Students struggle as school goes online-only in 4 provinces after Christmas break | CBC News

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Ellen and Rafael Robles tried to prepare everything on Monday morning, when their son Bento actually went to school after the holiday instead of going to school in person: good table, chairs, headphones And iPad.

Nevertheless, the morning had a difficult start for the family in Woodbridge, a suburb of Vaughan, Ontario, north of Toronto.

Ellen Robles said: "The camera is not working. We can't see the teacher. We can't see anything." He described it as "a bit of a nightmare."

After confirming through her parents’ group chat that her classmates did not encounter the same problem, she quickly exchanged desks with him.

Rafael Robles said: "He is using her computer to work in her [home] office, and she is using his iPad to work at his desk."

He said the family is now buying another computer for Bento so that he can conduct online courses.

In addition to the new equipment, Ellen Robles said they must also share the work time to help the six-year-old learn.

She said: "We have to waste time, so I may work tonight." "I will try my best to arrange my own schedule. I will start the real work today after he finishes his studies...so that I can provide for him by my side Some support."

After the winter break, it’s difficult to return to school’s daily activities, but students in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario are facing more challenges this week because they are actually typing books (at least One week) instead of the end of last year, some Ministry of Education announced a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

In Calgary, Pamela Roach and her son also had a difficult first day on Monday. Her seven-year-old Declan struggled to stay engaged and listen in a noisy second-grade virtual classroom.

His immersion in French-Roach does not speak a language-means that she and his eldest daughter Caitlin are having trouble supporting him. Just like the Robles family, Roach was forced to treat his job as a university professor, preparing for the new semester and multiple courses.

She said: "Just being able to continue to participate in this virtual classroom, I think it is very difficult for his age."

Roach said that, given that Declan was already struggling while attending school in person, "learning online has become more difficult." “If he doesn’t understand something, it’s difficult to ask questions. When everyone talks to the teacher at the same time, it becomes more difficult to interact with the teacher.”

Like many parents, Roach fears that the rising number of COVID-19 cases will force relatives’ classrooms to close for longer.

"Today does make it clear that people continue to bear all normal work pressure-(the pressure for teachers to continue to maintain all normal teaching abilities and for children to continue to learn all normal learning-is too great."

For a teacher who is both a parent and a teacher, it is a double frustration that both teaches students and takes care of their children at home.

After spending a lot of time preparing for online courses during the holidays, Toronto elementary school teacher Ashanty Sri tried to calmly mentor her 5th and 6th grade students through device compatibility and internet accessibility issues for most of Monday, and How to navigate best to teach when a high-tech glitch causes a student to leave her online classroom or freeze their video connection.

Sri recalled: "At a certain moment, my lights started to flicker. I was like'Please don't turn off..."

The noise in her classroom also spread to the next room, where her 16-year-old daughter Serena tried to find her way through her online high school classes and courses, and vice versa.

Sri said: "This is challenging." He pointed out that older students need the support of their parents and need a learning space equal to that of young people.

"You can hear her teacher teaching her. I'm teaching my students, but I'm listening to their conversation. And she's listening to my students' conversation, so she feels distracted."

In Alberta, Education Secretary Adriana LaGrange pointed out on social media on Monday that face-to-face schools will reopen as planned on January 11.

I want to thank the teachers, support staff, parents, and everyone in the education system for their hard work and dedication to student safety and learning throughout the pandemic. 2/2 #abed

At the same time, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Minister of Education Stephen Lecce said the government “will continue to follow the recommendations of the Chief Medical Officer of health and medical experts to guide decision-making and ensure student safety.”

Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease expert at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, Ontario, west of Toronto, said that any decision to open or close a school needs to consider many factors.

Although the school reflects more of what is happening in the community than the driving factors of COVID-19, “when you reach the point where there is such a large spread in the community, that will definitely change. I Chakrabarti (Chakrabarti) Said Monday: "I think this is part of our foundation for an extra week of online learning. Maybe it will be longer. "

"As the number of people in the community increases, we have to adjust the recommendations, but at the same time, I do know that children do need to go to school... so we have to maintain a balance. I think, at least in January, this will be a tricky balance."

Senior writer

Jessica Wong is a senior writer for CBC News in Toronto.

Excerpted from documents by Deana Sumanac-Johnson and Sharon Wu

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