I was sickened to learn that this weekend, someone broke in to the Great Ormond Street Hospital and stole the Christmas presents destined for the sick children in the hospital. Words fail me. My faith in humantiy was slightly restored when, in response to this, a lot of private individuals and companies contacted the hospital and wanted to replace the presents for the children.
Skype also got together with the hospital and used their technology to spread the spirit of Christmas to the children in the hospital. They streamed a special performance of Peter Pan from Llandudno’s Venue Cymru live to the children of the hospital.
I think this is a lovely way to show how technology can be used to really make the world a more accessible place. Bringing a little joy to those stuck in hospital over the festive period is a wonderful initiative, but Skype is also great for helping keep in touch with friends and relatives who live far away throughout the year too. As a teacher, I'm signed up to Skype in the Classroom and I use it for conversation classes with the kids at school. We've talked with teens in Kentucky and New Jersey - I was actually starting to worry that we were jinxing people because we spoke to the Kentucky school just before a tornado hit their town then we did a session with a New Jersey school a couple of weeks before Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc in the area! It really brought it home to the kids at my school though, who paid much more attention to the news because it mentioned places they'd heard of and felt a connection with.
As a parent, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all time kids spend on the computer is to be avoided, but technology can actually be a really useful learning tool. It's lovely to see it being used to spread some Christmas cheer to those in need too.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored but hopefully entertaining post !
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I teach nursery children and you will be astounded by the amount they know about technology at such a young age! :)
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