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Birla High School For Boys, Junior Section, guided by the teacher Ms.
Hira Prasad, posed as ambassadors of India and shared diverse
information with students of Gerogery Public School, in southern New
South Wales , Australia.
Under the online classroom exchange program they had two online
projects, ‘Destination Himalayas’ and ‘Cultural Ambassadors’.
These were designed for the gifted students of Classes
IV and V, and had manifold objectives. Primarily to sharpen the higher
order thinking skills, to go beyond the confines of the classroom and
to collaborate with peers across the World through E-pals classroom
exchange program.
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The issues to be discussed during classroom
exchange program were finalized- keeping an eye on the age,
interest, possibility of learning for life and curriculum. Apart
from cultural issues the food habits were discussed. Majority of
boys involved in the project from Birla School are vegetarian.
The fear that the non vegetarian diet could lead indirectly to
the endangerment of species was discussed. The teachers of the
school in Australia, Mr. Broomsfield and Ms. Reardon were amazed
that some of the students thought of changing their food habits
after this discussion. This spontaneous outcome was definitely
not a part of the learning objectives of any teacher. |
| Similarly peaks of Himalayas, Andes
and Rockies were scaled to unknown heights while mounting it
together by young environmentalists of Birla School, Kolkata,
India and Jordan Acres School located in mid coast Maine, United
States of America |
The IV graders worked on How to save the mountains?
“What would happen if there were no Himalayas” triggered the
students to wear their thinking caps and come out with answers leading
to the importance of the Himalayas.
The students were made conscious of the fact that as man strives for
industrialization, modernization and the so-called higher standard of
living, he disturbs the ecosystem of many parts of the world. Epals
brought in lessons on Rocky and Andes mountains.
Grade V’s concern was how to promote peace and harmony as cultural
ambassadors to Australia. The well thought of question to motivate the
students was What would you like to propagate as an ambassador
to overseas country?
A sense of patriotism was instilled among the students. The desire to
project a clear image of their country, to elucidate the rich heritage
and culture and to be understood clearly initiated students to take
great pains while framing sentences, keeping in mind the structure and
spelling.
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The preparation for the virtual trip was an elaborate one. The
teacher sent circulars regarding the workshop details to
parents.Ms. Hira Prasad opines about the parental support “they
were cooperative and open to new vistas of learning and teaching,
this helps us teachers to try out new strategies like the Epal
exchange programme. The fact that the parents sent the students
during the holidays for something they themselves were not sure
about was a morale booster for me.”
The school was registered as a member of Epals classroom exchange
program and a profile of the school was sent which included the
names of the projects “Destination Himalayas” and “Cultural
Ambassadors”.
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To regulate the incoming and outgoing mail by the teacher, a monitored Epal id of students was created. Training was imparted on M.S Publisher to create a website and hyperlink it with Power Point Presentations where the detailed reports could be referred to .The pupils surfed the net to get inputs which were supplemented by the respective epals. Technology helped the project unfold efficiently. The teacher shared the URL epals.com with all.
The school with urban setting and strength of 1200 students has a modern well equipped computer lab. In the interest of the students, staff and school, the library is computerized.
The school lays emphasis on technology aided learning for remedial classes where the slow learners "unknowingly come to know a lot of things." as quoted by parents. The introvert child who was once inaudible is heard. The gifted ones sharpen their knowledge during projects like Epals package.
Located in the town of Kolkata, in the North east part of Indian peninsula, the school offers Hindi and Bangla software enabling the language teachers to be at par with technology like the rest of the teaching staff.
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The learning from working on an online project aroused an overwhelming response from the parents. The website was showcased to them on the third and the final day. They said, “The idea of classroom exchange program was very interesting; it broke the monotony of the classroom learning”. Some expressed the heart felt desire that “every month or at least once in two months if this sort of program is being conducted it would surely improve the quality of learning.”
According to the teacher it facilitated the communication skill, instilled a sense of pride and patriotism, enriched knowledge, accoutered with technology for means of communication and mainly the students
stepped into a new vista of learning - Epals classroom exchange. |
The teacher, the fountainhead of the project, talks about how the whole idea came to her.
“The idea of Epals classroom exchange program came to my notice when I was conducting the Master Training on the new binder. The school Headmistress Ms. K.Dutt encouraged me and immediately the ball was set rolling.”
She explains enthusiastically “I never even dreamt that I could ever be able to communicate with teachers of other countries and interact with the students simultaneously. The students had a wonderful time exchanging their views, exploring new dimensions, unfurling their creativity, sharing their concerns, coming to a common conclusion and of course making new friends of the same age and same grade.”
She concludes by stating that “This interaction proved that incorporation of judicious use of technology in the classroom teaching would surely break all barriers and enable us teachers and our students to convert the whole world into a global village of peace and harmony amidst pollution free natural environment.”
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