Sixth Graders Hold Game-Show Style Conferences with their Tamagawa Buddies

This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly

The end of January marked the beginning of the winter video conferences between grade 6 students and their contemporaries from Harker’s sister school, Tamagawa Gakuen, in Tokyo, Japan.

“All of our sixth graders have been partnered with a buddy in Japan whom they have been emailing through their computer science class,” said Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.

Back in September, grade 6 students “met” their Tamagawa buddies and families from Japan for the first time via two separately held video conferences.

This spring, a contingent of Harker’s grade 6 students will head to Japan as part of the reciprocal exchange program.

“The video conferences are fun events held on the Blackford campus. We have a translator present to assist with communication,” explained Walrod. “The students are always so excited for them!”