Online Classes

Aurinko has recently started online classes for preschoolers also.

Yes, I’m aware of the whole debate about online schooling. Parents complain that schools conduct online classes just to extract hefty fees. Govt rules against online classes and so on.

But there’s a right way to do online classes.

• 30-40 minutes at a time. 
• Focus on activities like arts and crafts, music and dance. 
• Teaching social skills like thumbs up and thumbs down for showing yes/okay or no/not okay. Raising hand to ask a question, keeping the question in mind till teacher asks you to speak are all good learning. 
• Preschool kids socialize by active play outdoors. The lockdown and not seeing friends has made them bored. The video calls to see teachers and friends itself is a huge relief for kids and hence, parents too!

Aurinko has made the online classes optional. We have our own online portal to access the class content. If children have missed a class, or if parents chose to do it offline without screen time for the children, the content is available. Every Saturday parents have training about lessons for the coming week. 

It is also necessary to remember how NOT to do online classes!

PPTs are for the boardroom. Preschoolers cannot be told to sit for long hours and read PPTs like office meetings! 

I have worked with an NGO that provides online teaching to village children (before corona too). I know that online teaching is more challenging than classroom teaching! The teachers have to:

• cope with technology glitches and become an IT person
• rely on others for student behaviour management,
• cope with having no writing tools like blackboards to illustrate, 
• cope with not being able to see the child’s notebook

Yes, parents are managing work from home with children at home full-time. But teachers are doing that too, plus lesson planning online (creatively!) for the first time.

I am most certainly, a parent who is enjoying learning along with my child. I wouldn’t want to go on this journey alone! Why? Because children miss the key developmental stages, due to lack of right stimulation. Missing one whole school year is not okay at this young age.

The focus in Aurinko is on experience, and not the output. So it’s not stressful for the child. 

I’m excited to see my child’s face light up when he sees his school friends! It’s easier to wake him up on the mornings that we have classes. Every night at bedtime, I don’t have to answer “why corona is still not ending and when can I go back to school?!” I’m not worried that when we do go back to physical classes, he would have forgotten everything. I also get to learn so many new activities that I can help him learn, even when we are not commuting to school. 

With due respect to the lives lost, it is also true that every problem is an opportunity!