“What have I learned from 2020?”
This was the question posed to students by Adrian Colombet, an English instructor from Instituto Albert Einstein (IAE), MICDS’ sister exchange school in Mar del Plata, Argentina. It was also part of a longer conversation that those same students had with Upper Schoolers from Patrick Huewe’s Spanish 450 class on November 20.
After some quick introductions, students were sent to their Zoom breakout rooms to ask each other questions in English and Spanish to practice the languages they are studying at MICDS and IAE. In addition to discussing the topic question, they shared information about their lives as teenagers in their hometowns. Upper Schoolers learned that students from IAE have spent their entire academic year (March-November) in remote learning. Their weather is starting to warm up now and they will begin their three-month summer vacation in December. They are hoping to return to their classroom in March for in-person learning.
The exchange program with Argentina was not able to take place this year because of the pandemic, but thanks to Zoom, MICDS students have a new way to connect with people from around the world and learn from each other. Spanish 450 students look forward to hearing about their Argentine counterparts’ summer break when they return to school in March and are excited about the possibility of starting the exchange again during the 2021-2022 school year.
