Grade 7 students from Notre Dame Catholic School in Orillia have been “hanging out” online with their Grade 6 pals at St. Angela Merici in Bradford. The French classes use Google Hangouts to interact with each other and practise using their second language. During the first interaction, students played Qui-est ce? (Guess Who), where they would create a profile and then disguise themselves with outfits and props. Participants took turns asking each other questions in French until “la personne mystère” was discovered. 
The next goal was to have the students interact with each other one-on-one. The teacher paired students with similar interests up and had them spend time together online to practise their French conversational skills.
Recently, on May 24th, the students from Notre Dame made the trip down to Bradford to meet their virtual pen pals in person. The St. Angela Merici gymnasium had been transformed into a New Orleans French Market where students participated in various French activities such as mask masking, kahoot, card games and Jazz music and even got to enjoy an authentic French feast!
The event was an amazing opportunity for students to participate in an authentic French experience and practise all that they have learned in class. All of the students are excited to continue their studies and virtual relationship with their friends on Google.