Covid-19 in Russia: Russian English School Administrator speaks out about online schooling measures

Covid-19 in Russia

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The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted countries all over the world. according to the World Health Organization over 28 million people all over the world have tested positive for the Coronavirus. Russia is currently the fourth leading country of having over one million confirmed cases, additionally over 5,000 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours (updated 14 September 2020). 

As these numbers of confirmed Coronavirus cases continue to increase, the World Health Organization has reported ‘over 165 countries are attempting to to develop a vaccine within a short time period in hopes to stop the spread of the Coronavirus with the support of COVAX  Market Advance Commitment (AMC)’. The AMC is designed to guarantee rapid, fair, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for every country in the world – rich and poor – and to make rapid progress towards slowing the pandemic.  

The World Economic Forum has said, ‘in order to develop a vaccine, it typically can take more than 10 years to fully develop a vaccine’; however, amid these unprecedented times, many scientists are working hard to try to develop a vaccine in a much less shorter time – less than a year.

©Stock image – 1794129322 – By Yalcin Sonat

Russia is one of the countries who are undergoing trial phases of the Coronavirus vaccine. Russia has underwent two phases thus far and are planning for the third phase in October, which would include “40,000 volunteers from “different age groups and risk groups.”

The Coronavirus has not only impacted people’s health, but it has also impacted schools from functioning normally. I spoke with English School Administrator Daria Lakhanova, who told me about how Russia has been impacted since the Coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s been difficult – when we went on lockdown – it was very difficult to stay at home for more than two months. 

But when Summer came, it became easier, because the sun was shining, the weather was beautiful, and we were able to go outside.”

-Daria Lekhanova, English School Administrator based in Russia

Video featured below: A clip from my interview with Russian School Administrator Daria Lekhanova who spoke with me about how Russia has been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. Duration 1:40.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJlgLMLZ5kc&feature=youtu.be

COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, inscription COVID-19 on global satellite map. World economy hits by corona virus. Concept of travel, coronavirus, lockdown, crisis. Elements of image furnished by NASA. ©Stock image – 1660469317 – By Viacheslav Lopatin.

Online Schooling challenges

As many schools all over the world have had to administer online learning due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Russian English School Administrator Daria Lekhanova said, ‘her school implemented online learning measures back in March and will continue to do so. Some school officials have had issues with online learning; however, Daria said,  ‘it has not been that bad’; on the other hand, Daria did say that there were other issues – external factors – which have been the biggest issue while administrating online learning. 

“The only problem that occurred in the first place was technical problems, because not everyone had a computer at home or they had problems with downloading Zoom onto their phone.”

-Daria Lekhanova, English School Administrator based in Russia

Additionally, Daria said that it was most challenging to do online schooling, because her and her colleagues can’t see if the kids were doing their work or not when they should be; whereas, compared to when the kids are in a classroom setting, the teachers are able to keep an eye on them.

With regards to communicating with her colleagues, Daria said that Zoom has been a great asset in order to effectively communicate with one another; unfortunately, when problems do occur it can be quite time consuming to resolve these issues, because she is not able to handle the issue that is at hand in person. 

“It’s quite difficult to solve some problems when you can’t be near the person. We have had to solve everything by talking to each other on the phone and that was really difficult.

I am on my phone all day long – working. 

We have to call each other. People can’t just come to our office, so they have to send us messages, emails.

I have to have my phone with me at all times.”

-Daria Lekhanova, English School Administrator based in Russia

Even though Daria has had issues at times with others having problems with  internet connection and not being able to quickly solve issues that her colleagues have been experiencing, she has noticed that online learning – for kids – has been a bit more interesting compared to in-person learning.  It has enabled her  students to have unlimited resources by using the internet. 

“With studying online they can use lots of resources – websites, they can play games on the computer, watch videos, listen to  audio or even some music. “

-Daria Lekhanova, English School Administrator based in Russia

Video featured below: Russian English School Administrator Daria Lekhanova shared her experience with me of how she, her students, and her colleagues have been coping with online schooling measures during the pandemic. Duration 7:42.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaArHNMtR6A&feature=youtu.be

What’s ahead for Private English School in Russia?

Daria said that she, her students, and her colleagues have been utilising online schooling measures since March and they plan to continue to do so. However, this has created problems for her school with regards to the fact that most students prefer to do in-person classes; therefore, Daria said that this has resulted in at least a 15% drop of students withdrawing from English classes. Moreover, she said, when school does resume in-person classes, the Covid-19 measures that have been put in place might make teaching English more challenging. 

“We will have to place desks 1.5 metres from each other.

Teacher’s may need to where masks during classes, but I think that’s strange – especially when you teach languages. You usually see the facial expressions while learning a language, because of the pronunciation.”

-Daria Lekhanova, English School Administrator based in Russia

Even though these measures may be difficult, English School Administrator Daria said that they do plan to abide by these rules in order to keep everyone safe when school does resume. Either way though, Daria is happy about doing online learning and how effective it has been during these unprecedented times. 

Video featured below: English School Administrator Daria Lekhanova interviews with me to tell me more about the online learning that has been implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic and how her students have been coping. Duration 3:28.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXZx2YSENwQ&t=1s

Words: “back to school” made of wooden blocks on protective face masks. Inscription about school in a pandemic, epidemic.  ©Stock image – By Leila Alekto Photo