Skyping: Part II

I am finally able to post the results of my Skyping activity with the The TASIS American School in England.  It was such a fun activity and was a lot easier to organize than I originally thought it would be.  We chose 9:20am EST (2:20pm England time) to Skype with the international students. When I got to Ms. Liberto’s classroom to prep the students before our Skype appointment, we handed out the ten question cards the students had brainstormed the day before.  I set up my laptop with a chair in front of it so the international students would be able to see and hear our students easily.   We could see their class on Ms. Liberto’s Smartboard, which worked well in allowing everyone to see.  

We directed the students from Ms. Liberto’s class who were asking questions  to introduce themselves before beginning their question.  It was  so cute to hear the first student say, “Hi.  My name is Willy, and this is my question.”  The students had a great time discussing recess
 games, playgrounds, classwork, uniforms, cereal and snack food, and so much more! My second graders gasped when they realized the international students had read some of the same books as them this year.  They were also amazed by the description of a “treehouse playground” at the international school.  The similarities among the two schools and student far outweighed the differences overall.

Afterwards, my students enjoyed discussing the similarities and differences at their tables and created “Friend Venn’s” as a final product for the activity.    What a fun way to learn about diversity!

Discussing the Friend Venn’s (left) and showing
   the final products (below).