Gaal said recently. Linking learning and experience in such a way is common for Gaal, and led her to win the Roy A. Hunt Foundation's first award for Excellence in Teaching. Students also borrow period costumes from the Frick to play aristocrats and peasants on the eve of the French Revolution. Her classroom is plastered with flags and posters related to francophone countries. The room also boasts a huge sculpture of the Eiffel Tower, which Gaal rescued from a trash heap after it had been used in a movie shooting.
Students decorate the tower during holidays.
Gaal, of Oakland, said she always wanted to be a Hollywood movie actress but fell into teaching at the urging of her parents. By the second week I was hooked. I'm on stage every day. Gaal also leads students on trips to France. She said those experiences and the experiences at the Frick greatly help students absorb the language they are learning.