Title Global Partners in Education Journal April 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-4 www.gpejournal.org ISSN 2163-758X 1 From the Guest Editor: Dr. Alla L. Nazarenko Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow, RUSSIA The contemporary world is dialectical: centrifugal and centripetal forces affect it, uniting and at the same time disuniting it, getting it globalized as well as discrete. Vectors representing an enormous array of interests point in different directions. Countries, nations and people must adapt to this to survive. They have to understand each other... Understanding is a way to compromise, to have a thoughtful attitude, and careful thinking. To reach understanding on a global scale is an impossible mission. But persistent, constant, and multiple efforts can accumulate a big potential. According to logical reasoning quantity will turn into quality. The Global Understanding program is one such effort. Having been started at the very beginning of the XXI century by East Carolina University, this initiative was first supported by 3-4 like-minded universities. Now, 10 years later, it is Global Partnership in Education, a world-wide association having partner-universities in 30 countries around the world. Students meet each other in a virtual environment; they talk about their lives and interests, their differences and similarities, their native cultures, traditions and customs. Many of them, "travelling" via telecommunication, for the first time in their life "visit" Africa and Latin America, China and India and,- yes! Russia, and many more "exotic" places about which they frequently have rather limited and stereotypic ideas. This is just the case with Russian students from Moscow State University's Department of Languages. We have been in the GU program since 2005 and over time our experience has distinctly changed MSU students and teachers. We cannot imagine our academic life without having this course on the curriculum of the Department. The course is a genuine testing ground for communication across cultures. Students learn how to apply their theoretical knowledge in cross-cultural communication in practice, in real communication with their peers from various corners of the world. It gives them competence and confidence, helps overcome anxiety and breaks false stereotypes, a great obstacle to mutual understanding. We are ardent supporters of the noble idea of the program. It should continue, it should grow. Grow both in the number of participants and in the scope of knowledge acquired by them. It should be strengthened by more creative activities, boosting student interest and motivation to obtain deep knowledge of the world they live in and of each other. This is a true path to global understanding. http://www.gpejournal.org/ Global Partners in Education Journal April 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-4 www.gpejournal.org ISSN 2163-758X 2 From the Editorial Board: Thank you to all those who continue to support the GPEJ through submitting articles, reviewing, and serving as editors. We especially want to thank Dr. Alla L. Nazarenko who served as our first guest editor. She and her team did an exceptional job. For issue five, we welcome, Dr. Mariko Eguchi from the University of Shimane in Hamada, Japan, as our guest editor. We look forward to working with her. As GPEJ continues to grow, so must our editorial team. Starting with issue five, we will change the structure of our editorial board and have four new associate editors working with us. We hope that through these changes we will be able to provide better service to the journal and its readers. Finally, as always, we want to thank all those who have reviewed for the journal over the past two years. Your reviews are an essential component of the final product you see in each and every issue. Guest Editor Alla Nazarenko Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow, Russia Editor Biwu Yang East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Associate Editors Marion Eppler East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Jami Leibowitz East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Leslie Pagliari East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA http://www.gpejournal.org/ Global Partners in Education Journal April 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-4 www.gpejournal.org ISSN 2163-758X 3 GPEJ Review Board David Batts East Carolina University Greenville, NC USA Chris Brighton Krosno State College Krosno, POLAND Rosina Chia East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Patch Clark East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Vivian Covington East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Elizabeth Crawford University of North Carolina at Wilmington Wilmington, NC, USA Vera A. Dugartsyrenova Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow, RUSSIA Marion Eppler East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Charles Iruonagbe Covenant University Ota, NIGERIA Li Jin Shandong University Shandong, CHINA Sergey S. Khromov Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics Moscow, RUSSIA Misty Kirby University of North Carolina at Wilmington Wilmington, NC, USA Jami Leibowitz East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Mary Lewis North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Greensboro, NC, USA Heidi Luchsinger East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Brian Meagher The College Board New York, NY, USA Shu Mou Teachers’ College of Beijing Union University Beijing, CHINA Noureddine Mouhadjer Université Abou Bekr Belkaid Tlemcen, ALGERIA María Luisa Mu Customized Training Services Lima, PERU http://www.gpejournal.org/ Global Partners in Education Journal April 2014, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-4 www.gpejournal.org ISSN 2163-758X 4 Alla L. Nazarenko Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow, RUSSIA Judy Neubrander Western Carolina University Cullowhee, NC, USA Cajetan Ifeanyi Nnaocha University of The Gambia Serekunda, THE GAMBIA Maj-Helen Nyback Novia University of Applied Sciences Vaasa, FINLAND Femi Olufunmilade Igbinedion University of Okada Okada, Edo State, NIGERIA Nilüfer Pembecioğlu Istanbul University Istanbul, TURKEY Uliana M. Proshina Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow, RUSSIA Rita Rodabaugh East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Jerono Rotich North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Greensboro, NC, USA Nadya Rudenko Ural State Pedagogical University Yekaterinburg, RUSSIA Elaine Seeman East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Doris Shih Fu Jen Catholic University New Taipei City, TAIWAN John Southworth East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Irina Swain East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Ludmila G. Syzikh Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow, RUSSIA Mary Nyangweso Wangila East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Sean White Ryukoku University Kyoto, JAPAN Biwu Yang East Carolina University Greenville, NC, USA Vadim Zyubanov Tomsk State Pedagogical University Tomsk, RUSSIA http://www.gpejournal.org/