‘Our students are friends with French students as part of cultural exchange.’

Caroline Ross, a French teacher with Meridian School, is one of the most popular teachers in school. No brownie points for guessing it, her smile speaks for her. She teaches classes from VII to X.

Is digital education more of a fad or is it useful?

Today, due to usage of internet and social media networking sites the attention span of a student is short – they are always browsing and going to a different page every few seconds. So, it has become an effort to hold the attention of a student throughout a lesson.

So, that is where digital education comes in handy. The audio clips are also very useful especially because I teach a foreign language – students learn pronounciation well through the audio-visual medium.  It also helps in getting to know the French culture better because they have relevant visuals to connect to.

Also, the digital teaching tools cater to different learning styles. The only problem with a smart board is that the class gets distracted when there is a power cut. Of course, our school has a generator but when power goes off for even a minute it disrupts the flow of the session.

What do you think of the way CCE is being implemented?

CCE is very time-consuming for teachers. But it’s worth it. The best part is that students get to do multi-disciplinary projects. For instance, we have tourism as a subject in Class X. Recently, our students made a tourism brochure on Hyderabad in French language. Then, they also wrote an essay and made a collage on the same topic.

We also take up campaigns and community service. Our students visited the children’s ward of MNJ Cancer Hospital to interact with patients and help them. We are also work with the Rotary club for such work. Students need to be sensitized to problems around. We also had an exchange program with French students. A lot of our students and French students involved in the program are already write mails to each other, soon we are planning to take our students to France.

For how many years have you been teaching?

I have been in this field for 16 years and I am 7 years old with Meridian School. Here, I also manage the school magazine, coordinate competitions, and also counsel students.

What were the most heartening moments in your career?

The other day a girl left the class not wanting to take the test. I insisted but she wanted to leave. She realized I didn’t feel good about it, so she came back to apologize and got a box of chocolates. She said, “Sorry m’am, I was just not feeling well and could not stay back.”

What do you think of students using social networking sites?

I would say limit the use of it. Students must also be made aware of the possible dangers that they can be exposed to on these sites. A facebook professional had recently come to our school to discuss this topic with students and he showed us how a picture can be morphed. Someone can juxtapose your face with a celebrity’s body on the red carpet. It was shocking!