I was teaching online classes here from March to the end of June this year. My experience was that, at first, the kids are really enthusiastic and motivated, as it's something different and quite exciting. But, their enthusiasm is quickly replaced by apathy. The quality and frequency of assignments noticeably declined as time went by. By the end of the 10 weeks, is was hardly worth the effort.

And these are kids that are all intelligent, hard working, and have the full support and encouragement of their parents. I dread to think what it would be like if the kids were lethargic, ill-disciplined, and/ or without good parenting!

 

I do admire the people who will have the courage to be a guinea pig to see and find out how that Chinese or Russian vaccin may works in terms of possible and unwanted side effects. As for myself I will step aside for a while and take a break until the moment that hopefully a lab in Oxford, in the USA or any other kind of Western European country comes up with a vaccin more trusted and reliable.

 

mntnwolf, I don't know which grade your son is entering for Cittidini elementary but our daughter is entering grade 4 and I must say, with a long history and connection with education and educators that I have been extremely impressed with Cittidini. For the past month they have been holding what they call a "dry run" where the kids join on-line classes, not each day and not for a full day, but punctuated sessions of 2 or 3 hours maybe 8 times per week. At first, I listened in the background to what I found a messy, awkward waste of time. But recently I have understood what was happening over time and think it is brilliant.

I have realised that they were reviewing the work from last year, getting the kids to a position that they can move forward with their new learning. Education is about building blocks and one has to build on education previously acquired - if the previous blocks are not secure the new blocks crumble. Also, and almost as importantly they were getting the kids and particularly the teachers to a competency level on the technology, such that it will be used only as a tool rather than a focus when classes begin.

My daughter will commence on Monday having done a review of key learnings from grade 3, familiar with the technology (Microsoft Meetings), Qwerty keypad and the computer as a medium for learning not just for games and YouTube kids videos with a competency that I suspect is unrivalled in Dumaguete schools. With all my research I wanted our daughter to go to Don Bosco which was and is an excellent school, my wife after visiting the school campus was adamant on Cittidini. In hindsight I have been very happy with her choice.

 

Further to a meeting today, I can confirm that One International School will be opening fully next Tuesday (1st Sept), with full face-to-face classes, and full curriculum (with social distancing measures). They do have written authorization to do this.

From what I have heard, the kids are absolutely desperate to go back, see their mates and get back to some kind of normal!

So if you want your kid(s) to have "normal" classes, and can afford their fees, you know where to go. (No, I'm not on commission, in case you were thinking of asking).

 

My child’s school started today - 3rd grade modular workbooks for us. Workbooks are wisely easing the child into simple school work without overwhelming them. Hopefully, the work will get harder but not overwhelm the parents. Four subjects this week. Glad it started up.

 

I have to adjust the numbers in my previous post in this thread. I mistakenly thought those numbers were very recent, it turns out they are more than a month old. Current numbers have the enrollment in private schools at 1.5 million children, or 37%, and overall enrollment at just below 80%. This means that sofar a total of around 4 million children have not been enrolled for the new school year. A saddening number indeed.

 

Our school starts Monday. We initially decided to go online but will switch to modular so we, and our boy, can establish an environment and schedule to adjust to the “new”. He has been doing Kuman worksheets so should be okay. Personally. I wish face-to-face would begin Monday, along with soccer.