Nyam connects his French 2 class at NRHS with French school Collège G Brassens in Santeny, near Paris, via Skype.
New Richmond High School French teacher Roger Nyam connects his class with French school Collège G Brassens in Santeny, France to give students at each school a way to practice their conversational French and English.
New Richmond students get to see their French counterparts and have face to face conversations but with a twist. New Richmond students speak in French and Brassens students answer in Engish.
“I came up the idea because I realize that students being in an English speaking community didn’t have an opportunity to practice their French,” explained Nyam. “When they come to class, I teach them French and we speak French in class, but when they leave they don’t have an opportunity to practice.”
Nyam connected with the French school through an internet site for language teachers and discovered his French counterparts had the same problem and were looking for opportunities for their students to practice.
It wasn’t easy to get the students talking via Skype because of a six hour time difference.
“It took it awhile to put together because of time difference,” said Nyam. “When we are available they are not. They are getting ready to go home.”
New Richmond High School French II student Analiese Rohdes has a conversation with a student in Santeny, France via Skype.
The time difference limits conversations to roughly 15 minutes after the 7:40 a.m. first bell at New Richmond but that 15 minutes adds up with the students.
“Some of our students have been communicating with their students through emails so now they have the opportunity to actually see the person they have exchanging emails with and have a conversation with,” said Nyam.
