For second-grader Sameer Miglani, seeing his grandparents usually meant a plane ride, for him or for them, halfway around the world to a village in India, 400 miles away from New Delhi. But technology has a way of changing things. Now he can talk with them "face to face," really screen to screen, with an Internet teleconferencing tool called Skype.

On Thursday, May 14, Sameer and his entire class got to talk to his grandparents and ask them questions about what life is like in India. The questions ranged from "what are houses made of in India?" to "why is India so hot and Russia so cold, even though they're close together?" and "what is India's favorite sport?"

The answers, respectively, were that houses in India were made out of wood, brick, and other kinds of materials like houses in the United States, but that there were houses made of clay; a range of mountains separate the two countries; and cricket. Sameer was an excellent moderator, too, making the best use of time and directing his classmates and making sure everyone could understand the questions and answers.

Sameer's parents, Bobby and Ritu Miglani, were on hand to talk to Ritu's parents, and camera crews from local news channels as well as two newspapers showed up to take pictures of and document the event.

The idea for using Skype came up when Ritu Miglani (she and her husband are both physicians) was having lunch with West Salem guidance counselor Mary Gubala after a career fair for the school's fifth grade. Having lived in the U.S. for 13 years, travel is a requirement to see their faraway family members. Ritu mentioned that she hadn't seen her mother and father since the summer before, and a plan was hatched to show both the Miglanis and Dianna Beamer's second grade class the wonders of technology.

Skype is the new pen pal program -- students at the elementary school had written letters to people from students at East Salem Elementary to a few other countries, but the videoconference added a much more personal dynamic.

"Sam[eer] got eyeglasses, and they'd never even seen him with glasses," Ritu said.

To learn more about Skype, visit www.skype.com.