Face To Face, A World Away

By Nancy K. Crevier

 “The world is flat!” said Bridgeport Diocese Schools Superintendent Margaret Dames, referring to the book of that name by New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman. “We are closer to one another and have to develop relationships,” she said, and that is why building international relationships is important.

Dr Dames, Deputy Superintendent John Cook, Director of Instructional Technology Diane Tung, and Immaculate High School President Kathleen Casey joined Monsignor Robert Weiss and St Rose School Principal Mary Maloney early Thursday morning, May 23, as the preschool class of teachers Angela Nastri and Amanda Delaney made initial contact with kindergarten students a world away.

Using Skype technology and through efforts coordinated by Helen Yi Chen, senior consultant for the China program for the Bridgeport Diocese, a dozen St Rose preschoolers watched and listened as the children of the Yu Nias Kindergarten in Hangzhou City, China, greeted them, saying, “Welcome to China,” “Nice to meet you,” and even, “I love you.”

Although sound quality and video was somewhat erratic, the St Rose class responded enthusiastically, saying “Ni Hao” (Hello), the greeting they had practiced. The audio problems were not detrimental to the learning experience, though, said Ms Chen.

“Our focus is on letting the children have the feeling of connecting to another nation’s peers, and have fun with it. The passion and excitement are there, and the technical problems could be improved along the way,” she said in an e-mail to The Bee, following the morning’s program.

A native of China who has raised her children in the United States, after moving here 26 years ago, Ms Chen said that she and her husband are great believers in education. She is the author of five best-selling books in China, four of which are related to education. She views her current position as a positive manner in which to help youth understand the greater world, and sponsored a leadership team from the Bridgeport Diocese to China this past February.

“Now, when the world is getting ‘flatter,’ we parents should be aware of the urgency to let our kids understand the world, where our children stand, and how much we could learn from the world,” Ms Chen said.

After exchanging their first greetings, one by one the 12 children came forward to introduce themselves to their new friends. Each child wore a name card around his or her neck that could be plainly viewed, and carried a picture of something they liked.

Van Heim-Sherwood stepped in front of the video monitor and said, “My name is Van. I’m 5 years old and I like to play with trucks,” holding up a picture card of a truck.

“I like my horse,” said Shannon White, holding up a picture of a galloping pony.

All the while, the youngsters watched the real-time projection of the sister class in China, and the excited reactions of those children. Skipping, dancing, waving, and clapping, they made known through their gestures their pleasure at connecting with the children in Newtown.

“We been preparing for this for a few weeks,” said Ms Nastri. “Our children practiced saying their names [for the video monitor], and we learned where China is, and that they are making friends so far away. It’s the beginning of an ongoing relationship,” she said.

Along with practicing introducing themselves, the children at St Rose has also practiced performing a song, “Tony Chestnut,” a playful music action song. In response to a special musical piece performed by the children of Yu Nias, the local preschoolers leaped to their feet and, along with their teachers, Ms Maloney, Dr Dames, and Msgr Weiss, enthusiastically displayed their musical abilities.

“Our goals is to start Mandarin Chinese language classes in all 38 of our schools,” said Dr Dames, after the children had waved goodbye and the Skype conversation was ended. “By the next time we Skype with these children, you will see a big difference,” she said. The children will maintain a relationship through a pen pal program, she said, until their next video conversation. Dr Dames praised the efforts of Msgr Weiss and Ms Maloney in bringing the program to fruition. “They are responsible for all the good things that happen here,” she said.

Ms Casey pointed out that there were already children in the St Rose preschool class committed to attending Immaculate High School in Danbury. “We have to prepare our kids for the global marketplace,” she said, one reason that this introductory program at St Rose is so exciting. “It makes us more empathetic and understanding. This is a partnership [among our schools]. We have to look at how do we build a curriculum for kindergarten through grade 12,” she said.