Any time we can connect with someone in real time in a different country, it redefines education. This is now a new task that was previously inconceivable. Once upon a time, if you were lucky, a person from another country might be travelling through your town and maybe, if they knew someone in your school, they might come and speak about what it's like to live in another place. Or maybe, you might know someone who had a foreign exchange student who might come and talk to your class. Or maybe you might have a pen pal in another city. But never, ever, would you get to talk to them and see them in real time. And never, ever, would you get to collaborate on a learning task together in real time.
Those days are upon us! I would love to organize a co-teaching collaboration with a colleague in a different country. It so happens I know a few in Australia that I think would be willing to give it a try, even taking into consideration the time difference. What if both classes could be reading the same text simultaneously and then Skype once or twice during the unit and discuss or present ideas? What if the teacher from Down Under could teach a class for me and then I teach one for her? What if we brought in our cultural uniqueness when sharing ideas about the text?
Or, what if my class designed children's books specific to this part of the world and shared them with an elementary class in Australia? Perhaps we could Skype in and read them aloud to the kids? Perhaps they could write books for us and read them to us.
With Skype, I feel like the possibilities are endless and are all redefining. There is no way we could've done any of those things in the past, without technology. We could've emailed back and forth, or sent letters, but never could we experience the connection of real time discussion and debate.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI had to comment on your blog because it is so similar to the one I wrote. Isn't it wonderfully exciting to have the door opened to our students? It's something I could never have conceived of as a child and I was totally fascinating with other cultures. I was the one with 100 penpals all over the world. I too would like to have a regular class relationship with a class in another country. As a child, that would have been so exciting to me so perhaps it will to other children as well. I like your idea of the books - another way to share and learn! Skype-type technology is a boon for the children and bringing the world together.
Hi, Michelle! Thank you so much for this amazing blog post. I love the idea of bringing Skype into the classroom, but I was struggling a bit to come up with new and exciting ways to use it. You have three or four AMAZING ideas here that I would love to steal! I especially love your idea of having students create products, like a picture book, and sharing them with each other. That is such a cool way of letting the students' autonomy and voice shine through--that way, the students are conveying to each other, in their own words, what their countries and lived experiences are like.
ReplyDeleteI could really see myself implementing this type of education experience with my students! In particular, I'd love to introduce some of my past students in Japan to some of my middle school students this year. The picture book idea is perfect, because that is a perfect English writing/reading level for my Japanese students (and I am assuming that doing any level of Japanese for the American students might leave more than a few kids out!) The time difference can be hard, but video journals might be a way to let the kids have face-to-face interaction during the school day. I'm super lucky because I have working relationships with Japanese middle school teachers/students, but if anyone else is looking for an international class exchange, https://www.epals.com/#/connections looks like it is designed to help interested teachers find classes to work with in different countries.
Thanks again for the creative and super thought-provoking post! Please keep us updated if you do get some of these exchanges working. I'd love to see how that goes and hear about the cool opportunities it affords your students.
I love this idea! I know in my classroom I’m hoping that I’ll be able to cultivate skype ‘pen pals’ for my kindergarteners. I love that even for my students who are just learning to write, Skype provides a way to communicate across countries. I remember having written pen pals and having to wait months for a reply - it’s so cool to live in an age where our kids will have the opportunities to speak about cultures and connect to their global community as often as they want to.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of breaking down the walls of the classroom and be able to communicate with any author or expert. I will totally be using this strategy in my own classes. The question I have then is how does this work at the secondary level? Let's say the person who you Skype only has 15 minutes to talk, then only one period will have this opportunity. What happens to the other periods? do you just give them a highlight of the conversation?
ReplyDeleteGood point, Pedro! I'm not sure how that would work. Maybe you could take one day a month or every two months and every class period would be devoted to international connection? Or maybe you could just do it with one class? Lots of things to think through, hey?
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