For one classroom full of fifth-grade students at Childs Elementary School last month, Posoltega, Nicaragua, was just a few feet away and songs of both countries filled the same air.
The conversation happened May 6 through a Skype session coordinated by Spanish and art teachers at Childs, University and Templeton elementary schools, as well as through the efforts of Bloomington Sister Cities International. Posoltega, along with Santa Clara, Cuba, is an official sister city of Bloomington.
“At Sister Cities, we felt it was important to create some connections between schools in Bloomington and the schools in Posoltega,” said David Boeyink, Sister Cities treasurer. “We felt that this was a perfect time to do it.”
Boeyink was referring to the fact that Childs, University and Templeton all have recently taken steps to become certified International Baccalaureate schools — meaning, among other things, that all students in kindergarten through fifth grade have Spanish class once a week as part of the IB curriculum.
The IB program aims to develop learners who are inquiring, open-minded, caring, balanced, reflective and effective communicators. Developing relationships with Bloomington’s sister cities fits right in line with those goals, said Adriana Spencer, Spanish teacher at University Elementary.
In coordination with Brandt Badger at Templeton and Gabriela Coolidge at Childs, the three Spanish teachers began working on the Bilingual Art and Literacy Exchange Program in coordination with members of Bloomington Sister Cities. The first project was to send bilingual bookmarks to children in Cuba that the students created in their Spanish and art classes with teachers Cassidy Young and Hannah Shuler.