Student link to counterparts in Europe
By Bob Reddy (Florida Catholic)
07/29/2016
Sixth Grade student at St. Martha Catholic School in Sarasota Skyped (video-conferenced) with students in Hungary throughout the school year thanks to the initative of Sister Cathy Bonfield SSND.
Educating students to become active participants in an increasing interconnected world has become easy for the students at St. Martha Catholic School in Sarasota.
It is there that students who have been making connections to other schools in Europe via Skype – a video-conferencing computer application that can link groups from around the world for real-time discussions.
Sixth Grade student at St. Martha Catholic School in Sarasota Skyped (video-conferenced) with students in Hungary throughout the school year thanks to the initative of Sister Cathy Bonfield SSND.
During the most recent school year, the sixth grade Language Arts class participated in the “Hanging Out with Hungary” connection, where students from St. Martha Catholic School and Szent Istven Iskola (St. Stephen Catholic School), in Mako, southeast of the capital Budapest near the Romanian border.
Sister Kathy Bonfield, SSND, came up with the idea to use Skype to enhance the comprehensive educational opportunities for her students following a visit to Hungary for a summer language program for her religious order.
A hallway wall at St. Martha Catholic School in Sarasota shows the accomplishments of two grades who Skyped (video-conferenced) with students in Hungary and Ireland during the most recent school year.
She developed a friendship with Sister Dominika Varga, SSND, from Hungary and they hatched a plan to connect their respective students.
Students from both schools enjoy the interaction which includes learning about each other’s culture, what activities they do, and it helps improve understanding and language skills. For the Hungarian students, they have an opportunity to practice English. For the St. Martha students, they learn the lesson of needing to speak clearly and precisely so they can be understood.
The most important aspect of this international connection is that students learn they are more alike than different and actually face similar challenges.
“It is about people coming together and sharing our experiences and ideas,” said sixth-grader Bernadette.
Madyson said it was “cool to see how well (the students from Hungary) can speak multiple languages. That is inspiring.”
For Pierce, he likes learning about other people and their unique perspective on the world, versus his own view from Southwest Florida.
The commonalities between the students from different countries proved to be the most intriguing for the students. Tastes in music, movies and food are not too different.
The St. Martha students learned about Hungarian culture, while sharing things that are unique in their own life. They also worked together to create PowerPoint presentations which were shared.
The students from the two countries exchanged emails and social media links so they could stay in touch beyond the classroom and talk about the bigger moments in their life. They all vowed to stay in touch with their partners throughout the summer after having exchanges contact information hoping to share vacation and summer camp stories. Some St. Martha students even made a commitment to try to learn a new language above and beyond the Spanish classes they take, noting the value of learning multiple languages as their Hungarian counterparts do.
In addition to the sixth grade students; fourth grade classes at St. Martha Catholic School connected with their counterparts at St. Joseph National School in Dunderry, Navan, County Meath, Ireland. Even the second grade students bridged a generational gap, communicating with retired women religious in Baltimore.
Sister Cathy plans to continue the Skyping opportunities at St. Martha in the coming school year, because the response of her students has been overwhelmingly positive, adding a new global dimension to their education.
Another sixth-grader, Jenna, summed up the year best: “What a great experience. I now have new friends in Hungary and hope to keep this connection going for a long time.”
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