We all hope that the current wave of the pandemic will subside soon with the efforts by
the Shanghai government to take comprehensive actions that might allow campus life to
resume soon. During this time, it is important to keep your spirits up and stay positive.
Let us stay united to sail through these storms together.
—— Anna Sohmen Pao, Chairman
Philip Sohmen, Executive Deputy Chairman
Over the past few weeks, everyone has started to get accustomed to remote learning once again. Though the Pao School community is benefiting from its previous experience with online learning, it still presents some unique challenges, such as time management, monitoring screen time, the effect of extended time away from campus, the need for exercise, and homework performance.
In order to help facilitate the transition to online learning, Pao School has provided a stable online platform and detailed operating instructions to teachers and parents. At the same time, the school has also guided parents as to how to ensure students maintain robust physical and mental health. It is believed that through the joint efforts of the school and parents, students can receive best results possible from online learning.
Guidance for parents of Primary School students:
● Explain to students what is expected of them in online learning
● Help students establish routines and create a space at home for extended study
● Check in with students at the beginning and end of each day, for example by asking them to organise the information they have learned that day and make their own study arrangements
● Take an active role in students' learning, such as discussing with them what they are learning and challenges they encounter
● Encourage students to exercise and do housework
● Help students deal with their anxiety and other emotions related to remote learning, and try not to pass on your own worries to them
● Help students stay in touch with their friends online while also establishing guidelines for their online interactions
In addition to ensuring high-quality teaching and learning, each campus has organised online activities to enrich children’s leisure time and alleviate the stress they may feel during this time. At the end of March, the Primary School organised it’s annual Book Week event during which the students reviewed the Pao School character strengths, recorded diaries in different languages, participated in an online illustration exhibition for the winners of the Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award, and displayed their Book Week creative works online.
Book Week Dress-Up Day
Y1C Jade, Y4D Jasmine
Y2C George
Y1C Ruby
Y1B Hannah
Y1A Nathan
Feng Zikai
Children's Picture Book Award
The Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award is the first international Chinese
children's picture book award. Named after Feng Zikai, one of China's best-known
illustrators, the biannanual award promotes original, quality Chinese children's books
and recognising the efforts of authors, illustrators and publishers.
The Primary School campus held an online exhibition of the winning
illustrations of the Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award
For this year’s Book Week, the Primary School invited Ms. Huang Li, the winner of the first Feng Zikai Children's Picture Book Award, to give an online lecture. During the talk, she shared her award-winning work "An‘s Seed" with the students and explained the creative process behind the book.
In the story, an old monk distributes three "lotus seeds from thousands of years ago" to three young monks named Ben, Jing, and An. Impatient for the seeds to blossom, Ben plants them in frigid snow-covered soil, which causes them to die. In contrast, Jing nurtures the seeds in good soil in indoor pots, but because he protects the seeds from nature’s elements they fail to develop natural hardiness and die. An, meanwhile, tries something very different. He patiently waits for the seasons to change, and as winter turns to spring and the weather warms, he plants the seeds in a corner of a pond. There, the seeds thrive and ultimately bloom into beautiful lotus blossoms in the summer.
This award-winning picture book brims with interesting Chinese cultural elements, from the characters to clothing, architecture, colours, and even the temple’s everyday tools. Since its publication, “An’s Seed” has won many children's book awards both internationally and within China. It has also been selected as the most influential children’s book in 60 years of publishing in the People’s Republic of China. In addition, the book has also been translated into English, Korean, French and other languages and published in many countries.
“An's Seed” is a book about waiting. The purpose of my book is to help students understand the virtue of patience in all aspects of their lives. During my presentation, the students listened carefully and responded enthusiastically with a variety of different perspectives illustrating their deep thinking on the subject matter. I found this quite inspiring.
——Ms. Huang Li
After Ms. Huang’s lecture, the teacher asked the students to think about what
things in their lives require patience – resulting in some interesting answers:
“Just like a tiger waits patiently to catch its prey, we too need to master the art of waiting.
Just like the characters in the story, you cannot prematurely plant flowers in winter.
Instead, you need to wait until spring to plant them to ensure that they bloom and bear fruit.”
——Y5A Cecilia
In addition, teachers across different grades and subjects have designed a variety of interesting online activities to cover curriculum content. Dominic Murtagh, Head of Primary Music, explained that Year 5 music students were tasked with working in groups to compose and produce their own songs using the music composition program Logic Pro X. This year, the project complimented Book Week, and so students were tasked with choosing or writing a poem to set to music. Importantly, the task helped students learn more about rhythm and meter in the poems, which provided the starting point for creating a piece.
For this, the students firstly recorded themselves recording a recitation of their chosen poem using a click track (which served as a digital metronome for the students’ works). Next, the students added chords and drums to the piece, whilst also experimenting with singing the poem and adding other instrumental elements. Through this project, students have developed important song composition skills, which will support their future work on melody and accompaniment.
Alongside this, the Middle School’s Counseling Office provided some useful advice and activity suggestions for parents and students for enrichment during the remote learning period:
Fulfilling Activities for the Family
Staff artwork using Pao School gift package
Let's cook together!
Cooking with your children is a good way to spend time together. As both an important life skill and interesting activity, it gives children a chance to provide a helping hand with meal preparation and learn something in the process. It might even become a happy family memory!
Watching a film together
After watching a film, for example Soul, parents can talk about professional endeavours they may not have had time to pursue with their children, whilst guiding them to talk about what they might want to do in the future. It is important to give the children plenty of chances to talk about their career interests and to make sure to avoid negativity if they talk about something that seems unrealistic.
A world of rapid change and uncertainty brings additional challenges to both us and our children. The only way to get through this difficult time is to hold a positive and firm belief that we will be able to work together, and the children will learn how to face this uncertain world in a healthy and positive way, to grow in their way and usher in their future.
—— Tina Wu & Tammy Yan
Middle School Counsellors
If you have stories or photos you'd like to share with us, please drop us a note. paolife@ykpaoschool.cn
