Students are Finally ReunitedLife, as we know it at YCIS Beijing, is slowly starting to return to normal. On Monday, June 8th, teachers and staff welcomed back Lower Secondary and more Primary students back on campus. Since their first day on back at school, we followed two students, one from the Year 4 and one from Year 5 to observe how their first week one back on campus would be, finally reunited with their friends and teachers, after more than four months of eLearning.

Students in the SpotlightAmerican-born Year 5 student, Caitlin Zhang, has been at YCIS Beijing since year one. She described herself as an avid drawer who enjoys making drawings of different objects. Amongst her latest artworks, there is one alien-like drawing that she feels it is “unique.”

Justin Chu, YCIS-BJ Year 4 student, has been at YCIS Beijing for six years and, like Caitlin, he was was also born in the United States of America. Justin has many hobbies, two of his favorites are taking walks around his community and chatting to friends about the latest computer games.

Primary Life on Campus, the “New Normal”Knowing that they would be back on campus on Monday, Caitlin and Justin were eagerly awaiting their return to school so that they could be reunited with their friends, classmates and teachers. The first day of school did, however, come with a new set of regulations. Caitlin recalled one of them: “I was a little bit nervous because of the new rules. We were told that we now need to keep a one-metre distance between each other”  she said. The new set of rules also included wearing masks and students sanitizing their hands as often as they can as detailed in our school's campus safety and reopening procedures.

These new set of preventative measures set by the school are there to ensure everyone’s wellbeing, and as Justin observed ,“the dividers on the tables which separate us means it’s safer for us to sit together”  said the 10-year-old. He also noted the newly introduced trash bins for garbage classification in different colours, with the yellow one being specially designated for the disposal of used masks.

Although the first day of school was thrilling and exciting for all returning students, learning about the “dos and don’ts” in the new school environment was the main priority. From keeping the one-meter distance to following the direction the arrows on the ground are facing, our learners took the procedures just as seriously.

Another notable fact is “we have three breaks every day now.”  adds Caitlin. “Before we had only two breaks, but I think because the school ours are longer, we got more breaks.”  The longer school days are an effort for students to supplement the time they spent eLearning as agreed upon by parents and the academic teams at YCIS-BJ.

Academic life is, therefore, continuing uninterrupted, with learners reflecting on what they learned online and learning new units in subjects such as English, Maths and ICT.

Highlights from the weekMondayJustin: “Outside play. I had a lot of fun playing with my friends”Caitlin: “It was just good to see all of my classmates and teachers face to face”

TuesdayCaitlin:“I enjoyed English Literacy. We wrote a storyboard about myths and my story will be about turning into a dragon”Justin: “There was PA, which I like. There are different games in PA - It’s really fun. We played “Who is the Ghost” with my classmates ”

WednesdayCaitlin: “I enjoyed Tynker in ICT class. It’s a coding game that our teacher told us about.”Justin:“Today I got to learn how to play badminton for the first time and it was really fun! I also got to experience home lunch because in the past two days I was school lunch.”*During school lunch students have their food in the cafeteria and for home lunch, students eat from their homerooms.

ThursdayCaitlin:“I convinced my friend to come to school for the first time today. It was good to have her here”Justin:“One of my friends just came to school today for the first time and we had a good time together”

By the end of the week, students were more familiar with the campus entry procedure with not as much guidance. However, the excitement of being on campus has still not worn off as more of their classmates return to school.