With a screen, a desk, a couple of books, and some stationery, we began our online learning journey. How are the online courses different from the offline regular classes? What is it like in the virtual classroom? Please follow us to the SHSID Lingang campus.

Students in 1(1) started their morning meeting time with a “This or That” workout. Mr. Tansey, their homeroom teacher, often shared some of his own photos and stories based on the daily topic—his resemblance to Harry Potter at a young age really cracked everybody up! In the daily challenge activity, the kids took up the challenge of picking up books without their thumbs!

Students in 1(2) were having their Breakfast Day. The children were sharing their breakfast and sang the Weather song together, “Today is Monday, May 18th, 2022.” Ms. Pearson always inspired the students with questions, such as “What will you give to your mom on Mother’s Day?” and so on. The education about parental love influenced kids through the interactive Q&A session. Ms. Shi would lead the children in reading a Chinese novel by popcorn reading. “Bang! If you don’t get the next one, it is going to burn!” After hearing this, all kids focused themselves back on the book and read expressively!

A wide variety of games such as riddles, online parties, group races, Little Teacher, scavenger hunt, Madlibs, and so on have facilitated students’ ability to consolidate their learning and depicted the liveliness of online classrooms.

Colorful Online Teaching Gathering Students’ Interests

According to primary school students’ age characteristics, music, sports, and art teachers designed and organized various online activities which were loved by children in order to cultivate kids’ interest and stimulate their potential. As a result, every child could have more fun in e-classes and grow healthily during the pandemic period.

Interesting sports activities prepared by the PE teacher Ms. Chen are the most exhilarating moments for primary kids. It’s so exciting to compete with classmates together! Teachers and students completed challenges in front of the screen, attracting many parents to participate, which became happy “whole family sports.”

The online gymnastic dance on Friday night encouraged children to experience the perfect combination of music and sports. Watching the live dancing streaming video hosted by Ms. Wang who especially prepared it for the students at the SHSID Lingang campus, many children and parents danced happily together. In that moment, the whole family could feel the fun of doing gymnastics.

This is the first spring we spent together at the Lingang campus, which is both extraordinary and significant. Primary students actively participated in an online painting exhibition called “My First Spring in Lingang.” Our kids drew and colored beautiful spring scenery with their paintbrushes. A flower grows with children’s hope for a beautiful future, a cloud flies with children’s vision for a brighter tomorrow. Digital pictures of students’ works were collected by using an app called Fotoo, where students could enjoy their peers’ works and give a like to their favorite ones on the platform.

Music class is always full of beautiful and melodious sounds. Singing a beautiful song with the music teacher brings the children back to the classroom. Seeing Ms. Huang having the E-class in the piano room where they used to have music classes, some kids spoke out excitedly: “I really want to go back to school!”

Excellent Homework Display to Encourage More Passion in Learning

With the massive joint efforts from teachers and parents, G1 students have been developing and strengthening their independence in self-learning, thus more and more role models have emerged during the online learning period. Every week, the excellent homework for each subject is displayed on LC or in E-classes, where students’ conscientious learning attitude and high-quality handwriting are demonstrated thoroughly, thereby improving academic performance through peer learning.

Every little effort and improvement can be seen and should be acknowledged. Look, Ms. Chen commented on Benson’s PE weekly challenge video with “Your practice is just right on point! You look great when focused on doing this!”; Kevin recorded each project via videos to keep track of his learning and progress; Emma showed strong interest in the cup dance learned in music class and demonstrated a wonderful performance with her mom; Isabella showcased her beautiful writing even just on a single workbook page...

Meanwhile, the detailed and inspiring remarks from teachers also motivate students to maintain a high standard in learning and kindle their passion as well as potential in themselves.

Lingang campus is a lovely learning community. Despite the pandemic situation, the bond between teachers and students never ceases to grow stronger. With love and responsibility, we will move on with more positivity and achievement.

Written by Bing Fu, Jenny, Amanda

Pictures/videos by Gena

Edited by Huang Shiyuan, Kristjan Butler