Global Chat

Five words set off a a flurry of whoops, cheers and applause Monday morning in s library.

"We listen to Justin Bieber." The simple sentence, uttered by a sixth-grade student from Winnipeg, Canada during a videoconference between Pennypack, and Porto, Portugal, was one of many instances Monday that showed Hatboro-Horsham fourth-graders they have much in common with other kids, regardless of time zone and locale. 

During the hour-long chat, Hatboro-Horsham student violinists performed music for their far-away peers watching, asked questions and shared a slice-of-life view of the Philadelphia suburbs in terms of schooling, foods, hobbies and entertainment. 

Steve Kistenmacher, a fourth-grade teacher at Pennypack, said the videoconference tied in with students' social studies and geography lessons.

"Everybody's different, but everybody's the same," Kistenmacher said. "The world is a community place."

Hatboro-Horsham fourth-graders have been studying various parts of the world on Google Earth and using the Worldbook Encyclopedia Online to see how geographic location and physical features of certain areas can impact culture and lifestyle of people who live there. 

The videoconference is part of a pilot program called "Global Perspectives." Organized by Pennypack teacher Carmela Curatola-Knowles and Hallowell's Kathy Krupa, the program will eventually expand to all elementary schools next year. The plan is to have fourth-graders at each elementary school videoconference with various countries. After these international videoconferences, students in each elementary school will share what they have learned from other countries around the world.

At the outset, difficulties with Pennypack's six-year-old video equipment caused students to miss the first 20 minutes or so of the videoconference. The three other classrooms participating were able to hear Pennypack, but the Hatboro students could not hear any of the other discussions. A grant provided by the Hatboro-Horsham Educational Foundation to Hallowell funded new equipment at that schoool, Curatola-Knowles said, adding that the brand-new devices helped the other Hatboro-Horsham classroom launch its videoconference without a problem. 

Curatola-Knowles said the purpose of videoconferencing is to teach students "21st Century skills and global awareness."

"We're not the only people on the face of the earth," she said.