Skyping With the U.K.

When one of our second grade teachers wanted to Skype with a class in another country, her Tech Coach turned to Twitter to ask if there was another teacher outside of the United States who wanted to Skype with a second grade class in Memphis, Tennessee (Elvis country). She found a first grade teacher in a school just north of London. It can be a challenge communicating with a class in another country due to the differences in time zones. But we scheduled a Skyping session for 9:00 AM Memphis time, which was 3:00 PM U.K. time - right before their dismissal. We had some slight communication problems in that we saw and heard them but we couldn't seen them actually moving. It was fun for our boys from an all boys schools to see a coed school and to listen to their accents. We got a chance to exchange some questions also. We asked each other about the current weather. Interestingly enough, England was warm and sunny and we were overcast with drizzle, which is just the opposite with what you would expect. One little girl asked if any of our boys had been on any interesting trips. One of our students told of his trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and told them of the huge chocolate bar he had. When asked if the children in English had Hershey bars, they said, "No." I have to admit that I was a little surprised by that. I think that if we had had enough time to ask if they had Hershey "Kisses" they would have certainly answered with a yes!