Getting ready for Russia!

We've been having amazing conversations in my classroom regarding my fast-approaching trip to Russia. My students are really beginning to ask great questions as I've been prodding them for the type of information they would like to learn about their Russian teen counterparts. Big themes that have been coming up include: What do Russian teens like to do outside of school? What is their family life like? What kinds of things do Russians say about Americans or what are they taught about America? What do they like on their pizza? (a very popular question!). And, what kinds of music do they like to listen to?

In preparation for my trip, my students filled out index cards describing themselves and what life is like for a teenager in Sierra Vista, Arizona. On the backside of the card, they each wrote a probing question they would like to ask a Russian teen about what their life is like in Khabarovsk. I'm very excited to be able to take my students' questions directly to the Russian classrooms and I hope it will be a great catalyst for discussions and an exchange of ideas between our two schools.

I also am hoping to shoots some short video interviews with my students to share with my Russian hosts as well as get our school's IT guy to finally allow me to set up Skype in my classroom so both classrooms can communicate with each other directly. Cross your fingers!