Since early January 2020, COVID-19 has been affecting every Hong Konger’s daily life. The lives of Carmelians are no exception. Online lessons have been introduced as a new mode of learning. Due to the development of the pandemic, our school life is about switching between face-to-face lessons and online lessons. After experiencing both modes of learning, do you prefer learning with Google Meet or going to school and meeting your friends?
In the past, face-to-face lessons used to be the only mode of learning I experienced. I used to complain that going to school for the whole day was tiring and boring. Only when the online learning mode is introduced do I know face-to-face lessons are precious. They are not exhausting. Having online lessons is tough. It is hard to concentrate, hard to ask teachers questions, and we will face all kinds of technical problems. However, I’ve soon found out that having online lessons isn’t bad at all. The worst thing is not being able to have any lessons! The EDB has just announced that the summer holiday will be moved to March. We will have our spring holiday! Summer holidays are supposed to be the time for us to hang out with our friends, join extra-curricular activities and relax at home. However, during this “spring holiday”, we can lock ourselves in our homes and do self-study. What a pity! I’d prefer having online lessons to having the “Form Two study leave”. I guess many of you think the same way. When you have face-to-face lessons, you won’t know how sad you will feel when you cannot have them. When you have online classes, you won’t know how depressed you will feel when we can’t even have lessons. The world is changing all the time. We couldn’t predict what we would be losing in the future. Something that looks common and normal may become precious and rare one day. Who knows? What we could do is cherish everything we have now, even though we dislike it. If not, we’re going to regret it in the future.
I once had a horrible but valuable experience. My parents are teachers, and I have a brother. At the beginning of the pandemic, four of us had to have lessons at home. We quarrelled, complaining that others’ voices had disrupted our studies. We fought for the right to use the best devices at home. We grumbled and competed for the right to use the rooms with the best WiFi connections. Having online lessons wasn’t easy for us, but I soon realised that my family was already quite lucky. At least our home has three rooms and several desks. We are not living in subdivided flats. At least we have enough devices for everyone to use. Now, I always wonder why I complained about different things at the beginning of the pandemic. The time is hard now. Why don’t we be lenient and satisfied with what we have? Being united should be the best way for family members to overcome difficulties.
Yes, having online lessons is indeed challenging. Many of us feel stressed because we don’t have chances to meet our friends and chat with them. Many of us feel tired of catching up with our learning. Yet having online lessons has given us special classes. We have learnt to cherish what we have, we have learnt to be disciplined, and we have learnt many valuable lessons. Perhaps switching between face-to-face lessons and online lessons continuously might be confusing and tiring, but we should never forget what we have learnt during this period. I assume everyone must have learnt your unique lesson.
Let’s stay hopeful and united, Carmelians. Together we can go through all the difficulties. Stay optimistic, and a bright future will be waiting for us.
Carmelians, let’s be optimistic during such hard times.