Finding Skype partners can be difficult for a teacher while asking questions to strangers can be a scary situation for students. I tried to make the first opportunity my students had to skype a less fearful day by having them skype with my daughter or husband. Originally, the students had to write 10 questions for Jesus about his family in Spain, his favorite activities, etc. When it turned out that he had to work all morning last Friday, I convinced my daughter to skype with two of the classes. Kim is a Spanish major studying at Simpson and just happens to begin her Friday classes at 2 p.m. What perfect timing for her mother.
Kim has always been a guinea pig, in my classroom. When she was 3 or 4, she used to come and help me teach parts of the body. She has been behind the scenes more than her dad in recent years but she willingly answered more than 150 questions from more than 30 students in about 25 minutes. The last class of the day skyped with Jesus; this class had a harder time with the assignment. Jesus has a true Spaniard's accent while Kim's is a mixture of Spaniard, American, and Argentine. Kim also has the advantage of being bilingual so she can guess at what students are attempting to say while Jesus is left completely in the dark.
All in all, it was a good first attempt at skyping. Already I am looking through my list of inlaws and contacts in Spain to see who our next skype "victima" could be.
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