In October we had  a Skype Call to get to know each other.

Students were enthusiastic about talking and seeing their new friends abroad.

Here's some pictures taken on October 10th during the Skype call Italy/Poland:

A multiple choice quiz (Kahoot) will help us learn more about our partners' school cities and countries.

Skype Calls Madeira

On October 10, we got together with the Italian and Polish students. Unfortunately, the internet connection on our side was so bad that we only managed to talk briefly with the Polish students before our internet connection collapsed completely. Despite all the technical problems on our end the students were head over heels with the experience so we will definitely try to reschedule another call as soon as possible.

Here's a screenshot of all three of us. :)

On October 12, we had another go at skyping. This time with France. With us was Pedro Costa, the Geography teacher who was interested in finding out more about the project and curious to see what stereotypes would come up. But again the internet connection failed us. In fact, after several failed attempts, we gave up using the computers and tried our own phones. Eventually, we managed to get through. It was a bit hard to hear what was being said, but the kids made it work. It was great to answer some of the questions our French partners had for us and it was fun to go through some of the stereotypes - the first thing my kids thought of when thinking about the French people was "baguettes", so that led to quite a few laughs. 

The whole internet failure thing got us thinking of something to try on our next call: we'll have the kids connect one on one by using their phones and give them the opportunity to get to know each other on a personal basis. Now, there's something to look forward to :)

 

Reaching out :) by Slidely Slideshow

2nd Skype Call - Madeira / France

On November 23rd we had our 2nd skype call with France. This time our students used their own phones to connect one on one. It was a great way to find more about each other and the start of a common activity - they will now create a number of questions not only about their countries and its traditions but also about the stereotypes related to it and together they will try to get answers that will later be shared with the other partners.