Christchurch Students Skyping Their Way Around The World
A small Christchurch school is creating big opportunities for its students as it connects online with classes from all
around the world. In the past few weeks classes at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Whanau Tahi, a Māori language school in
Spreydon have participated in mystery Skype sessions with other classes from Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii and California.
Mystery skyping is both exciting and competitive, with students from each class racing to be the first to guess the
other’s location. Students use their detective skills t asking Yes/No questions and using atlases to figure out where in
the world the other class is.
Principal Melanie Riwai-Couch said that the mystery SKYPE sessions were part of the school’s strategy to become a leader
in learning with digital technologies and to expose their students to different cultures from around the world. “We are
lucky to have amazing teachers who have embraced online learning and go the extra mile to make learning exciting for our
tamariki”, she said.
Te Whanau Tahi was one of the schools proposed to merge by the Ministry of Education. Since last year time the school
roll has grown from 82 students to 120.
ENDS