Connect Your Students Globally Via Skype Skyping for the first time? (continued)
Having the class practice with each other is a great way to give everyone a
chance to be in front of the camera, get the giggles out and practice speaking clearly. Set up one or two “hot seats” directly in front of the webcam. This helps your connection partner focus on what you are saying and makes it more personal than if the entire class is on the screen and it is hard to see who is speaking. It also cuts down on students speaking out of turn, which makes it even harder to follow along on the other side of the connection. Practice how the change in “hot seats” will occur and how to transition between two speakers, etc. It is also a wonderful opportunity to reflect on appropriate behavior guidelines and technical issues such as lighting, background movement, etc.
Preparing your students for the Skype Call Ask yourselves what you would share with a connection partner about your school, city or country? Remember that something very common to you, could be considered exotic by someone else. What questions will you ask your connection partner? What knowledge do you already have of their location/culture/etc. Take the time to locate their city and country on a map. Prepare interview questions, practice with your students to help guide and keep an interesting conversation flowing during the call. Role play with them to learn how to answer unexpected questions. Figure out if you want to collect authentic data from the schools that your are connecting with, in order to work with spreadsheets, analyze and compare data and create graphs later on. What kind of data, related to your curriculum are you looking for?
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