Finally, Our School Is Re-Opened

                      By Odelette Wang

This May, our school finally announced that we are going to start our new semester on August 22nd, which is almost two weeks earlier than ever before.

Although this semester our school postponed back-to-school date owing to the epidemic, all the classes began on February 16th as planned. The only difference was that students went online to study.

Studying at home sounds enviable. In my imagination, I did not have to worry about staying up late anymore, and there was no need to save time for walking to the teaching buildings. But things were not that simple. Because teachers could not see students face-to-face, they were more concerned about student’s learning progress. As a result, the amount of homework was increased significantly. Every week, we had to upload lecture notes on the network education platform as well as hand in a report or article once a month. Furthermore, along with live interactive courses, there were selected recorded courses and corresponding homework for us to finish. Students were loaded with too much academic burden during the outbreak.

There is a distinct advantage that due to almost all the courses were put online. Theoretically, we can enter all the classes around the world, and meaningful courses could be shared between friends. Recommended by my friend, who is major in journalism in a Wuhan university, I attended tutorials on urban communication. This course refreshed my cognition to urban planning that even a street lamp has its connotational meanings. Besides, our teacher also recommended plenty of relevant MOOCs as an addition after class. 

For most courses, the online class is more than sufficient. However, there were still some subjects that were barely learning on the Internet is far from adequate, for instance, the P.E. class. One of my friends chose the Chinese traditional health-keeping course. Their P.E. teacher asked them to practice five-animal exercises, which is created by doctor Hua Tuo in nearly 2,000 years ago.

After demonstrating all the details in the class, the teacher uploaded relevant video clips to help students practice at home. At the next class, it was quite fun to see all of the classmates standing before the camera and playing those ancient motions in their bedroom.

When it came to how to take final exams, teachers argued for almost a month. They then reached a compromise that because the coursework was added, the proportion of general performance played a more critical role than in the past. Because there was no chance to take the closed-book exam, the form of final was adjusted inevitably. Some teacher assigned us a course paper; others chose to take exams online with essay questions. Nevertheless, some exams were postponed to the next semester - it was the worst way. 

When we heard that this semester the school would not open and the accommodation fee had been refunded to the student’s account, we were disappointed. From that day we have been following up on the news of each school. Even if the slightest sign of good news, we were very excited and always felt that, finally, it going to be our turn.

Being away from school for so long, we have to rearrange our plans that have been disrupted, including our daily arrangements and future study preparation. Fortunately, the school is about to start, at least there is something to count on.