Team Teaching in the Global Classroom
The Partnership between Clément de Pémille Lycée Professionel in Gaubert, France and Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut
By Helen Wiley, French Teacher, Bassick High School and Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut
When I applied for a partner school through the Yale Resource Center for the Teaching of French in January 2004, I wondered what to expect. Before I had time to ponder the possibilities, Mireille Déchelette, director of YRCTF, informed me that Bassick High School and Clément de Pémille Lycée Professionel would be partners for the 2004-2005 school year. She also asked, almost as an aside, if I knew anyone willing to host my partner teacher, Noura Zadi-Ekoka, during the CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research) conference in early April. I immediately replied that Madame Zadi-Ekoka should stay with me.
What a wonderful experience that was! She and I had a chance to meet and plan what we would do for the next year. She also met my students and even went on a field trip to New York City. What at first was a nebulous idea about high schools on two continents evolved into a French/English team teaching project. This doesn’t mean all partnerships will develop in this way or that they should. What it does demonstrate is one possibility for using technology to broaden and deepen the second language experience both for teacher and student.
There are a few suggestions and caveats for other teachers interested in French/American partnerships. By the end of the 2004-2005 school year, we should have even more to share. First of all, our meeting in person gave our partnership a boost that is difficult to obtain through email-only exchanges. Next is developing a timetable. School calendars must be considered. Madame Zadi-Ekoka found the Bridgeport calendar confusing with days marked for staff development, conferences, and testing. I had to convert the French date notation – day/month/year to month/day/year – before I could make comparisons. I also noticed French vacations are longer than American ones. Once our partnership calendar was created, we then began constructing the framework for our students to meet and exchange information. In other words, we established an international calendar, then built a virtual space for our intercontinental classroom. We will use my school webpage to share our calendar, activities, student exemplars and photos.
We discussed how best for our students to interact. At that point administration expressed concerns about students exchanging email without supervision. I also remembered my previous attempts to have students write to pen pals. Without my making their writing a part of a structured lesson, the exchanges were in English and completed in a haphazard fashion.
Madame Zadi-Ekoka and I wanted more for our students and from our students. How to do this? We decided on a thematic exchange. While she was here, we set up a year’s worth of topics for the students to discuss and explore. Students will develop their topics from brainstorming to finished product in the target language. Their final drafts will be put in a folder and exchanged by teacher to teacher email. This will give the recipient teacher flexibility in presenting the material. For example, September’s topic is “Qui suis-je?/Who Am I?” Students will write a short autobiography telling about themselves, their families, and their class schedules. They will also send digital photographs to share with their new friends. I plan to use the work sent from France in large group and individual activities. Of course the material will also appear on the walls of our real classrooms and our virtual classroom – our web page.
Besides all the activities exchanged through email, we will also have real-time classes through bi-monthly teleconferences. These meetings will be in the students’ first language. The idea of teleconferencing is intimidating enough for the students without the additional pressure of speaking in the second language.
To some the structure we have developed may seem rigid. However, it allows for differentiating instruction and meeting state and national standards. Many students have a very limited knowledge of the second language. Because of this, they need topics and vocabulary lists to help them begin the creative process. This strong framework is the medium for their independent exploration of the second language and its culture. For Madame Zadi-Ekoka and me this base is a point of departure toward creating a viable and flexible curriculum with lesson plans and activities available to other teachers interested in partnerships and team teaching in a global classroom.
