While traditional pen–pal partnerships may be on the decline, students at St Pius X Catholic Primary School in Manning are using technology to make new, international friendships. 

Excitement levels were high when the school’s Year 5 students arrived early on 26 June, as they knew they would soon come face-to-face with friends on the other side of the world, with whom they had been collaborating for an entire semester. 

Teacher Adrienne Breglia said her students had been working in groups to develop a TV advertisement that promoted the city of Edmonton, Canada.

Students were required to collaborate with their Canadian counterparts from Grade 4 at St Marguerite’s Catholic School to learn all about their community. 

The advertisements had to provide information on climate, landforms, natural vegetation and native animals. 

“Throughout the project we used a variety of tools to communicate with the school in Edmonton such as email, Padlet and Flipgrid,” Ms Breglia said. 

“We were able to ask relevant questions to help our research and were able to seek feedback in order to improve our TV advertisements.” 

Despite a 14-hour time difference, the students celebrated with a question and answer Skype session, at 9am in Perth and 7pm the previous night in Canada. 

“The outcome was 26 highly motivated students who loved sharing their learning with students on the other side of the world,” Ms Breglia said. 

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