Happy learners are good learners! A blog for and by LFM pupils in Moscow.

Mr. M.

Mr.M. Is the teacher I remember with the most pleasure. He was my teacher in the 5th class (CM2) in the public school, in France. He was very kind, warm and funny. Always smiling and humorous, he could bring sunshine to a cloudy day.

While other classes had a lot of homework, our classe had seldom lessons to prepare at home. The educational method of Mr. M.; was unusual : to build a short film during the school year. This project was very attractive for us. His passion for the cinema was so great that he arouse enthousiasm not only over the whole class, but transmitted this to the whole school. I heard that he had personal acquaintances with the famous greek filmmaker Costa Gavras, and developed a successful educational system for children having problems in school. This made him stand out from all the other teachers, and he got a lot of consideration.

We all love him sincerely. Always in relation with the project, we enjoyed doing all subject presenting difficulties like mathematics or grammar. History and geography were great pleasures. Thanks to this teacher, I am convinced that the pupils improved their basic skills in all educational subjects. A part of the day was used tho watch and comment short films or parts of a movie. This discussion was skilfully used by Mr. M. to teach the lessons.

The film we were planning should be presented at the end of the school year to the « Cinémathèque française » in Paris, which holds annually screenings of short films selected from the best productions of schools around the world. To be selected was for me the leading motivation.

The process of creation fascinated us, involved the whole class with scriptwriting, casting, shooting, editing and screening, and took several months to complete. I was not choosen as actress, but was -as assistant director and supervisor- in charge of the technical specifications : how to use the camcorder, learn the technological aspects, define the sound effects... But through this technology, the teacher explained that I had to express my personal artistic visions, that filmmaking should be considererd as a whole process.

The initial idea was very simple : accidentally, a poor kid creates the jealousy of his girlfriend , and ridicules in front of the whole class.

After months of collective anxiety, our recording was finally selected and I and four pupils in my class was invited to present our film at the « cinémathèque française » in Paris.

Providing me with a concrete basis of what I want to do in life, Mr. M was not only a great teacher but also a mentor to me.