Benner Elementary class connects with students in South America through global literacy program

Second-grade students at Benner Elementary School had the chance on Oct. 30 to connect via Skype with students in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was made possible through a global literacy project called the Global Read Aloud.

Teacher Nicole Harris introduced the GRA to her class so they could participate in the program for six weeks, beginning on Oct. 1. It allows students from around the world to connect through Skype, SeeSaw and Google Hangouts or other online platforms while reading a common book.

Harris said her class has connected with dozens of other students from schools across North and South America, all while reading the book, “A Boy Called Bat.”

They even marked locations of their connections on a map -- most which have come from the U.S. and Canada. The GRA is something Harris said she got involved in after learning about it online.

“It doesn’t matter how different we all are, we can still find a cool connection between us and use things like books to bring people together,” she said.

The Global Read Aloud program has about 1.2 million students participating from about 70 countries.

While connecting through Skype with students from the Belgrano Day School in Argentina, students from Benner Elementary and their counterpart class took turns asking each other questions about the book. They then answered the questions to the best of their abilities. Students also had the opportunity to tell each other about their schools.

*By Brit Milazzo, public relations director, BASD