Skype Task in a German Primary School

Disgrifiad

In this task, two remote classrooms engage in an online communication using Skype as a platform to enable real-time exchange. The learners in the German class are 7-8 years old and it is their first year of learning English as a foreign language. In the pre-task, the teacher used the IWB to set the context by showing a map of France and pictures of the partner school and classroom, which helped the learners to understand that the communication would take place in English as a lingua franca. Additionally, the German learners watched a video of a French learner, in which he gave some information about himself. The core task was to record a video selfie, upload it for the French learners to watch, and then engage in a real-time online conversation using Skype. Each learner had a partner in the remote classroom, assigned by the teacher. Since the French learners are third graders and have more experience in EFL, they led the conversation by making three statements about their partners, to which the German learners answered by saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Two statements were ‘correct’ (the German learners’ task was passive: to listen and confirm), whereas one of the statements was intentionally ‘false’ (the German learners’ task was active: to listen and say the correct sentence). Once all three statements were stated and corrected, the German learners repeated all the information, and showed a paper with their name, age and favourite colour.

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