Gerard Gatoux is giving teenagers the skills they need to compete on a global stage.
ATLANTA - On a recent day in a room at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School, there
were students on two continents, two classrooms and one teaching experience
spanning more than 5,000 miles.
Teenagers
at the Atlanta school looked at a computer screen and chatted with students in Colegio Carmen Arriola de Marín
in San Isidro, Buenos Aires.
The two classes are pen pals through Skype, a free video-conferencing
service.
The Atlanta teens need to learn Spanish and
the Argentenian teens need to learn English. The set-up allows them
to help each other.
"Actually speaking with the students on Skype you're on the spot
and you've got to pull the language out of your head right there," Jake
Decker, a junior.
The visionary behind the program is Gerard Gatoux, who teaches both
French and Spanish.
"I was lucky enough to come to this country and attend
college," said Gatoux, a native of France.
He has created sister-school relationships not only with the school in
Argentina, but one in Japan and another one in his native France.
"We began the partnership with Mr. Gatoux two years ago,"
Martine Faye, french teacher.
One a recent day, teens from the French school, Lycée Louis Bertrand, visited Holy Innocents' as part of a two
week visit. Next year, the American teens will go to France.
"We get to learn the difference and it's very interesting,"
said Gennifer Corrad, a French teenager.
"Gatoux had a lot of enthusiasm to create this exchange
program," said Claire Collobert with the French Consulate in Atlanta.
"He's just an incredible teacher. He cares so much about
us," said Megan Elizabeth Ernst, senior
"They (the students) are my passion. Not so much teaching as the
kids. The kids," said Gatoux.
It's
why he's a winner of the 11Alive Class
Act Award.