Kampung Little Skypers
Thursday, September 22, 2016
These are my eager to learn little skypers!
Last night we had a virtual field trip to Cape Town, South Africa. At the luxury of our living room, we 'flew' there conveniently but I really hope to breathe in their weather. In Cape Town, we visited Sanccob.
It is a non-profit organisation that serves to promote awareness about wild life especially sea birds and helping them to survive in the wild. We were entertained by Ms. Hardy and Steve the famous penguin who walked us through their facilities and some learning materials about the conservatory work and the penguins.
I booked the trip via Microsoft in Education about a month ago and corresponded with Ms. Hardy via Skype multiple times to confirm on the details. She is professional in managing our booking and graciously accept my invitation to Skype (I was anxious as I don't have a proper classroom in school, and the audience was just me and my children).
Prior to the trip, we did some homework about the centre and what they do so that we have some ideas on the things that they do. We went through their website, gathering information and looking at the pictures of the facilities. During this investigation, I solicited some information from my children regarding on what they have read and what kind of questions they would like to ask during the trip. We also browse through quick history about South Africa and my children were shocked to learn on apartheid which was practiced a long time ago. I like the fact that they were able to reflect and what it feels like to be an outcast in their own country.
After some preliminary investigation about the trip, my little skypers were excited and look forward to it. They got ready early and we anticipated some of the things which we think will happen during the trip. The trip was smooth and Ammar managed to answer a lot of questions from Ms. Hardy and I have to admit he is very smart. While I'm not sure what happen to Fahim because he was quiet the whole time but during debriefing he asked some questions irrelevant to the trip but about South Africa in general.
Beside the main attraction which was Steve the penguin, we were in awe when Ms. Hardy showed a picture of the landscape of Cape Town. It is magnificent, Masya Allah! Wish that could roll on it's table top mountain! Imagine we roll and sing 'The Sound of Music' sans Julie Andrews because she would steal my limelight of course!
Would we Skype again? Yes, we will! I think my children and I would have better exposure to others in terms of language exchanges, cultural appreciation and ideology understandings that would broaden our view without much resources being utilized. Insya Allah we will go some other places after this. May Allah grant us meetings with great people who in honest pursuit of knowledge and pure hearts. Ameen.
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