When April Burton explains the intricacies of French grammar to her American classroom, the students are at home, in front of their computer or smartphone.
As for the homework, they will do it the following day, at school, thanks to the “flipped” classrooms approach made possible thanks to new technologies that are transforming education.
Burton, who teaches at Francis Howell Central High School in Cottleville, Missouri, decided last year to use the approach made popular in the United States since the Khan Academy began offering thousands of lessons and exercises online. “We really have to change the way things used to be done,” said Burton, a Southeast Missouri State University graduate in French education who has 14 years of teaching experience.
“There were so many things I wanted to do with my students but didn’t have the time, so many days I was spending lecturing.”
“Madame” Burton, as she is known by students, now explains grammar rules or vocabulary in a five-minute video to be watched at home. Students do exercises in class. “It allows us to have more work class time where I’m not standing in front of them, where they can work in groups on projects,” Burton told AFP. “It allows me to walk around the room and to talk to every student on a daily basis... see if they have questions. I actually feel that I know my students better because I’m not standing in front of them lecturing.”
Burton had to learn new skills quickly, like building a website, using a new type of PowerPoint presentation and tweaking software.
In a video explaining different grammatical rules of the language, students can hear her voice, see her pencil writing words, connecting them, underlining them.
