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Dialogue Abidjan-Winchester

Reprinted from the Winchester Star

The Winchester High School French 4 students have had a wonderful experience recently.  David Andresen, current diplomat serving in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Africa, researched his alma mater’s website (class of 1967) in order to connect Ivorians to American Language and culture through direct contact with our students.  He wrote a simple email in February.  Andresen had a group of students from Ste. Camille School anxiously awaiting correspondence using Web cam with new American friends.  Joyce Anderson, French Teacher,  and Seta Kaleshian, Instructional Technology Specialist,  came up with the a plan where students could use First Class, our e-mail system, to send messages and photos since there is no web cam at the HS.  On Wednesday, May 31, 2006, a connection was made and students enjoyed an hour of exchanging emails, photos, and even some telephone conversations! Here are a string of emails in original French:

Ivorian student: Salut je m’appelle Arnaud et je suis en classe de 1ere j aime le soccer et j’aimerais savoir comment est la vie sportive aux USA.

American student: Est-ce que tu va regarde le match de monde dans le juin?  De football?

Ivorian student: la coupe du monde de football en juin!!! Bien sure que je la regarderais!!! J’adore le football et je le pratique aussi !! en joue tu aussi ? ou a quoi joues-tu ?

Students were surprised to hear that computer labs and web cams were available to the Abidjanis but not to the Winchester students!  They found out that Ste. Camille is a new small coed school of 40.  Students there are 12-19 years old and wear uniforms to school.  They study German, Spanish, and English.  All other courses are in French which is their official language.

In just two hours, two different classes of 27 students had practice in the language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking French with the wonderful bonus of some new cultural knowledge that they will never forget. In addition, students learned new uses of the digital camera, scanner, and had practice in uploading and attaching their photos to email messages.

Students realized that media images from Africa distort the cultural reality. We share so many ways of living that become quickly evident through first hand interaction and impromptu images that we take with our own eyes.

Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Kaleshian recommend this type of project to other teachers. They realize its benefits go far beyond typical classroom learning expectations.

Plans are to continue this exchange once a week and in the next academic year. The success of this learning activity has sparked enthusiasm among other teachers to explore different ways to integrate technology into their own curricula.