Hong Kong Education Bureau’s directive to keep schools closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. It was furthermore recommended that students stay home as much as possible to avoid infection. This extended Chinese New Year break has had a major impact on the daily lives of our young students and their families. What can children and parents do to stay occupied and optimize learning from the safety and security of home?

There are many things children and their families can do to extend and enrich the process of learning during this time. Most importantly: Maintain a daily routine. Parents are encouraged to draw up a daily timetable for their children with their children to encourage them to be proactive in managing a schedule that features online studying, exercising, eating, free play and so on. Preparing their own daily routines will bolster children’s feelings of independence and personal responsibility.

During this time, Victoria Educational Organisation’s educators have been hard at work, preparing various e-learning resources for students at home. While we encourage students to take full advantage of these learning materials, we also advise parents and caregivers to monitor students, as they may wish to repetitively watch the same segments (particularly if they are missing certain teachers). After 10 minutes of e-learning, we suggest children get up and perform some physical activity, such as exercise, games, song and dance or otherwise, to relax their minds and invigorate their bodies. Only after some physical activity should children continue e-learning for another 10 minutes. This balance will help our students develop mentally, physically and emotionally during this time. If parents are able to participate in some of their children’s daily activities, they will surely serve bring them even closer together.

Interaction is key to children’s growth and development. However, during this unusual period of extra precautions, how can students fully engage in social interaction? We recommend uploading videos to social media capturing play time at home and inviting friends and relatives to leave comments as tokens of encouragement for students. By sharing the social media comments/feedback with children, they will feel encouraged to share their experiences and interact in this way with others.

Lastly, it is our heartfelt wish that this period passes with no new cases of infection around the world. We expect everyone is staying safe and healthy in the meantime and look forward to seeing our students in school again shortly.