ESL Blogs

Did your classroom ever speak with a classroom in another country? 

Some teachers here in Saudi Arabia have tried this with English classes using Skype or similar video broadcasting services.  Geography or Social Studies students in the UK, Australia, South Africa or North America may like to Skype with your English class. We all can benefit from learning about other cultures.  Wars usually happen between strangers, not between friends.  As we meet people across the world, our friendships help to make the planet safer.

Do you think this would be fun? Let's think about what you might expect if you did this. 

1.  Can you think of any benefits you and your class may gain?

2.  Can you think of any harm that this may cause?

3.  What problems could you expect?  Will the differences in time zones be a problem for you? How can you work around time differences?

4.  How will you contact the teacher in the English speaking country?

If you like this idea please comment with your answers to some of these questions.  There are classes here in the KSA that would love to try such a thing and I think many in your country would also like to speak with students their own age in other countries. 

I can see English Club as a possible spot to assist with such contacts, if we the members make some good suggestions.  There are good teacher organizations in many countries that could help spread the word to teachers that might be interested in participating.

If you are a teacher and interested in this project please reply here.  As a group we just may be able to make this possible for many students.

My suggestions for a better quality experience if you try this:

a.  have a good web camera and good lighting in the classroom (if you use a projector for the video try to have some lighting on your own students so they can be seen by the class a world  away)

b.  test your camera and microphone on Skype with another teacher's computer to see if everyone can hear and see each other well.

c.  consider recording your event so you can show school administrators and parents (a recording should also help if you need money to improve your equipment by showing what you are doing)

I will give more comments about the classes that already tried this if I see people are interested in doing this on their own.