Educators tell us that students love to talk about where their family is from, where they have visited, or places they wish to go. Bring the world to your classroom by letting your students be the tour guides. Get your students excited and engaged about this unit by giving them time to show items that they have from their countries, where they have visited, or where they wish to go.

The great thing about ClassFlow is it allows students to have a choice. Choice allows students to take responsibility for their decisions and to feel as though they have a “say” in the way they express their knowledge. After students talk about their item, they can start on an individual or group project by choosing a country and presenting their research using their own presentation method.

Not only would this ClassFlow lesson be ideal in a geography class, but it could be used as a way for students to introduce themselves in the beginning of the year or maybe at the end of the year after testing.

The Hook

Let students know about a week ahead of time that they can bring in an item that they would like present to the class. Let them know this will be “Show and Tell,” with an emphasis on cultural items. This item should be from their home country, a place they have recently visited, or a picture of where they would like to visit. Have students prepare a 45-second speech about their item. Some questions they could answer include:

  • Where is your item from?
  • Why is this item significant to you?

If time allows after show and tell, have students do a think-pair-share on the 3 places they would like to visit based on their presentations. Have students share their responses via Word Seed Poll or send your students a map on a ClassFlow lesson card as a Creative Poll. Students can drag the pins or mark their desired locations and submit their responses.

Creating Groups

The class will be divided into groups. In this activity, group creation is pivotal to how the ClassFlow lesson moves forward. Create these groups in ClassFlow to allow for easier grading later on or accommodated assignments. Groups can be created in a number of ways:

  • Groups based on ancestral regions (Europe, South America, Africa, etc.)
  • Groups based on language proficiency (students are all on the same language level and this reduces feelings of intimidation).
  • Groups can be randomly selected

Groups of 4–6 work best, but your classes might be bigger or smaller. Decide what is best for your class and go from there. Once groups have been chosen, assigning roles could be considered. Options include:

  • Travel Agent: This person will lead the group. This includes making sure people stay on task, setting deadlines, and managing and editing all content. This person will also present the most information to the class.
  • Tour Guides: These people will be creating the travel information. They should be able to choose what information they are comfortable writing about.

The Project

Each group will need to produce a certain amount of travel information for their desired country. This can be presented as a ClassFlow lesson, brochure, Google Slide Presentation, flyer, and so on.
In their project, they could include:

  • Short History Section
  • “Must See” sites
  • Best time of year to travel
  • Weather
  • Recommended daily budget

Options for presentation format:

  • ClassFlow lesson
  • Google Slide Presentation
  • Paper flyer/brochure
  • PowerPoint Presentation
  • Wiki

Place this information in a ClassFlow assignment with a rubric created in ClassFlow and send it to your students. Students can then submit their completed project back to you via ClassFlow.

After students have completed their assignment, watch as your classroom turns into anywhere in the world as students speak as to where they are from, where they would like to go, or where they have been.
Bon Voyage!