Your Name and Title:
Margaret Beagley – Grade 3 / 4 teacher
School or Organization Name:
Yarram Primary School
Co-Presenter Name:
Judi Hale Prep teacher
Area of the World from Which You Will Present:
Victoria, Australia
Language in Which You Will Present:
English
Target Audience(s):
Teachers
Short Session Description (one line):
The Aussie - Argie Adventure: the relationship between Yarram Primary School, Victoria, Australia and Colegio Ward, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
A 'chance' meeting on the ePals website has led not only to a strong bond between two schools, but a friendship with the Argentine community in Australia, and recognition by the Argentine Ambassador in Canberra.
Yarram Primary School, Victoria Australia has been corresponding with Colegio Ward, Buenos Aires, Argentina, since June 2008. In that time a strong friendship has developed between teachers and students and an enormous amount of learning has taken place. It began with just two Grade 4 classes, one from each country, and expanded into a whole school commitment.
Originally correspondence was done entirely through the ePal website but soon (even in the early days) we needed greater contact than this and letters and gifts were exchanged by post. As we became more eager to learn about each other’s countries and cultures, we turned to greater use of technology – PowerPoint presentations, PhotoStory 3 for Windows, Animoto, Wordle and MovieMaker and the establishment of a wiki. We emailed each other websites that we felt would be useful, the kids wrote stories and poetry for each other, exchanged drawings and small items that they had made. It became very personal. The desire to ‘meet’ became important. Skype provided this opportunity and we did not allow the 13 hour time difference to be a barrier. We constantly sought ‘a better way’ for our students to communicate and hear each other’s voices. A name on an email wasn’t enough.
Teachers who had not previously felt confident in some areas of ICT took the plunge and learnt new skills. The children suddenly started to take note if Argentina was mentioned on the news.
Both schools call our friendship ‘The Aussie-Argie Adventure’!
Websites / URLs Associated with Your Session:
http://animoto.com/play/3U5AY5dJi03ykL0OBVD8yg
http://animoto.com/play/AlWchb0cKXo4plv3rXnqOQ
http://www.ward.edu.ar/agenda/Octubre2011/Octubre100.php
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