We Knew That Stuff Backwards
Sitting in another ´óÏó´«Ã½ meeting today, I was reminded of French people regurgitating snails. It was a vivid image from my childhood and I can remember exactly where I saw it. Room 17 - a special classroom tucked behind the school stage - was where the teachers screened educational films on a big, whirring cine projector. Sometimes we saw Disney films in which an irritating warned us against the dangers of forest fires. I suppose this was a precaution in case Glasgow Corporation decided to plant a huge forest in the east end of the city...during a heat wave. Others films depicted the lifestyles and cultures of faraway lands, like Perthshire, Edinburgh and France. Always, always, when the film finished, we would clamour for it to be run backwards. That's how we saw those stereotype French families stuffing themselves with snails and then, with much hilarity, we watched those snails being barfed back onto the plate.
How things have changed! At today's meeting my colleague Nick Simons (pictured above with his hero Johnny Ball) clicked on his MacBook and screened a demonstration of the educational goodies contained within his ´óÏó´«Ã½ Learning website. There were films, radio programmes, revision tips and games. It was spellbinding and, when he finished his presentation, we gave him a round of applause. He had also thought to bring biscuits, which helped.
Teachers these days use electronic whiteboards to dazzle and inspire their pupils. The children even get the chance to make their own movies and slideshows and then display them to their classmates.
The closest we ever got to that was when the movie snapped in the projector and we all made rude hand shadows on the screen. An art in itself, of course, and let's hope that kind of creativity hasn't disappeared completely.
I'm all for progress, mind you, because there's no point going backwards. Unless it's really funny.
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