Calamvale Community College continues to stay ahead of the curve by forging strong international connections in new and innovative ways. This term, the College has initiated the “Global Collaborative Classrooms” project, which involves real-time audio-visual exchange with primary school classrooms across the globe.
This project stems from an Education Queensland innovation and learning initiative – the College successfully bid for and received a grant which included the provision of advanced technological equipment. As such, this project utilises a digital platform to bridge between two continents and pursue meaningful global relationships whereby our students can broaden their international mindedness and sensitivity.
Our first global partnership, forged with Dongdae Primary School in South Korea, commenced in Semester 1. Collaboration sessions with Dongdae students have proven fruitful and stimulating for our Year 5 learners who were nominated by their teachers for this project.
Across the semester, collaborative classes with Dongdae have explored the unique aspects of daily life and school learning in both South Korea and Australia. Our students discussed their Media Arts projects, which centred on health and wellbeing, and responded to questions from their Korean buddies. Likewise, Dongdae’s students provided interesting information about the popular culture of South Korea, including an entertaining introduction to K-Pop.
Most recently, our students received a thoughtful welcome package from Dongdae, filled with delicious Korean snacks, key rings detailing our students’ Korean names, and traditional Korean flutes called sogeum. Over the next sessions, we intend to learn how to play this instrument, and it would be great to perform something together. The package was opened during a live-stream class – this allowed the Korean students to share in the excitement while their Calamvale friends explored their personalised gifts.
Our students intend to reciprocate by sending over some iconic Australian items and artefacts. This will be followed by a collaborative session during which our students will explain the significance of these items to their Korean counterparts, once again allowing for greater cultural insight and discussion.
We have also joined with Haemi Middle School in Seosan, South Korea for a class on Humanities lead by Mr. Matt Butterworth.
Over the coming weeks, Calamvale will initiate partnerships with new countries from across Asia. Our students and Mrs. Marie Moo will showcase Pepper the Robot to their new friends from Feng Seng Senior High School from Taiwan. Lead by Mrs. Francine Potts, a collaborative classroom focussing on hospitality and nutrition will operate in partnership with Cheonseong Middle School from Yangsan, South Korea.
Further live collaborations are in discussion with schools in China, Taiwan and Japan. The subsequent sessions will cover a variety of topics, including language exchange and enrichment, musical performances, and reading classes with Australian picture books.
As an IB World School, these collaborative relationships strengthen our commitment to fostering global citizens and help prepare our students for their global futures. We plan to integrate global collaboration into our units of inquiry and extend these sessions to benefit students across multiple year levels. The long-term goal is to offer every student the opportunity to collaborate with an international school through the “Global Collaborative Classrooms” project.
We look forward to developing our partnerships with schools in South Korea and fostering invaluable relationships with others across the globe.