relevant way for the kids to learn about other countries."

Sometimes Fouhy's students are on the receiving end of a Flat Person, visiting from afar. "When the Flat Person arrives," she says, "I like to go to a large map on the wall and find exactly where the person came from and put a little flag there. Then we e-mail the home school to tell them that their Flat Person has arrived safe and well."

The eight- and nine-year-olds in Fouhy's class take turns hosting the Flat Person at their homes. "They take turns taking him home and taking him on different outings. Pictures are taken to capture these events." The photos are scanned and sent along with e-mails. The back-and-forth communication gets the children's imagination into high gear, along with their writing and technology skills. "Each child has a turn imagining that she is the Flat Person. As a result, the e-mails are very realistic. Children talk in the first person about places they've visited and things they've done."

Interest in other countries has blossomed, too. Fouhy explains: "Previously, it was not always easy to bring the social studies lesson alive and make it meaningful for the class. Now the enthusiasm for learning about different countries is incredible. Children feel that they've visited these places—or rather, their Flat Person has. They get personal glimpses of the lives of children in other countries. We've made many friends across the world. The children are amazed at how alike many things are."

Fouhy's 21 students are not intimidated about interacting with bigger schools in larger cities, she says, "because we have the same technology and the same opportunities to access the World Wide Web and its unlimited supply of learning experiences." In fact, her students are constantly coming up with ways to make their communications "more high-tech." One of their subjects at St. Martin's School is traditional Irish music, where students learn to perform the tin whistle. "Now we send a recording of our latest tunes to our global classmates so they can hear us play, too," Fouhy says. "We learn from other schools also. We can take their ideas, learn which technology was involved to accomplish a task, become efficient in the use of that technology, then use it in our next project." Next on their wish list: "a Web cam, so we can see and talk to our global classmates."

Although Fouhy and her students are eager to keep expanding their technical skills, their classroom computer set-up is somewhat low-tech. Her classroom is in a prefabricated building behind the main school. When they want to go online with their classroom computer, they have to string a telephone wire from their classroom, 60 meters across the schoolyard, into a window, and finally to a phone socket. "We have to be careful to disconnect the wire before playtime," she says, "as we do not want to decapitate someone running 'round the corner."

The setup reflects Fouhy's determination not to let the Information Age pass her rural students by. "If someone is determined to do something," she says, "they'll find a way." Although her class has only one computer, it's in use all day long. "I hope I'm giving my students every chance possible, as I would not like them to feel left out of this high-tech world."

See the Flat Stanley Web site*.
Listen to a classroom recording of "The Britches Full of Stitches" (mp3 player required).