August is my second most favourite month when the flowers caught the warm sunlight and the apples and pears fall, ripen.
I took this photo a couple of years ago during my morning walk. The bed of tulips caught the rising sun, creating a beautiful tapestry of subdued shades. This year the tulips season went almost unnoticed due to the lockdown, and the flowerbeds presently boast different kind of smaller garden flowers.
In my neighbourhood there are a lot of apple and pear trees, as well as cherries. The latter have already been eaten by kids and birds. But the apples and pears are ripe, and where they grow, the ground is covered with fallen fruit.
August is my second most favourite month, after December.
The first in the series of posts analysing the lockdown in Moscow in the spring of 2020 looks at distant education we have experienced on the national scale for the first time.
DIstant education has become widely accepted (if reluctantly) during lockdown of 2020 (Image credit: zazaschool.com)
There are rumours that another lockdown is looming from mid-September onwards. Hence I thought it was high time to reflect on the first episode of our not-so-lovely soap opera. First, let me share some musings on distant education we’ve been through.
Speaking as a tutor, I have to say that I’m rather thankful to lockdown. On the one hand, it was a bit of a hassle to sort out the weekly schedule for my students. Up until May we all presumed that there would be Year 9 exams, analogous to the GCSEs in England. In May the Ministry of Education resolutely said ‘no’ to GCSEs and rescheduled A Levels to June. In case with private tutors it meant that we kept working all through May, June and even July. My personal vacations began on August, 2. To say that I’m tired is to say nothing. It looks and feels that I’d better stay in the city to avoid possible complications, but I certainly feel I have to go somewhere to get some rest.
On the other hand, I realised just how convenient my work suddenly became. I no longer had to visit students, neither they had to come to me, and yet we had quality lessons over the phone or Zoom. If I wanted, I could easily make myself a cup of tea or coffee, something I don’t practise when I work face-to-face. Most importantly, we were able to do so much more in a relatively short time. I felt that my secondary school students began to feel more confident.
Children, too, had more time on their hands to do something creative. In the next post on the topic I’ll show the animated plasticine videos one of my students created at home. Other students took to drawing, sewing, reading, and just enjoying themselves.
I’m not sure I want things to stay this way. The classroom experience means a lot to both students and teachers, so it is important that we all the chance to learn and teach face-to-face. However, I must admit, now relying on my own experience, that distant education is a good opportunity that should not be discarded.
Today’s dusk was of the kind that I’m very fond of. The sun spiritual, hiding in the clouds, sheds its light on earth. I sometimes think this is a reminder of the Days of Creation or even of His presence.
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