Behind the masks, teachers and students struggle to communicate

The clear plastic face mask that Valérie Jarrosson wears cuts into her chin a little, but at least it doesn’t fog up her glasses like the cotton masks. The elementary school teacher considers herself fortunate – she has the space to stand at a distance from her students, while ensuring that they can still read her lips.

“It’s not ‘le voiture,’ it’s ‘la voiture,’” says Ms. Jarrosson, gesticulating animatedly and exaggerating pronunciations to the fourth grader in a hot pink T-shirt and tightly pulled bun standing at the blackboard. 

Ms. Jarrosson teaches at CELEM, a public school in Paris for children who

Plexiglass for close quartersStudents behind masks, too