Videoconferencia: Shanghai American School (China) – Ikastola Ikasbidea (España)

Un buen amigo de Vitoria que tiene un chaval y una chavala muy majos contactó conmigo porque en la clase de su hija –grado 3- estaban estudiando el tema de ¨China¨. Me preguntaba si estaríamos dispuestos a participar en una videoconferencia entre la clase de su hija y mis estudiantes de español. Dicho y hecho. Acordamos la fecha y a través de Skype nos conectamos una horita.

 

La videoconferencia fue el martes 5 de marzo, entre las 9 y las 10 a.m. hora española, entre las 4 y las 5 p.m. hora china.

 

A este lado logré reclutar a 14 estudiantes. Terminamos el colegio a las 3 p.m. y a partir de ahí los alumnos participan en un montón de actividades extraescolares: deportes, clubs, música... por lo que otros alumnos que quisieron participar no pudieron por tener ya otros compromisos.

 

En el lado vitoriano se juntaron tres clases en el salón de actos, unos 77 estudiantes de unos 8 o 9 años ávidos de poner el práctica lo  aprendido en clase.

 

La experiencia fue un éxito en ambos lados. Los estudiantes practicaron español, inglés, y también algo de chino y euskera. Semanas después todavía mis estudiantes estaban hablando de ello :-)

 

AQUÍ podéis ver un pequeño video y fotos de la videoconferencia.

 

AQUÍ y al final de esta entrada podéis leer una crónica que envió una de mis alumnas a nuestra revista escolar.

 

Disfruté mucho con esta actividad educativa y me sentí muy orgulloso de mis estudiantes, viéndoles interactuar en español y poniendo en práctica sus conocimientos en una experiencia real.

 

Mañana sábado 20 de abril en el Instituto Cervantes de Shanghái se celebra el Día Internacional del Libro y hay programadas varias actividades. He invitado a mis estudiantes a asistir y a las 9:45 a.m. me encontraré con los que allá aparezcan. No es fácil encontrar oportunidades para practicar español fuera de la clase, pero rascando un poco siempre aparecen :-)

 

Artículo publicado en la revista Eagle – Abril 2013

 

Kaixo from Vitoria-Gasteiz

By Stephanie Donithan, grade 12, Puxi campus

 

Kaixo! This is how you say hello in an old language called Euskera, as 13 Puxi high school students learned on an amazing trip to Spain last year. Euskera is spoken in the Basque country in the northern area of Spain, along with the typical Castellano (most commonly known as Spanish).

 

The trip took us to Spain teacher Javier Castro´s hometown, Vitoria-Gasteiz. We had the privilege of meeting his family members, friends, as well as other local people of his town.

 

On March 5th, I, along with 13 other high school Spanish students, had the same privilege of meeting third graders from Vitoria-Gasteiz. This meeting was made possible through a wonderful thing called Skype.

 

We connected with 77 eight- and nine-year-old kids from the school Ikastola Ikasbidea. These young and eager children had been studying China for a little over a month and were ready to discuss the topic. Each kid prepared their own questions about Chinese culture, food, or language. They were very curious, asking questions with serious faces such as, ¨If you eat with chopsticks, how do you eat soup?¨

 

Questions were formulated in both English and Spanish, so we could practice our Spanish and they could practice their English. Even though it was after school for us, their school day was just starting. It was a wonderful experience. To think that we had helped these young kids better understand Chinese culture felt great. They were interested in learning about our lifestyles in a place that was so different from their home. And they really wanted to learn how to say things in Chinese.

 

The best was saved for the last –they said their goodbye by singing us a song in Euskera. While they learned a lot about us, we learned quite a bit about them as well. We learned their names, what their favorite activities were, and what sports team they supported. We even learned a bit of Euskera.

 

We were lucky to participate in such an amazing and fulfilling activity. After an hour of discussion with the kids, we sadly had to say agur (good-bye in Euskera).