Google India writes a letter to the parents

In an unusual letter to the parents, Google India today announced a fun, yet educational campaign -- #SummerWithGoogle, that is aimed at helping kids and parents spend more time learning together, make new discoveries and teach them how to become responsible explorers of the web.

Summers in India is that time of the year when the temperatures are rising, schools are closed for vacations and more often than not, kids are glued to their screens, spending those extra hours on the Internet. And while the situation is worrisome for some parents, it is also an opportunity for them to make the summers exciting and fruitful for their kids.

This June, Google will host an interactive summer camp across and the road to the summer camp will include four assignments that will make the ‘Summer of 2018’ last a lifetime for the kids. Google will entrust kids to perform a variety of activities that will keep them engaged throughout their summer vacations and will release one assignment every week for four weeks. From exploring the country that is home to all the Pandas in the world on Google Earth, to saying ‘Gracias’ and ‘Por Favor’ as they learn phrases in Spanish and other languages on Google Translate, to taking dramatic virtual tours of museums to make their own gallery on Google Arts & Culture; and ultimately building their very own app to share their summer experience.

Each assignment will also carry questions on the four fundamental codes of being Internet Awesome and teach the young internet explorers a lesson or two on how to be -- Internet Smart, Internet Alert, Internet Strong, Internet Kind and Internet Brave. Taking the efforts on-ground, Google has also partnered with Kidzania to set-up a ‘Summer with Google’ experience zone where kids will be encouraged to take a virtual tour and learn about the essentials of being safe on the Internet.

On completing the tasks, upto 100 kids and their parents/ guardians, from across the country will get the opportunity to attend the summer camp with Google at Google Gurgaon or Hyderabad office, where they will get the first-hand experience of Google technology, indulge in fun activities and participate in quizzes.

Speaking about the initiative, Sunita Mohanty, Director, Trust and Safety, Google India, said, “As a parent myself, it has always been a challenge for me to engage my kids meaningfully, summer after summer.  And the struggle is real for many more parents. Therefore, we partnered with our product leaders to bring parents, a series of activities they can do along with their kids to make this a memorable summer. The entire campaign will combine real world projects with virtual learning experiences and will equip kids with the right digital skills so when they return to school post this summer, they are Internet Awesome.”

To participate, all one needs is internet access over a PC, smartphone or tablet.

Here’s a breakdown of what the four assignments will entail:

• In the first week, the kids will be asked to answer one of the three questions to unlock a destination and explore the same on Google Earth. They will then need to answer a set of questions while exploring the country. On their journey, we will also guide them with safety tips & tricks online.
• The second week will bring more excitement as the kids will be tasked with learning phrases of a new language, related to the destination they earlier explored, using Google Translate. They will then be asked to answer language specific objective and subjective questions.
• In the third week, the kids will be assigned to examine the culture and art of the destination they explored on Google Earth. They will have to use Google Arts & Culture app to create their own gallery of paintings post a virtual visit to the location. As an additional ask, kids will be encouraged to visit a nearby museum or a monument and add a picture to their gallery
• After exploring the geography, understanding the language and gaining knowledge about the art and culture of the country, the kids will be accredited to create a fun app using Scratch, entailing all that they have learnt over three weeks.

The assignments can be accessed on #SummerWithGoogle website and Google’s social media. All the four assignments will help kids discover different aspects of a country they choose and will have a mix of objective and subjective questions, drawing out kids’ creativity and imagination.