New virtual classrooms at AF Westchester
18 Apr '21 by Rachel Villeger
A lot has been happening at AF Westchester since the start of the pandemic. In this blog post, we're excited to introduce our new
virtual online classes!
It's been a while since we've seen a lot of you in person, so I wanted to give you all a quick update about what's been going on in our
classes since the start of the pandemic. While most of our members have been learning online using video conferencing tools such as Zoom,
some of our students and teachers have also been learning using our brand new virtual
classrooms over the last few months. What are virtual classrooms? To sum it up, they're a virtual learning environment which helps our students
find all the resources related to their French lessons in one convenient place,
making it easier to stay organized and progress in their learning journey.
What do AFW's virtual classrooms look like?
As a picture is worth a thousand words, here is an example of one of the classes currently being taught by one of our wonderful
teachers,
Agnès. On the left side of the screen, you will notice a tab called "Actualités", which is a bit like a private social network on which our students can chat among themselves or with their teacher, share interesting news articles or videos, as well as
submit their homework. On the "Modules" tab, students can access interactive exercises which are here to help them
reinforce their languages skills. Depending on the class learning objectives and levels, students might find their some exercises helping
them practice the following skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking, grammar, conjugation, vocabulary, spelling, etc. In some other
classes, they may be given the chance to discover some specific cultural aspects, such as in
this class.
What is the main advantage of virtual classrooms?
There are many advantages to these classrooms but during our various experimentations, here are the two main aspects we've noticed:
virtual classroom are helping us empower our students, so they can be more in control of their learning journey and so
they can better measure their own progress. They're also a great way to stay in touch with friends between lessons, and to
share relevant information about French speaking countries, the French language, French news, etc. And more importantly, we feel they play a
critical role in providing authentic contents to learn the French language in a relevant manner. Indeed, while textbooks
are great, they do not reflect all the nuances of the French language and Francophone world, so we're excited to be providing our students
new ways to live a more immersive French learning experience through these classes. Indeed, these virtual classrooms
make it much easier for teachers and students to share videos, podcasts, articles, etc.
When will my class start using a virtual classroom?
Most of our classes will start using virtual classrooms either during our Summer session or in September 2021, however new
classes and students have already been joining virtual classrooms earlier this year. Throughout the school year, our teachers have
been learning how to use these classrooms, as well as learning how to design exciting learning contents for our students. Most of our
team is now ready to help students learn how to use their virtual classroom, so we're looking forward to giving you a tour!
If you would like more information about virtual classrooms, or if you would like to see one for yourself, feel free to contact
us.
I will be happy to give you a tour via Zoom and to help you get started with your own login and password. Also, if you would rather not use a
computer to log into your virtual French classroom, don't worry, you can also access them easily via a phone or tablet!