Connected Classes: Malta & India

It has always been a dream of ours, the pupils at St Aloysius College Primary School, Balzan (Malta), Fr Jimmy Bartolo (School Rector) and the rest of the staff, to connect with a school outside the European region.  This year, two Prep 3 classes had the chance to experience this wonderful opportunity from the comfort of our classrooms here in Balzan, Malta.

Through links made from previous ‘connected classes’ as part of the Educate Magis programmes, we managed to make contact with a teacher in St Aloysius Gonzaga School, Mangalore, India.  This teacher, Ms Aparna Mlore, with close collaboration of the school principal Fr Melwyn Anil Lobo, accepted to join us for a connected classroom activity.

This school in India is located on the coastal region classed Karnate State, South India.  They are part of the St Aloysius Institutions with 145 years of Legacy.  We worked closely with Ms Aparna and her co-teacher of English and organised an activity where the children from Malta and those in India met through Google Meet and asked each other questions about each other’s country, traditions and way of life.

The next opportunity came up for the second Prep 3 class, who connected with St.Xavier’s School, Sahibganj, India.  Brother Pankaj Murmu, a Regent in our school currently serving with our Chaplaincy Team as Assistant Chaplain, happens to be a past pupil of this school.  With his help, we managed to connect with this lovely school in India.  Fr Arul Doss, the school principal of St Xavier’s School collaborated closely with us, and again, we, the two classes from different parts of the world, met through Google Meet.  The children were curious to get to know about each other and to see how they experience schooling differently.

What emerged mostly from these two lovely opportunities was that the children from Malta felt that they form part of a community as they had not realised that it is not just our school that follows an Ignatian tradition.  Both the children in Malta and those in India were exposed to different cultures and ideas.  For example, children in Malta saw the large classrooms and schools found in India and thus were exposed to a different reality.  They appreciated and were mesmerised by this, but at the same time expressed how the situation in Malta (with smaller classrooms and smaller pupil populations) has its benefits too – here they can share their thoughts and ideas and have others listen to them more easily than when forming part of a big class with many pupils.  All pupils and adults involved enjoyed this experience immensely and are looking forward to more similar opportunities in the future.  We hope that we will have the opportunity to work on a similar project in the coming scholastic year.

Though we’re so far away from each other,

We’re so excited to get to know one another.

India and Malta are so far apart,

And yet we connected from the start.

Although we come from cultures that differ,

There is one thing that we share,

We both follow St Ignatius and his love for all,

We both respond happily to his call,

To be men and women for others,

And live as one as sisters and brothers.