Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

Kids Initiative: Videoconference “Home Room” in Sri Lanka and Japan

Students Talk about the Most Important Things in Life

Students in Sri Lanka and Japan connected via videoconference on August 29, 2006 to conduct a joint “Home Room” session, participating in an activity to identify the most important things in life and share their perspectives.

Facilitated with the cooperation of Takushoku University, over a dozen students from Hoya Junior High School assembled at the TDLC to interact with their peers in Sri Lanka. Each site took time to produce a list of 9 “important things”. Comparing results, both sites regarded peace, freedom, clothing and food as important, but there were also notable differences. Sri Lanka named security, shelter, protection, water, fresh air, love & affection, while Japan listed dreams, smile, money, nature and environment. A student in Japan asked what “protection” meant, and a student in Sri Lanka wanted to clarify whether “dreams” meant “ambition”, asking for examples.

To help visualize their ideas, each side then prioritized items into a diamond-shaped list, placing what they regarded as most important at the top, and further discussed why certain ideas were more important than others.