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Mapping Planet Earth



In the Mapping Planet Earth video we learn about Ms. Appel, a “traveling” French teacher to elementary grade classrooms here in the United States. What especially stood out to me is that she uses a lot of the same strategies an English speaking classroom teacher would use….only she does it in French. I have commented before that good teaching is good teaching no matter the student or situation, so I found this to be particularly interesting.  Ms. Appel spoke only in French, but she used lots of visuals.  She gave her students many opportunities to engage and participate actively.  She allowed students to work with peers and to take on the role of teacher themselves.
One strategy that she used that was new to me (and I will surely use this when I become a teacher) was when she had the students demonstrate word meaning by using gestures.  Young students love to get up and move, and this technique of having them basically act out word meaning is brilliant!  I can envision using this method for teaching vocabulary to all students, but I am sure English learners would especially benefit from it.
I have thought a lot about how I will best help English learners who will be in my classroom, and what this video really helped me to remember is that students have to enjoy the process in order to really learn.  Ms. Appel made her class fun and interactive, and her students clearly loved participating.  I will try very hard to remember this lesson so that I will foster a positive learning environment for all of my students.

“Mapping Planet Earth” video

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