Thomasville teacher brings international travel to classroom
Aralynn McVey recently won a grant that will allow her to start a club focused on international learning at a Thomasville school. {Contributed photo}
Aralynn McVey, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at Liberty Drive Elementary School, was awarded a grant from the Retired School Personnel (RSP) to start a Passport Club at the school.
Inspired by her travel experiences, McVey desired a way to share the world with her students. With nearly 10 years of teaching under her belt, it was time spent in Asia that changed the direction of her life.
“I taught English in South Korea. This is where I fell in love with teaching. While over there, I taught children from the ages of three to fifteen years old. It was such an amazing experience.”
Six years ago, McVey joined the Thomasville City Schools system through the lateral entry program. This year, she had a thought with the potential to influence the minds she’s charged with teaching. McVey knew the possibility of receiving the RSP’s grant could turn her dream into a reality.
“In my research for ideas about learning and traveling the world, I had the idea to have a globe for the students to see more accurately where things were instead of just a 2D map.”
Driven by her love of culture “and learning about people and places all around the world,” McVey said traveling opened her eyes leading her to a place where she better understands people and cultures. Having acquired this mindset, she wanted her students to have the same option. The Passport Club will allow this to happen.
“In my culture club, they will receive a faux passport [kid friendly]. The stamps are more like postage stamps [stickers]. When they learn and explore a country, they will earn a stamp in their passport.”
Augmented reality globe. {Contributed photo}
McVey purchased an augmented reality globe. To activate it, an iPad, tablet or mobile phone is used to begin interaction. There is an app to download and a unique code is entered after purchase. Once this is complete, a connection starts and you hold the device up so the globe is visible on the screen. This allows students to see more information and locations as they click on different tabs, turn the globe around in their hands and on the device. The devices allow them to select tabs or search specific information about people, culture, food, animals, weather, land, names of countries and their cities and more. To receive additional detailed information from the tabs, students simply click on them.
Due to clubs not being permitted this year because of COVID-19, McVey has utilized the globe in her classroom. She is saving the passports and stamps for the club, which she hopes will be able to start meeting next school year. McVey is looking forward to that day.
“I know everyone will have different experiences. Overall, my greatest hope is they have fun learning about other places, people and simply gain knowledge outside themselves. I would love and hope for them to gain more open-minded perspectives of people, cultures and well generally the world around them. In my ideal world, I hope they will share their knowledge and use their knowledge to become the influencers and leaders the world needs.”
