Class goes global with viral idea
A Clyde primary school teacher has gone viral on social media asking for strangers from around the world to send postcards to her class as a part of their inquiry learning.
Sydney Robertson said she got the idea one morning while scrolling through social media.
She came across a high school teacher from overseas collecting postcards from around the world.
"I thought we could do that, so I pitched it to my class."
The response had been incredible, with more than 40,000 views and postcards arriving from all over the world.
The year 6 and 7 pupils were instantly hooked on the idea and began to discuss how and who they could get postcards from, she said.
Miss Robertson had the idea to tie the postcard project in with the class' inquiry project, about Kōpūwai and the Clever Girl, a traditional Māori story set on the banks of the Clutha River.
"So we compared some different versions of the narratives and then discussed how it relates to Central Otago now and how there are lots of different people in Central from all over the world."
The class started on May 15 by connecting with family and friends while Miss Robertson shared videos on her social media pages, which she set up three years ago to share her teaching journey.
The videos asked people to send postcards and include information about where they were from, as well as how to say "welcome to Central Otago" in their language.
"Postcards started arriving from all over and we decided to take things a step further by creating a wish list.
"It's now filled with hopes of hearing from famous Kiwis, sports teams, local legends, even the Country Calendar crew, a pub owner from Ireland and, of course, [American basketball player] LeBron [James]."
The class was buzzing after going viral.
The pupils said they were grateful for the postcards they had received.
"It's been an amazing way to connect the classroom to the wider world and celebrate the diversity of Aotearoa and beyond," Miss Robertson said.
She and her class hoped to learn how to say "welcome to Central Otago" in as many languages as possible in order to create a video welcoming seasonal workers to the region.
ella.jenkins@odt.co.nz
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