All schools in Mauritius are closed since the lockdown was announced. Still, international schools have implemented homeschooling to help their students during this complicated period. Kirsty Lallchand, Head of Dukesbridge Primary school, talks to us about the challenges and benefits of homeschooling.
What are the challenges of homeschooling for children below 11 years old?
There are many challenges to online homeschooling children below 11 years old. Not only is it difficult to keep their focus and attention, especially with larger groups, but we also have to teach new concepts in a way in which they can grasp easily. This can be difficult through a screen. Many parents are also working from home, which means children are also having to work alongside the parents' schedules. This can be challenging for the whole family, so we have to ensure that we provide the optimal environment and lessons for the children to continue their education.
How can parents keep their kids engaged in school while at home?
A lot of our children are becoming much more independent with using Zoom, and this can often be set up in advance with the appropriate worksheets and so on. It is easier for children to resist the learning and not complete their work as asked, especially when they can give excuses! A good way to encourage the children to work is through praise. Our parents or even the children can send the teacher pictures or scans of their completed work, and they receive a response from the specific teacher. This can motivate them and encourage them to continue. But I have to say that most of our students love seeing their teachers and friends online. I haven't noticed any lacking the desire to log in. They're always so happy to see each other, even if it's via the screen.
And should teachers maintain the child's engagement while homeschooling?
The teachers do need to maintain the child's engagement during homeschooling, and this can be done through lessons with visual feedback, throughout individual learning sessions with each child and through the written feedback. It is important for the children to remain involved in their learning and with their class, so we also ensure that the class has a small ‘playdate' so they can interact directly with the teacher and other children. Our teachers have re-invented themselves several times during this pandemic; they keep coming up with new ways to retain the attention of the students online. For instance, they would dress up as cartoon characters or clowns, use props like the mystery box and even prompt students to get up in the middle of a session to find items around the house or the garden to use during the lessons. All this helps to make the lessons engaging.
Outside of school hours, do you have any tips for parents to keep their child/children busy/entertained?
I think for outside of school hours, if possible, parents should try and take advantage of this situation and spend time together as a family. This can be through cooking, watching a film, playing a board game. We have parents send us photos of their children involved in domestic chores, especially as most domestic helpers or nannies are not able to come. Families are busier than ever before, and it is important to recognise these small moments that you can spend together during these times. At Dukesbridge, our children have a choice of additional activities such as PE, Dance and Art that they can complete during the early morning or in the afternoon. It's been lovely to see many families joining us for Yoga at 7.30 am in the morning or get involved in our dancing classes!
How are you organising homeschooling at Dukesbridge?
We have an online portal that gives parents a planner for every day. The planner consists of pre-recorded videos for every lesson of the day, activity sheets and tips for learning. These daily videos especially took us a long time to do, edit and upload for every age group, but we wanted to give this option to parents who work during the day so that their children can go through them at their pace at a time that works best for them. In parallel with this, we run Zoom lessons every day for those children who can log in. For instance, Homeschooling for Primary students consists of 4 lessons each morning, beginning with an online assembly of singing and dancing. We have a 30-minute lesson for each grade and covering each main subject. Backed by parents' demand, we have repeated these core sessions on Zoom in the evenings, especially for those children who do not have online access during the day. In addition, throughout the week, children will have 1:1 or 2:1 sessions with their teacher to cover any queries or difficult areas, and the week will finish with a class playdate on a Friday. Recently we have included Focus Groups which cover specific areas such as French and Maths. Ultimately, as a parent, there is quite a range of live classes, pre-recorded videos, activity sheets, etc., to choose from depending on the parent's schedule.
