Russian schoolchildren are making friends with children from India

Nizhny Novgorod School No. 91 schoolchildren teamed up with students from St. Paul's School in South India as part of the "Friendship Teleconference." The project lasted from May to October 2024. The children filmed reports and cartoons during the teleconference, communicated, and wrote a book.

During the holidays alone, a team of 50 children and 20 mentor teachers prepared 8 reports in Russian and English dedicated to the history of Nizhny Novgorod, famous fellow citizens, and landmarks.

According to Lyudmila Metelkova, an English teacher and teacher of the institution's animation club, the "Friendship Teleconference" motivates students to study Indian culture and allows Russian students to make friends in other countries worldwide.

In the fall, the students drew illustrations and wrote texts for a guidebook to Nizhny Novgorod. An interactive collection with QR codes brought together all the videos filmed. Watching the work of media workshops in Nizhny Novgorod, children from Trikaripur also devised a script for a cartoon about the friendship of superheroes from India and Russia but have not yet had time to implement it.

The project ended with a teleconference between Nizhny Novgorod and Trikaripur. The project curator, Natalya Bogdanova, visited the Indian school, showed the students the videos filmed for them, and presented the resulting book. They, in turn, showed their new friends the folk dances of the state of Kerala.

Author: Ivan Vavilov