Imagine a French film with students directing, writing and starring in the production using a movie maker technology program. Sounds exotic, fun and improbable. But Bonnie Bernstein’s French classes at Covington High School use technology to enhance their French cultural experience every day.

Bernstein’s use of technology in the classroom, including the use of podcasts, PowerPoint, slide presentations and movies for project-based learning, has earned her the Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators Region 2 Secondary Teacher of the Year Award.

She is credited with enhancing her students’ education through technological practices in the classroom with project-based learning. By using the Internet and technical applications such as Word and Publisher, her students make brochures, PowerPoint presentations, podcasts and movies using the French they learn in the classroom and applying the language to their technological creations. Bernstein said through technology, her students have made 3-D models of monuments in Paris, studied French cooking and have generally gotten a better feel for the culture of the country as well as the language of its people.

But the learning doesn’t stop there. Students are encouraged to use a classroom blog Bernstein has set up for her classes. Students in French I, II and III can blog each other and respond to blogs. There is a catch — it all must be in French.

Bernstein’s contributions don’t stop in her French classrooms. She is also a Learning for a Lifetime instructor in the school system and teaches cycles of Louisiana Intech during the summer. The program involves 48 hours of coursework that teachers take in order to help them integrate technology. The courses are given through the Instructional Technology Center.

Bernstein is no stranger to the country or people she presents to her students. Although not a native, she has been to France several times to visit relatives. She said she would love to travel there again, even though her relatives are no longer there.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Newcomb College in New Orleans and an master’s degree in educational technology from Northwestern State.

Bernstein has been a teacher for 26 years, the past six at CHS.