Skype Pen Pals

This summer, I signed up on a Skype beta project for educators to connect with other educators via Skype.  Through this forum, I was connected to a teacher named Ms. Keenan in Maine who knew that her class would be studying Morocco this year.  As I was headed for Morocco, I was quite excited by this possibility.  We exchanged a lot of emails and talked about what we were going to do.  We decided to exchange questions and set up a Skype date.  It took a bunch of planning, but the results were awesome!

First, Ms. Kennan’s class sent my class a list of questions.  Some of their questions included:
- What food do you eat?
- Have you ever been to the desert?
- What animals live near your house?
- Are there any churches near your school?
My kids had a great time answer their questions.  We shared with them that we live in the city and don’t see much of the desert, although lots of my kids have been on vacation in desert areas.  We told them about the donkeys and horses that we see on the street, along with wild cats.  We told them about hearing the call for prayer from the mosque, but not knowing where the closest church is.  My kids shared their list of favorite foods which included cous cous and tagines, but was also full of foods like spaghetti, french fries and hotdogs!

Then, my class sent Ms. Keenan’s class our own list of questions:  Some of the questions my kids came up with her:
- What languages do you speak?
- What games do you play?
- Do you build snowmen?
- What do you bring for snack?
Ms. Kennan’s class sent back their answers and my class was thrilled. They loved hearing about how her students build snow forts and played Wii.  They loved hearing that they are learning Spanish at school and eat cookies and goldfish for snack.  It was great for the kids to understand that these kids did the same things they do.

Finally, the date was set and we had our Skype date.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a projector, so my class simply sat in front of my laptop.  It worked out very well.  Ms. Kennan’s class taught us a song.  We taught them a song and how to count to 10 in the Moroccan dialect of Arabic.  Then the students got to ask each other questions.  One of my favorite moments was when one of my students said “Hey, they aren’t wearing uniforms!”  Overall, it was a great experience, and I’m so glad we were able to help Ms. Keenan’s class learn a little about Morocco.  Now I’m looking for a class in the Democratic Republic of Congo to do the same to help my class for International Day!
Here are some pictures of the Skype event:
 In Morocco



In USA (Maine)



This was such a great experience for my class and a great chance to use technology, that I just had to share!