[New York's] Onondaga Road Elementary fifth-graders Skype with class in Cambodia

Published: Monday, May 14, 2012, 

By Catie O'Toole / The Post-Standard 

View full sizeCourtesy of Bonnie Russell: Onondaga Road Elementary parent Kathleen Hart-Zavoli talks to students about the Cambodia Tomorrow English School in Kompong Speu, Cambodia, and introduces the students from the two schools to each other during a Skype session May 9.

Pupils in Sue Erhard’s fifth-grade class at Onondaga Road Elementary School in the West Genesee school district recently learned about Cambodian culture and schooling in Cambodia, while helping students in Cambodia practice speaking English.
Onondaga Road Elementary and Cambodia Tomorrow English School in Kompong Speu, Cambodia used Skype to ask each other questions for about 20 minutes May 9. It was 9 a.m. for the students at Onondaga Road Elementary, but 8 p.m. for the students in Cambodia.
Students at both schools prepared questions in advance.

The students in Cambodia asked Onondaga Road fifth-grader Brayden Powell what he does during vacation. Powell said he went to Colorado on his last vacation to visit family. He also explained to the students that Colorado is a state here in America.
His classmate, Annie Marnell, asked the students at the Cambodia Tomorrow English School how much gas costs. Student in Cambodia replied, "$1.35 per liter."
Kathleen Hart-Zavoli, an Onondaga Road Elementary parent whose two children were adopted from different orphanages in Cambodia, spoke to the students about the school in Cambodia and introduced the students to each other.
Hart-Zavoli, of Camillus, also is director of English education for Cambodia Tomorrow
(cambodiatomorrow.org), a non-profit group started by parents who adopted children from the orphanage.
The Cambodia Tomorrow School supports English education for children living at the orphan center and extremely low income children in Kompong Speu.