Last week I had the opportunity to support two groups of learners as they broke down the walls of their classrooms and connected virtually – although I might suggest that for our young people the term virtual holds different meaning that with us – with students from different areas of the world.

For the second year in a row, some of our Grade 8 french students were involved in a student project with students at the American School of Bombay in Mumbai.  The project involved enticing the students to improve their french second langauge skills to connect and share stories with students in Mumbai.  They chatted about various aspects of culture and generally connected in many ways.  The primary project tool was a wiki, but Thursday morning (late afternoon in Mumbai) our students hooked up via skype, connected with each other and opened the gift boxes sent by their counterparts.

Then, on Friday, I was able to participate in the opening salvo of a new french language project between students at NMS and Carey Pohanka‘s class at Fredericksburg Academy in Virginia.  They have exchanged ambassadors  – which will be unveiled next week – and will begin a month long “visit” which will be documented and shared back to the other class in video format, all narrated en francais.  Again, a project wiki will serve as the primary tool.  You can see a video montage here.

Teacher and student reaction is positive.  Not only do they practice french, it’s for a real purpose.  They also learn much about the world and their role as connected learners in the new global environment.

This is good stuff!

Technorati tags: technology, education, whipple, learning