Stay Home Studying
17-year-old Liu Yu was a high school student in China. She planned to go back to school on Feb 17 to prepare for the 2020 college entrance examination (高考) . However, the Ministry of Education (教育部) told people in late January that the spring term for all schools would be put off because of the serious disease (疾病) in China. So Liu Yu, like all the others students, had to stay at home.
However, Liu and her classmates didn't fell behind their plans and began studying full-time again – only from home. It may have become the largest online teaching experiment the country has ever seen.
To go with students' new learning environment, a "cloud platform (云平台) " was started using on Feb 17. It provided students with education resources (资源) covering all school subjects. But some students had difficulty going to the website or using smart phones. A TV channel by China Education Television started airing classes on Feb 17. So students could have classes and study online or on TV at home.
But the online platform and TV channel don't just offer school knowledge. Students can also learn how to protect themselves from the disease and psychological (心理的) health during this period, according to the Ministry of Education.
For some students, the chance to study from home has had some unexpected benefits. Yuan Siyi, who lives in Hubei province, used to get up before 6 am on school days, but since starting online courses, she got more hours of sleep every morning. "I like online teaching because I have more freedom at home," Yuan told TEENS. She began her all-day courses on Feb 3.
However, online teaching and learning has its weaknesses compared to studying in a traditional classroom. "My motivation (动力) to study is stronger when my classmates are around me and all working very hard," Yuan said.
According to the Ministry of Education, online courses are just a short-time way of learning during the disease. When the new term begins, schools will no longer use online classes instead of classroom teaching.
