Post-Covid-19 Challenge

Back in April 2020, shortly after our school had been closed due to the pandemic, we started noticing that our young people were experiencing changes - positive changes - in their lives. Always ready to find positive gains out of negative situations, we decided to ask our young people to identify these positive changes and then to write them down as a script for a short video. You can see the original idea here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/positive-changes-we-can-make-want-see-post-covid-19-robert-thorn/

Several of our learners were able to make the video as were young people of other schools - notably two educators called Tina - Ms Tina Teague of Futurum Bilingual English Gymnazium, Ko?ice, Slovakia and Ms Tina Olyai of Little Angels High School, Gwalior, India gathered their teens and joined us.

The results are interesting for me because it shows that young people do find positives out of negatives; the situation although very negative for some does bring positive outcomes for others; that young people do appreciate the good things in life - family, nature, reading, making things, being with friends, etc if we allow them time to do so. And, although the kids did a great job, it showed me, for my learners, that there is still a long way to go for all of us to help young people develop the language they need to be able to express what it is they were experiencing.

It's not too late to ask your learners to make videos like this to share with your community and to help them recognise and appreciate something positive out of the pandemic. Alternatively, just discuss it with them - it's worth it just to have them reflect on the changes they have experienced.

The next stage, of course, is to ask the questions, 'How are we going to take these positive experiences forward when we go back to school?' 'Will we allow the old ruts and routines we were in to take away the positive things we have gained or will we be strong in ensuring we set aside some time to read, appreciate nature, family and friends, etc?

Check out these videos - it's well worth it. Here is the link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Sx9kPHLgw&list=PLOLW9Kgz6OTdhb-GXQf1PKbXuqoS5YKy7

Let us know what you think!

Robert Thorn

wwwdevelopingreallearners.org