This is a basic teacher-in-role exercise. I have written this plan in
the form of a narrative-a description of the class-rather than giving you
step-by-step instructions, because it makes better sense. Every teacher
has her or his own style-you can use whatever of mine works for you. (A
note about pronouns: since I teach in a boys' school, all of my students
are male, but obviously the lesson would work just as well in a coed or
all-girl group.)
Many of the boys chose countries about which they knew little. Some chose countries from which their ancestors emigrated. Some chose places that just sounded exciting. But the long and short of it was that most of them didn't know what a tourist would be likely to find in the country of their choice. That was exactly what I had hoped would happen. We had a class discussion about the problem. Each boy in turn told the group what country or continent he had chosen, and I asked if anyone knew what kinds of things might be found there. In many cases, the boy's classmates had great suggestions. But some of the boys had chosen countries nobody knew much about. So I brought out some reference books. (I have an excellent children's atlas, which includes maps with pictures of animals, landmarks, industries, etc that the boys loved looking at.) The group researched the countries enthusiastically, and after about ten or fifteen minutes, every boy had decided what or who he was going to pretend to be.
I sat in my chair and wheeled myself and Oliver to the first country. The puppet and I Ooohed and Aaahed at the sights we saw there. Usually I was able to correctly guess what the boys were pretending to be, but when I wasn't, they were not offended, and were quick to give me hints until I did. After I had finished in the first country, I asked the boys which other country was the closest. They had to think about this one, but we always came to a decision. In this way they learned and used their knowledge of geography. Sometimes I had to help--as when I pointed out that it was quicker to go over the Arctic to get from Canada to Siberia--but that was more learning. Once we decided which country was closest, I moved on to that country and continued in this way until I had visited every boy. Then I "came home."
This lesson worked extremely well. The boys frequently ask me if we can do it again. I think that it could work with students much older-with a corresponding increase in the sophistication of the information we learned about the countries, and possibly also the level of interaction between the traveler and the natives of each country.