I believe that the best* way to learn geography is the way we did it over the years. (Don’t I sound all braggy?)
We read books aloud in the afternoon for usually 1-2 hours, and we used our laser pointer to point out locations on the wall map.
So here’s how it worked: I’d read a book … let’s say He Went With Vasco Da Gama. It was a long time ago, so I’m going by memory here which is extremely faulty these days … okay? So, the expedition started out on the Tagus River. That is in Portugal, right? For some reason, though, I’m thinking the Tagus is in Spain, but I’m almost positive that Tagus was the river at the beginning of the Da Gama book. So, we point out Portugal on the wall map with the laser pointer. We just lay or lie there — whichever is the more proper (lie, probably, but I teach the kids that lying is wrong so laying could actually be more proper, especially for chickens) — and one of the kids will point to Portugal while I say something seemingly inane like, “It’s west of Spain and just north of the Rock of Gibraltar, you know, there by the Pillars of Hercules.” Inane, yes, but also instructive in a sneaky, possibly obnoxious sort of way that some kids don’t notice as being obnoxious.
On other days, I would say other trivial things like “Cape of Good Hope, Verde means green, residents of Sao Tome and Principe still speak Portuguese, Angolans might also, the Pope gave the eastern side of the Line of Demarcation to Portugal.” You get my drift.
Then, because our wall map doesn’t show the Tagus River or which cities prevaricate … I mean lie … on its shores, I pull out Goode’s World Atlas, which is not overly unwieldy, and pass it around. Sometimes, when reading a book with a bit of history in it, we have to resort to a historical atlas because the names and borders of the countries have changed. When we were reading about Cyrus the Great, we initially couldn’t figure out which was the Hycanian Sea.
So, back to Da Gama. We’d read He Went With Vasco Da Gama, and each day we’d get further along on the journey in the book. I seem to remember it ending in Goa, a city/province in India. And each day we would collaborate to retrace the trip that Vasco Da Gama and his men took, trying to remember his stops. I’d read (sometimes the kids read aloud) and we’d enjoy the story and keep track of where the characters were by means of the map and the laser pointer. By the end of the book, we had a pretty good idea of a number of places on the coast of Africa.
Oh, sure, I know that not all of the geographical information sticks, but a lot does stay with you. You’d be surprised. And if all that was gleaned from the exercise was just knowing the locations of Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Portugal, South Africa, and India, it still puts one a bit ahead of things and starts a framework for future geographical learning.
We also sometimes used a globe on a stand that I found at a thrift shop one day for a measly few bucks. It weighs about a pound and is still surviving. It has been awarded a prominent position in our living room behind a chair. It wasn’t too outdated when we got it. It has Zimbabwe and East Germany on it; the geographically average will be able to surmise the decade the globe was manufactured from that info. Because it’s on a stand, it’s pretty easy for us layabouts to pass around.
We also have two different inflatable globes that we tossed around to mix things up, you know, sedentary variety. After some years, my life partner made a map framed — one side was the US and the other was the world. It actually resides in a type of rack on the wall in the office, and it gets brought out to the living room to be set against the tv armoire during most school days. These maps were the most up to date that we could find even though the globes weren’t. That way we did have a definitive place to look for geographical truth. Of course, now Google Earth takes care of that.
Drats! I just tried to “save and continue editing” and it didn’t save and I lost some content. Drats. I can’t remember what I wrote.
Okay, so, let’s see … after a while I started bringing out my change jar. I’d read aloud and ask questions as I went. I’d ask questions, some geographical and some not, and the first to answer would have a random coin tossed to them. Sometimes I’d ask a specific question of each student and other times I’d give a bonus if the students could stump the teacher with one of their own questions. I’m not sure that it’s really a good idea to drag out the money, not just because I about went broke playing that game, but because I tend to believe that learning itself should be its own reward, Alfie Kohn, and all that. And once you start the whole money thing, it’s difficult to go back to the way things were. It does add a spark to the reading period if you can get the right balance. Grapes could also be the reward if you want to do the reward thing. Marbles. Legos. M&Ms ::Shrug::
I think I got off of the topic of geography. Um. The best* way to learn geography, right? So did it work? Yes, fairly well. I don’t believe that my students need to know the location of every country and its capital. However, something close to that would be ideal. I believe they should know where about 98% of the countries are. (You know, Upper Volta is in Africa, near the Sahara, and Malaysia is a bunch of islands basically northwest of Australia. Mumbai used to be Bombay and Myanmar used to be Burma and the capital of Australia is not Sydney.)
MAIN POINT: I think that geography is something more easily retained when learned in context. When it’s married to a story, it tends to stick around longer. When it’s part of a shared story between family members, then we can together refer back to that information for years thus supplying us with a painless method of review. Oh, I know, this method takes years to implement, but we started early … like from Day One. I think I started it initially because I spent day in and day out with these children and when I discussed country X, I wanted them to know where I was talking about — we needed a common ground, so to speak, when having discussions. A basic geographical knowledge is something that most people should bring to the table; I think most people agree, probably.
In the end, we can use World Discovery Deluxe (discontinued) and Geosense.net or some similar software program to learn the capitals and countries that were missed somewhere along the line. We have a GeoSafari Laptop, too, which provided some enjoyment over the years and can help fill the inevitable, but mostly inconsequential, gaps. And we are currently enjoying Geosense.net quite a bit. You log in (only a user name and password) and play online with others. My daughter and I can even sometimes manage to play each other. It’s not an easy game; it’s actually challenging because time is also a factor. It’s fun to see how close you can get to the proper city. I am awful at all those countries that used to be part of the USSR.
*Of course, I don’t believe that our way is best. I’m poking a bit of fun at “the experts” who have a penchant for telling us what is “best.”
