Skip to main content

Skype Task in a German Primary School

Description

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.

Clips

I think this was really important because some of my students had no clue where France is, they thought it is very far away. They didn’t know that people speak a different language there. For some kids it is really abstract, a different country. Some have never been more or less out of their town, which is sad. But they have no concept where is a country situated and that some things are going to be different. And especially during that time it was quite helpful for the students to know that there are other countries where they don’t speak our language. We were just starting to have some refugees coming into our school and coming into our class and I think that helped a lot for cultural learning in general. And then I had the opportunity to use the whiteboard for the introduction part to show pictures of Antibes, and of the school, of the classroom, so it got a bit more real for the students. Not so abstract anymore, if you have got authentic pictures.
This short sequence shows how the teacher introduced the main task, which was video conferencing with a remote classroom in another country. For such young learners, the notion of another country or another language can sometimes be difficult to understand, therefore the teacher spent lots of time on setting the context for her learners. In the video, she uses the IWB to show maps and flags of both countries as well as pictures of Nice and the partner school in Antibes. Lastly, a photograph of the French partner class is shown.
Select Video
Select Video
Select Video

Details

Pedagog Learners using their own resources;Real-world outcome
Target Language English
Learn Language German
Technology iPads/Tablets IWB Video conferencing
Area Life and Culture Listening / Viewing Oral Interaction Oral Presentation Vocabulary
Age 7-11
Level A1 Beginner
Education Sector Primary

Related iTilt Resources

Cartoons – Drag & Drop of Labels to Support Speaking

In this intermediate classroom the learners learn how to describe a cartoon by using specific descriptive sentence structures. Prior to this activity;the learners have used the spotlight tool…
View resource Cartoons – Drag & Drop of Labels to Support Speaking

Computer activities: teacher demonstrates web activities for stationwork

The teacher is launching stationwork with this mixed level class of primary EFL learners;demonstrating how learners should navigate a website when working individually on the class computers. She…
View resource Computer activities: teacher demonstrates web activities for stationwork

iMovie ‘What’s in my bag?’ task in a German primary school

Life and Culture
In this task, learners created short video clips describing the content of their school bags. The primary motivation was to share these videos later on with a remote…
View resource iMovie ‘What’s in my bag?’ task in a German primary school
View all Resources