Sunday, August 12, 2012

Virtual Field Trip

Here is the link to my virtual field trip:  EDIM 508 Final Project


For my final project for this course, I created a virtual field trip that takes my students to a few places around the French speaking world.   When I first thought of an idea for this project, I thought that I would just have students learn information about various French speaking places.  Then, I thought that I should try and include some grammar and vocabulary into the assignment.  Culture is easy to teach, but it’s difficult sometimes to find assignments that involve grammar that my students would be interested in.  Therefore, I decided to have my students write a journal entry in the past tense that describes a trip they took around the French speaking world. 

This assignment would help my students develop their respectful and ethical minds.  This virtual field trip exposes students to aspects of the life and culture in four distinct areas of the Francophone world.  It brings in aspects of daily life, art, geography, animals, landmarks, and much more.  This assignment allows students to look at other cultures and places in a way that is exciting and motivating.  “We can no longer simply draw a curtain or build a wall that isolates groups from one another indefinitely” (Gardner, pg 94).  It is vital that our students learn about other ways of life.  So many of my students have never left the greater Baltimore area, and they have no idea what life is like in places outside of Maryland.  It is especially important for me, as a French teacher, to help my students see beyond Maryland.

It is important for “human beings to accept the differences, learn to live with them, and value those who belong to other cohorts” (Gardner, pg 94).  A big concept that I teach is “different, not weird”.  When my students begin learning French, and learning about the various cultures, I hear the word “weird” constantly.  I work hard to change that way of thinking.  My students eventually come to understand that other cultures are not weird, they are just different than what they are used to.  “Respect for others should permeate one’s life”, and I hope that through assignments such as this one, I can help my students learn to respect other cultures (Gardner, pg 111).


Project Resources:

Gardner, H. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Harvard Business School Press: Boston, MA

Eiffel tower. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.eiffel-tower.us/Eiffel-Tower-History.html
Reinhardt Dining. (Photographer). (2012). Paris cafe. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.reinhardtdining.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/paris-cafe.jpg

Consulate General of Madagascar. (n.d.). Madagascar tourism. Retrieved from http://www.madagascarconsulate.org.za/tour.html

Travel Tahiti. (Photographer). (n.d.). Dance. [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.traveltahiti.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/dance-21.jpg

Pioch, N. (19, September 2002). Gaugin, paul. Retrieved from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gauguin/



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