Like many countries in the world right now, my school has gone digital. While being able to attend school from the comfort of one’s home might sound like a dream come true, it isn’t quite the case for those studying overseas. These students (well, their parents) often have to pay exorbitant school and rental fees among many other costs–and yet, they have to stay at home as they are not allowed to go to school. In such a scenario, it makes no difference whether they’re studying abroad or domestically, except that it’s much, much, much more expensive.
It seems that my school is well-aware of this, and has so made an effort to make this online experience as worthwhile as possible. It’s not exactly the same as attending school physically, but it’s something. In times like these, we just have to make the best out of what we have.
So here is my experience with my gone-digital school. Do note that this is just my experience; it may not be the same as students in other Japanese language schools in Japan.
It’s all online
Like I said, it’s all online. Everyday from Monday to Friday, assignments are uploaded on the student portal. We download and submit our homework online. Classes are held via, something I’m sure most of us are familiar with by now, Zoom. Our teachers take our attendance during online classes–though that is just one of the prerequisites to get yourself marked as having attended. The other prerequisites are completing our homework on time and submitting health reports.
Our teachers also send out emails fairly regularly, updating us when they’ve finished marking our homework and whenever there is an important announcement to make. If we want more in-depth discussions with our teachers, we are welcome to ask them questions via email.
To further enhance our online experience, our school decided to utilize, of all things, Instagram to the fullest. More on that later.
Shorter hours
With online learning, class hours have been cut down by more than half. So the time that could’ve been used for doing work in class is used for doing homework instead. Classes are now almost purely about grammar rules, vocabulary and discussing answers. If there is time, which isn’t very often, the teachers would separate us into different groups on Zoom and make us speak to each other in Japanese. They used to do this a lot more often during the start of remote learning, but it is now a rarity. I suspect it’s because some students might’ve complained that during such group discussions, a lot of students refuse to participate by turning off the mics and cameras, and just plain refuse to even speak. Which is, let’s be honest, a waste of time.
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve said that I had issued the complaint myself, but I have done no such thing.
Creative ways to keep the students engaged
Interestingly, my school decided to make use of Instagram. They did use it fairly regularly prior to the Covid-19 breakout in Japan, but once remote learning started, they used it even more so. They post multiple times daily,
The posts mostly consist of:
- New vocab (“Word of the Day” with a corresponding photo accompanying it)
- Life updates from the teachers, mostly about things they do at home
- Introductions to the staff
- Tidbits about Japanese culture
- Study tips
- Videos
Occasionally, they even reach out to the students to partake in challenges. Once the students complete the challenges on their end, the school would upload the videos on Instagram. It’s quite fun! I love our school’s Instagram account.
Teachers regularly checking in on the students
From Monday to Friday, we are made to submit health reports to the school. But beyond that, the school takes certain measures to ensure that we’re safe and well.
Occasionally, they send out surveys for us to complete. Each section can be quite comprehensive, asking us about more obvious matters like our health, and then other stuff like what do we do everyday. The head of each class also checks in on the students by setting up appointments with them, whereby they’d have a one-on-one video call with each student at the scheduled times and dates. Most recently, I had an hour long chat with my head teacher. It was just something simple. A relaxed chat, where he asked what I did everyday, how I was coping, whether I had any concerns, etc.
Students are also allowed to contact the school at any time. Should anyone (God forbid) contract Covid-19 and need medical assistance, the school would be there to provide language support (no, it’s not easy to find English-speaking doctors).
Online group video call session(s)
One of the biggest issues with staying indoors all the time as a foreign student is loneliness. It’s bad enough that we’re far away from home, we also have a language barrier to contend with, which makes forming genuine friendships all the more challenging. And if that’s not bad enough, we’re foreign language students. The biggest part of language learning is actually speaking the language. Since we’re confined indoors, most opportunities to use the language just vanish.
To make up for it, our teachers organized a group chat that we can attend after class, just for language practice. As to whether they still carry out these video call sessions, I’m not sure. I wanted to attend but I couldn’t at the time. And as far as I’m aware, not many students signed up for it. (Most are too shy, I believe.)
Honestly, even with all of this, it still doesn’t quite make up for the experiences lost because of the coronavirus. We can’t attend classes freely; we can’t take the train without thinking twice; travelling is a huge no-no, especially outside of Tokyo; many of us have lost our part-time jobs or have had our hours severely cut down; and since most of us live alone, we can’t meet or hang out with anyone anymore, etc. Then, there is the added stress that should any of us get sick, there is no guarantee we’d receive treatment from the doctors here.
It is not the best of circumstances, but the fact that our teachers put in so much effort for us makes up for most of it. I have absolutely no complaints about my school, only praise. I’m glad that they are taking care of us so well.
And anyway, we’re already halfway through the year. By this time, I think most of us have gotten quite used to staying indoors. Right? 🙂
