Since the end of January, I have watched as countless students in China were put on lockdown in their homes.
Some of these students were in their own home.
Some of these students were in their grandparents home.
Sometimes the parents were at the grandparents home, sometimes they were not.
Despite this disruption in their lives, I have watched the children continue on. Some of the changes I have observed in these students is 1) they seem more alert when I teach them. I am often teaching them anywhere from 6-9 p.m. their time. This is because they are not in school and doing other activities throughout the day. 2) Some seem to be distracted playing something else on their computer or tablet while they are taking my VIPKid class. I think some of these students are playing more video and computer games than they are used to playing when their regular school is in session.
About a month into their lockdown, China stared providing online school to all the students in the country. So now students were on a bit of a schedule each day taking their classes by watching them on the television, their computer, or their tablet.
A few weeks ago, students were able to start going outside. They would tell me of trips to the park or enjoying a walk around their neighborhood. But they did all wear masks when they were outside.
As the virus hit the United States, parents would sent me messages, telling me to be safe, and wear masks, and wash my hands and keep things clean. Here are a few examples:
"Thank you for your suggestions before and after class. I like you very much! Protect yourself and your family during the outbreak! It's important to wear a mask. Try not to go out at home!"
"COVID-19 spread so quickly. I hope you all healthy and safe. Take care !"
"Thank you, teacher! Teacher, please protect yourself and your parents, reduce going out, wear a mask when you go out, keep a distance of 1 meter from people, and go home to disinfect and wash the exposed parts."
Often I ask the students the question "What did you do today?" and often the reply would be, "I went to school today." Now, when I ask that question, the answer would be "I am at home all day".
But China is slowly opening up. I had students today who were getting ready to go back to school. I think they are having many older students go back. Some of the younger students are still staying home
Throughout these past few months, if I didn't know these students were on a lockdown in their home, I would have never been able to tell. Besides more parents present, especially the dad, who we often don't see in the classroom, things seemed pretty normal with my students. They dressed the same. They looked the same. They acted the same. I did have one student who told me one day that she was sad. This was a student who was living at her grandparents home, and her parents were at her home, and she had not seen her parents for over a month. A few weeks later, this student's mom started coming to stay at the grandparents home on the weekends. Now this students is moving back to her own home this weekend.
I know some VIPKid teachers received masks in the mail from their students in China. I enjoyed the kind words from some of the parents telling me to stay healthy and safe.
And it makes me realize that we are all in this together...whether we are in the USA, or China, or Italy or anywhere else in the world. We have all been touched by this, and the best thing to do is work together and try and make it slow down, and eventually go away.
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