Connecting students via google hangout

With the long weekend behind us, it’s been nice to return to our classes this week and pick up where we left off, with a crew of students who now know a lot more about us, about their classmates and about what (generally) to expect when they enter our classroom.

It feels good to arrive at a place where most students feel supported communicating in another language. Comfortable, even. But wait! I don’t want them to get too comfortable!

If I had my way, my students would all spend at least one month of the year on their own in a French speaking part of the world. The strides they would make by taking themselves out of their comfort zone would be off the charts! So, if I can’t ship them off to France, Québec or elsewhere, how can technology help me achieve something similar?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and also about the unique opportunity Cohort 21 has provided to connect with likeminded educators in the CIS Ontario community. What if our students collaborated with one another on a project, or simply in conversation using google hangouts? Once they were familiar with the technology, they could engage and record these conversations outside of class time, and we could observe them after the fact.

I see a great deal of potential in developing students’ spontaneous communication ability through an exercise that is relatively simple to set up. Or is it as simple as I think? Are there roadblocks I’m not fully considering (i.e. privacy concerns, undesired outcomes, lack of participation from other schools)?

Has anyone in the Cohort used google hangouts to facilitate activities/projects outside of class time, within or outside of your school?