The nearly 20 third-graders inside Emma Hutchinson Elementary‘s global conference room shifted excitedly in their seats as the school’s technology specialist, Kinshasa Msola, fiddled with her computer Wednesday. Soon, she found the right coordinates and, presto, up on the screen sat their counterparts — students from Gladys A. Abraham Elementary School in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Msola and her principal, Dr. Rebecca Dashiell-Mitchell, were using Skype technology to hold an online cultural-exchange chat with their students to promote the school’s commitment to greater global awareness. But this was just a dry run to (hopefully) iron the kinks before the two schools hold the chat for real on Thursday.
The chat is part of a collaboration between Hutchinson and one of its 25 community and business partners, Clark Atlanta University — including Dr. Paul Brown, associate professor of French and Study Abroad Director. Officials from the school attended the trial run and will be there Thursday when it happens. Enjoy the video above as students, faculty, staff and Clark Atlanta reps explain the power of this potential connection.
What a great way to end the year; Hutchinson, an APS year-round school, completes its semester this Friday and will return in mid-July for summer classes.
UPDATE: The chat Thursday went very well, according to the participants. Hutchinson students recited the Pledge of Allegiance in both English and Spanish, and the Abraham students sang a song for them. And the reception this time was crystal clear — just like this partnership’s objectives, according to Dr. Brown. “Our goal is to let them realize that people outside this country may speak a different language and may have a different culture, but they’re still just like us,” Dr. Brown said. “African-American students are underrepresented when it comes to in international trade. We want to impress two things on students as they progress on to middle and high school: that learning a foreign language is important, and there is a world out there that has become extremely competitive. And we want them to be ready for it.”