Lockdown in France: Coronavirus rewrites the teaching playbook
24 March, 2020
English teacher Carole Detemple had three days to tear up the teaching playbook as she knew it and create a virtual classroom where to teach pupils confined with their Paris apartments by the coronavirus.
As she swaps the whiteboard for a webcam, the pandemic sweeping Europe is forcing Detemple, who teaches at the International Bilingual School (EIB), to rethink how she holds her classes.
"I'm somebody who constantly throws out questions to my pupils. I'd like replies from their website, but with 26 of these on a screen, raising or not really a hand icon, it's incredibly difficult. So I'm totally changing how I really do things," she said.
Detemple isn't alone. Her pupils are among about 1.25 billion globally who cannot head to school as the coronavirus prompts countries to close borders, put citizens under lockdown and shut schools, factories and businesses.
The EIB is asking its teachers to conduct their classes through the video web conferencing software Zoom. Minor teething problems aside, 14-year-old pupil Candice Lescure said the transition to a virtual learning environment had been smooth
"It's as though we're in class," she said, adding that the web lessons brought welcome connection with her friends.
However, it has not been all straightforward in France. Assignments are being passed out via email, government education platforms, WhatsApp and even by post.
Social media has been replete with parents pulling their hair out over dodgy online connections, overloaded public portals, and the challenges of balancing day jobs and home-schooling.
"We're understanding how to live side-by-side," Candice's mother Marie said wryly.
It is still not clear when schools will re-open.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said the favored scenario was for schools to resume on, may 4, following the Easter holidays, if the general public health situation allowed, and that he still wanted school-leavers to sit their baccalaureate exams.
For the time being, Detemple said, her role was also to greatly help parents keep their children sane through the unprecedented lockdown.
"They're stuck in the home, with their parents, struggling to see their friends," she said. "Here we are able to take them into another universe."
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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