Rockingham County Public Schools

Little did they realize at the time, but students in Kim VanBenschoten's 4th grade class at Pleasant Valley Elementary were the envy of the Year 6 class at St. Osmund's Catholic Primary School in Salisbury, England, southwest of London. Why? It was all about snow.

As the RCPS 4th graders were at home enjoying a snow day recently, their e-Pals (the 21st century multimedia version of "pen pals") in Mr. Gareth Griffiths's class in Salisbury were trudging to school in the midst of the largest snowstorm the London area had seen in 18 years.

"You get all the snow and you have the day off. We're really quite jealous," one of the British students said as the two classes spoke to each other recently in a video chat session following the snow events in both areas. It seems the English school was caught off guard by the unexpectedly heavy snowfall, and some students were left unsure whether or not to attend school on the day the PVES students spoke with them. Only about half of the Year 6 class was in attendance, but school was held there as scheduled, much to the dismay of Mr. Griffiths's students. But, they were good sports about it and the students shared their snow stories.

Each month, the classes have the opportunity to speak to each other in a video chat where students in each class are paired and take turns sitting in front of the camera/microphone to speak to each other. Mrs. VanBenschoten and Mr. Griffiths tend to stick close by in order to help the conversations move along, to help those students who are a bit shy and more reluctant to project their voices loudly enough, and in some cases, to offer translations of sorts to help their students understand differences in word usage between the two English-speaking countries. In their recent chat, the PVES students were puzzled momentarily as Mr. Griffiths spoke of one of his student's building 7 snowmen in her "garden." Mrs. VanBenschoten and Mr. Griffiths used the opportunity to help their students understand that Americans make a distinction between the words "garden" and "yard," and the British use the word, "garden," in both instances. At times, students can also stumble trying to understanding the different dialects, so the teachers lend a hand in providing that sort of translation, as well.

Mrs. VanBenschoten and Mr. Griffiths have been matching up students for pen pal letter writing for the past 4 years. The first year, students wrote letters and mailed them back and forth. As the years passed, students expanded their letter writing to include emails, Powerpoint presentations, and they now use webcams to chat live once a month. During the video chats, students share poetry and other writing, compare cultures, holidays, and traditions, and talk about current events. Students also share what they are each learning in their classes.

Recently, Mrs. VanBenschoten set up a blog site for the two teachers to post videos, pictures, and comments about what is going on in each class. Visit this site at http://penpalpages.blogspot.com

Learn more about the experience though the eyes of the Year 6 students at their class website: http://www.st-osmunds.wilts.sch.uk/children/americanpenpals.htm

"This is a great connection to the world outside of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County teaching students to think beyond their own community," noted Mrs. VanBenschoten.

For more information about their project, contact Mrs. VanBenschoten at Pleasant Valley Elementary School in Harrisonburg, VA or Mr. Griffiths at St. Osmund's Catholic Primary School in Salisbury, England.

Large family comparisons
PVES student, Tyler Smith

Snowmen in the garden
PVES student, Timofey Shumeyko

Snow day talk
PVES student, Isaac Smith

Sharing artwork
PVES student, Tatyana Mendoza