Skype classroom in class 6 with a South Korean school

A select group of students of class VI of The Indian School participated in a Mystery Skype video conferencing session with the students of the Neulpureun Elementary School in South Korea on 22 April 2019.

Mystery Skype is a critical thinking challenge that has conquered the hearts of teachers and students all over the world. It is an educational game that connects two classrooms from across different parts of the world. The teachers conducting the session know the place and name of the school they are Skyping, but the students are not told. Thus, the goal of Mystery Skype is to deduce the location of the other classroom geographically by asking yes and no questions. It engages all the students in a guessing game of sorts which is informative, interactive and interesting.

The excitement was palpable as the connection was set-up and students of both the schools engaged in a lively exchange of questions as they tried to figure out the home country of each other. They enthusiastically took turns asking pertinent questions like Are you in the northern hemisphere? Is your country near the equator? Do you have Russia as a neighbouring country? Is there any ocean surrounding your country?

Taking help of a world atlas our children deftly identified the country of the schoolchildren at the other end. Students from South Korea, too, were able to guess accurately that they were talking to their peers in India.

Keeping in mind the ongoing Literary Week at School, our students recited Where the mind is without fear by Rabindranath Tagore. Suitably impressed, the South Koreans responded with two gems of their own, Cosmos by Wonjae Lim and My Friends Face by Seung Ryul Choi.

The session proved to be an enthralling experience for the students who shared that they were not averse to having more of these synergetic exchanges. It was wonderful to see the students take charge, communicate and work as a team.