Caring for family members in the community and caring for compatriots in the motherland - Alberta Modern Chinese School actively responds to the new coronavirus epidemic

​[News from this newspaper] (Special report from the Teaching Department of Modern Chinese School of Alberta) 2020 At the beginning of the new year, the epidemic of new coronavirus pneumonia has become the global focus, and it has also affected...

​[News from this newspaper] (Special report from the Teaching Department of Modern Chinese School of Alberta) 2020 At the beginning of the new year, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic has become the global focus, and it has also affected the hearts of every overseas Chinese. After the first patient appeared in Arizona, as an important part of the Chinese community, the Alberta Modern Chinese School took the initiative to reduce the opportunities for people in the Chinese community to come into contact with each other and made a prudent decision to immediately stop classroom teaching in line with the attitude of caring for our teachers, students, volunteers, and being responsible for the entire community. At the same time, the school considered that simply suspending classes for a few weeks would be relatively simple and trouble-free for the management team, but would cause immeasurable losses to students' continued Chinese learning, so it actively discussed corresponding follow-up measures. Finally, in line with a responsible attitude towards the students and parents of our school, the Alberta Modern Chinese School decided to temporarily enable online teaching: starting from February 8, qualified classes will begin trial online teaching; and strive to implement online teaching for most courses on February 15 until ASU classroom teaching is resumed to ensure that students "continue to learn when classes are suspended."

After the school committee actively discussed the proposal, and with the approval and full support of the board of directors, all the teachers and volunteers of the school actively participated in the preparation for online teaching. First of all, the school committee members decided to use the Zoom online class platform through several intensive phone conferences. Several team leaders from the Chinese, Mathematics, and Talent Groups of the Teaching Department worked hard for several nights to produce an online class usage guide for teachers, students, and parents, which was first sent to teachers for review and study. On the morning of Saturday, February 1, all Chinese and math teachers and some talent class teachers took advantage of the one-week school closure to participate in nearly two hours of online classroom training in batches. After class, through a question and answer session, more suggestions were put forward to facilitate students and parents, such as the production of a Chinese-English bilingual version of the online course usage guide. After the user guide is refined and issued, teachers in each class will contact students and parents to try out the class before February 8 to ensure the smooth start of online classes next Saturday. Making the decision to temporarily switch to online teaching, which has never been attempted before, undoubtedly represents a difficult challenge for a school run entirely by volunteers. This requires volunteer teachers to be willing to contribute, consciously increase their volunteer service time, quickly learn and skillfully use online platforms, adjust courseware, etc. At the same time, it also requires strong assistance and support from parents to help their children log in to the online platform and do certain supervision. For some teachers and parents who are not proficient in computer technology, there are many difficulties to overcome. But to everyone's surprise, the response from the vast majority of teachers and parents was quite positive. Many members of the school committee and board of directors also took the initiative to apply to provide online courses or technical guidance. In order to meet students' learning needs to the greatest extent, in order not to be blocked by temporary difficulties, students' enthusiasm for learning, and in order to work hand in hand to cope with this sudden special test, every "modern person" has shown more understanding and tolerance, solidarity and mutual assistance. We marvel at the decisiveness and courage of the school committee and board of directors, the selfless dedication of teacher volunteers, and the understanding and support of parents and students! Thumbs up for every "modern person"!

While firmly grasping the core mission of the school - the stable operation of teaching work, we want to do more! After understanding various current effective fundraising channels from various aspects, the Alberta Modern Chinese School and several local Chinese groups such as Hualian jointly initiated the initiative to actively plan and raise funds to donate urgently needed medical supplies to Wuhan hospitals. We call on every "modern person" to donate generously, show love to our compatriots, do our part, and make our own contribution to the fight against the epidemic! If the current donation method is matching donations through the company, you can first donate to the Alberta Modern Chinese School. Please indicate that you are raising funds for the epidemic. We will act as a transfer and collect all the money received to Hualian. For personal donations, please contact Hualian: Paypal account: ucaa_2015@yahoo.com. Please write down your name when donating so that a receipt can be issued (Alberta Hualian is a non-profit organization certified by the U.S. Department of Revenue and can issue receipts for tax exemption certificates).

At this moment, medical workers and compatriots in China are fighting on the front line against the epidemic, and we overseas must consciously maintain the stability and unity of the Chinese community, actively raise donations, care for our family members in the community, and show affection for our compatriots in the motherland. The Modern Chinese School of Alberta will do its best to ensure that Chinese students in Alberta continue to learn Chinese, maintain ethnic self-confidence, and firmly support China’s anti-epidemic cause with practical actions of stability and unity of overseas Chinese!

(Written by: An Ran, Vice Principal of Teaching, Modern Chinese School of Alberta)

[Editor's Note] This is the leadership team of Modern Chinese School. It is an efficient, united, and progressive team. The reporter saw Principal Allan (first from the right) on many different occasions, thinking about the children and putting the children's affairs first. With all these measures being introduced today, we can once again see the efficiency of modern Chinese schools! Thumbs up for Modern Chinese School! Thumbs up to their leadership team! ! Thumbs up to all the volunteers! ! ! (Our reporter: Yahong)