Monday, October 18, 2010
Today, our 9th standard students had a video call with their counterparts in a Norwegian school in Oslo. It was a great opportunity for the students to realize how different their lifestyles were from each other. Our students in India have stricter rules, earlier curfews and lesser parties than the ones abroad, but on the other hand they realized that they do not have to do as much chores and they have a more relaxed life at home!
The call went on for an hour and they spoke about many different things. They talked about the food they eat, what they do in school, what they do when they go home and how they hang out with their friends. They also spoke about punishments given to them by teachers and parents and even made each other hear the latest popular songs. It was a very enjoyable conversation and both sides never realized when the hour was up!
Our 9th graders had made some videos about Indian sports like cricket, mallakhamb, wrestling, kho kho, kabaddi etc and had uploaded those on youtube. The Norwegian students went through those videos and understood a bit about Indian sports. It would be fair to say that our students learnt a lot about these things too. In addition to that, they worked in groups, wrote scripts, shot footage, added narration and edited it and made complete documentaries! It was a great experience for them. The kids were constantly thinking about how they could enhance their presentations and make them livelier.
So, all in all it was a wonderful experience. This is an excellent instance of non-classroom learning or multidimensional learning, as it were. The children are learning teamwork, project work, co-operation and great communication skills. They can’t wait to get started on the next project and to have the next conference call. And the situation on the Norway front is almost the same. There is a barrage of themes the children want next – Food, Music, Arts, Festivals, Costumes.. and on and on.
LetÂ’s hope that this energy level continues and our children carry on the exchange very successfully.
