“Stay active” Although I think we can all agree the pandemic has hurt most businesses and jobs, it has allowed us to diversify and do the things we enjoy more. I started working at Chinese International School about five years ago as a physical education teacher. Before that, for a brief period, I played professional football, and two years ago, I took the position of head of Sports and Activities. I enjoy teaching classes; however, with moving to a place where I have more responsibility, I decided it was unfair to my students to go to meetings and cater to my other commitments constantly. When teaching, I believe that it should be something that I can devote all my time to; however, the upside to having a more flexible schedule is taking care of two children during the pandemic. Just recently, with the new wave of Omicron, I’ve been reminded of how difficult it is to take care of two energetic children. In contrast, both my wife and I have jobs, although, when the pandemic first started because of how I had a much more forgiving position when looking at time allocation, it was easy to smooth out the problems of online classes. Because my wife was constantly teaching classes, it was up to me to look after my kids. However, suppose I had a more demanding job that required attention 24/7. In that case, I couldn’t imagine juggling both responsibilities, which is one of the most challenging aspects of the pandemic. In terms of my job, as our branch started exploring online co-curricular sports, most didn’t work out, leaving us without much work to do. During this time, I tried to constantly give out new ideas and work for the other people in the branch to fix the problem or find ways around it hopefully. Rather than giving
up and accepting that sports simply don’t work out online, we could diversify and explore other aspects of the school. For example, I started giving well-being talks and taking up more responsibilities to keep myself busy and productive. The pandemic allowed our branch to diversify and create new innovative ideas, which are being implemented as an ongoing in-person school.
Having more free time extends to exercising more and doing the activities I love. Having a hobby or routine to cope with the pandemic is needed, and that was going out on runs and creating new challenges and goals. Still, exercise is essential even though each person should find a coping mechanism to get through the pandemic. Everyone should find time to implement physical activity for mental and health benefits.
“保持活躍” 雖然我認為我們都同意大流行已經傷害了大多數企業和工作,但它讓我們能夠多樣化 並做我們更喜歡的事情。大約五年前,我開始在中國國際學校擔任體育老師。在此之前,我曾短 暫地踢過職業足球,兩年前,我擔任了體育和活動部的負責人。我喜歡上課;然而,隨著搬到一個 我有更多責任的地方,我認為我的學生經常去開會並滿足我的其他承諾是不公平的。教學時,我 認為應該是可以傾盡所有時間的事情;但是,安排更靈活的時間表的好處是在大流行期間照顧兩 個孩子。就在最近,隨著 Omicron 的新浪潮,我被提醒要照顧兩個精力充沛的孩子是多麼困難。 相比之下,我和妻子都有工作,雖然在疫情剛開始的時候,因為我在時間分配上的立場要寬容得 多,所以很容易解決網課的問題。因為我的妻子經常教課,所以我要照顧我的孩子。但是,假設我 有一份要求更高的工作,需要 24/7 全天候關注。在那種情況下,我無法想像同時兼顧這兩種責任 ,這是大流行中最具挑戰性的方面之一。
就我的工作而言,當我們的分支機構開始探索在線課外運動時,大多數都沒有成功,讓我們沒有 太多工作要做。在這段時間裡,我試圖不斷地提出新的想法,並為分支中的其他人工作,希望能 解決問題或找到解決方法。與其放棄並接受體育運動根本無法在網上進行,我們能夠多樣化並探 索學校的其他方面。例如,我開始發表關於幸福的演講,並承擔更多的責任來讓自己保持忙碌和 高效。大流行確實使我們的分支機構能夠多樣化並創造新的創新想法,這些想法現在正在實施, 因為面對面學校正在進行中。
有更多的空閒時間延伸到鍛煉更多和做我喜歡的活動。需要有一個愛好或例行公事來應對這一 流行病,而這會不斷發展並創造新的挑戰和目標。儘管如此,儘管每個人都應該找到一種應對機 制來度過大流行,但鍛煉仍然是必不可少的。每個人都應該抽出時間進行身體活動,以獲得心理 和健康益處。
Hi, my name is Sky Ip (Mr.Ip), and I am the sports field manager at the Chinese International School. I have worked at this school for 33 years and my current role is to take care of the administration and operations of the sports field. I joined the Chinese International School in 1989, only in the school’s 6th year, becoming one of the longest serving staff currently working for CIS. I decided to join CIS because I was able to forsee that CIS would become a great school, even though “it was very young” at the time. I originally wanted to be a teacher in University at that time but I was confident that CIS would become one of the best schools in Hong Kong. “At the time when I joined, the highest grade was only year 9 but I wanted to start from zero”. There wasn’t even a permanent campus, there were three different campuses, my office was at Kennedy road and because the school was so small, I taught every single class, including classes in both primary and secondary. “I had to run back and forth everyday”, I taught P.E to the students as I had majored in physical education and got a bachelor in it. Being a teacher in such a small school back then, I had the opportunity to teach all the years, from year 1 to year 9. It wasn’t as big as the classes now so it wasn’t as hard as nowadays. When I was working there, the students had to go abroad to continue studying because the last year of the school was only year 9 which means the students still had four more years of learning. I think now that we have the HangZhou programme, it is very good for the students because the students can stay at CIS for thier while education and they can also receive good education with the solid unvierity counselling in CIS.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I thought that there wasn’t much we could do about it, of course we all suffered from it and the students could maybe go for a walk or a run if they wanted to do exercise. Even if you were able to play football or basketball it wouldn’t be normal because you may not have a goal or a hoop so it would only be dribbling and drills which is definitely different to normal circumstances. I am also the football team manager and I would usually travel with the team to matches and also CEP but because of COVID-19, I have not done that in a while.“CIS is like my second home”, I take care of the field with my heart and scream at the kids for their own good because I don’t want the field to become a mess so I am doing it for the students. Unlike the other teachers at CIS,I do not have to go work on Saturday but I come to the field time to time. The students of year 09/10 actually have a football team and they play on the pitch on saturday where they greet me on the field and so I can see my old students who have grown into adults. Before COVID-19, I also participated in 27 half marathons in Hong Kong and when I was a student in the States, I ran full marathons.
大家好,我是葉樹,我是中文國際學校的運動場經理。我在這所學校工作了 三十三 年,目前的工 作是負責運動場的管理和運營。我於 1989 年加入中文國際學校,在學校的第 六 年,成為目前在 漢基國際學校 工作時間最長的員工之一。我決定加入 漢基國際學校 是因為我能夠預見到 漢基 國際學校 會成為一所很棒的學校,儘管當時“它還很年輕”。那時我本來想在大學當老師,但我有 信心 漢基國際學校 會成為香港最好的學校之一。 “我加入的時候,最高年級只有九年級,但我想 從零開始”。甚至沒有一個固定的校園,有三個不同的校園,我的辦公室在肯尼迪路,因為學校很 小,我教每一堂課,包括小學和中學的課。 “我每天都得跑來跑去”,我教學生體育,因為我是體育
專業的,並獲得了學士學位。當年在這麼小的學校當老師,一年到九年級都有機會教書。現在的 課沒有那麼大,也沒有現在那麼難。我在那里工作的時候,學生們不得不出國繼續學習,因為學 校的最後一年只有九年,這意味著學生還有四年的學習時間。我認為現在我們有杭州項目,這對
學生來說非常好,因為學生可以在獨聯體繼續接受教育,他們也可以在獨聯體的堅實的大學輔導 下接受良好的教育。
自從 新冠肺炎 大流行開始以來,我認為我們無能為力,當然我們都深受其害,如果學生們想鍛煉 身體,他們可能會去散步或跑步。即使您能夠踢足球或打籃球,這也不正常,因為您可能沒有目
標或籃筐,因此只會運球和訓練,這絕對與正常情況不同。我也是足球隊經理,我通常會和球隊 一起參加比賽和 CEP,但由於新冠肺炎,我有一段時間沒有這樣做了。“ 漢基國際學校 就像我的 第二個家”,我會照顧用我的心去操場,為孩子們好,為他們自己的利益尖叫,因為我不想讓操場 變得一團糟,所以我是為學生們做的。與 漢基國際學校 的其他老師不同,我周六不用上班,但 我會時不時地到校外。 09/10 年級的學生實際上有一支足球隊,他們週六在球場上踢球,他們在 球場上迎接我,這樣我就可以看到我的老學生已經長大成人了。在新冠肺炎 之前,我還在香港參 加了 27 場半程馬拉鬆比賽,當我在美國上學時,我參加了四場全程馬拉鬆比賽。
“I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, our masks are completely sold out. There is a new stock coming in at four o'clock." The Japanese salesman bowed his head and apologized. It was a cold winter in Japan, my two daughters and I were enjoying our vacations when suddenly we were disrupted by the coronavirus. A few days later, I saw more and more masks being sold and I was unsure of how we would return home.
I have been working as a Primary Physical Education teacher in Chinese International School for 30 years. During my time at CIS, I have been able to witness many of my students, who were not as confident in the beginning, eventually become talented athletes. But, as soon as Covid-19 was announced and online learning started happening, I could see how it was affecting the students, especially the younger ones. Online learning has effects on everyone, compared to other teachers, the PE teachers have it especially hard. Other teachers are able to continue the learning that the students have started and have minimal changes in their teaching plans. But for PE teachers, as we are unable to use the resources we normally have, we end up having to change the entire curriculum to fit the online learning circumstances. We have to find new resources and make the best use of them to help the students.
Unfortunately from what I have seen, primary students’skill level in terms of ability in class has exponentially decreased during the 2 year period of Covid-19 online learning. This is due to the decrease of social interaction which eventually led to students becoming disheartened, as well as a lack of joy and motivation. This was definitely seen through the kids’ performance once they came back to school recently. Many of the year 1s and 2s have lost the instinct to climb. Normally, if we pulled out the climbing set, kids would automatically run up to it and start climbing, but what I have noticed is that these kids, now, are hesitant to climb and even touch the bars. This completely shocked me. It rendered me absolutely speechless. I have never seen anything like this. Even around 19 to 20 of the 10 year olds could not throw a ball nor catch one. Normally by the time these kids are 6 or 7 they would have mastered the skill of throwing a ball. However, these kids that are getting ready to go into secondary school do not have these basic skills, and it is astounding how this virus can decelerate the development of these children.
On the other hand, in terms of family life, Covid-19 has really brought my family closer. Because of all of the restrictions, not being able to go out to restaurants, online learning as well as quarantining, my family has been able to make more cherishable memories together. But I haven’t seen my mother who is turning
88 this year for over 3 years, as well as my nephew’s son who is currently 2 and ½. I would say I can’t really see the positive aspects of Covid-19 because it has really deprived me of precious time with my family, as well as majorly affecting my work place, and the development of the younger community around me. I hope that the Covid-19 pandemic ends soon so that we can yet again lift the students spirits and continue with developing them into confident students and athletes.
“對不起,實在不好意思,我們口罩現在暫時賣光了。下一批下午四點鐘才會來貨。“這個日本店員 向我低頭道歉。日本寒冷的冬天,我和兩個女兒正想享受假期,卻被新冠肺炎打擾了。過了幾天, 我看到越來越多的內地來的人來到日本,看著越來越多的口罩被別人買,我擔心到底怎麼辦?我 會安全嗎?我的兩個女兒還可以上學嗎?家...... 家...... 還能回去嗎?
轉眼間,我在漢基國際學校已經工作三十年了。對了,讓我介紹一下我的職業。我是漢基小學部 的體育老師。這三十年的時間,我認識了幾百甚至幾千位學生,能夠看著他們從沒有自信的小孩 子變成開心開朗的運動員讓我為他們驕傲。誰知,就這樣的,新冠肺炎影響了很多小學生的體力
,特別是那些年紀小的,六七八歲的小學生。這個毒病把網課帶來了網課。網課給所有人的社交, 家庭生活帶來了巨大的變化和影響。和其他主要科目進行對比的話,體育部門的老師面對著巨大 的挑戰。沒有了泳池,沒有了體育館,沒有了運動設備,學生們在家裡到底怎麼保持者良好的運 動習慣呢?最終,我們不得不把整個課程改變。我們知道我們一定要想盡辦法來解決這個問題。
不幸的,從我的觀察,在這兩年的網課期間內,很多的小學生似乎失去了很多的體育基的本功。 社交時間降低,學生們也失去了運動的動力,他們對著所有事情都感到無趣。回到學校,我們在 體育課上進行了體力運動測驗,讓孩子們試著去爬梯子,爬木板。正常情況下來說,學生來說會 直接往上爬,爬到頂上。可是,這些小學生卻想了又想,猶豫了不少,他們根本不敢自己爬上去, 需要我們老師的監測才能獲得安全感。更令人驚訝的是,六年級有差不多二十多個學生連球也扔 不了。他們很多人還達不到中學體育的要求,這一點讓我有點擔心。
坦白說,疫情讓我和家人的關係變得更加親密。因為不能出去吃飯,得在上網課,在家隔離,我和 家人們享受了能夠每天陪伴著對方的時間,一起做了一些小的事,卻能夠創造難忘的回憶。每一 天,我都掛念著自己的母親,她今年八十八歲了,可是今年已經是我第三年沒有見到她了,我的 外甥的兒子兩歲半,可是我還沒有見過他。
當別人問起,疫情帶給你什麼好處,我也得猶豫很久才能給到他一個答案。也許疫情沒有什麼好 處?這是所有人人生中巨大挑戰,讓我們在沒有準備下去面對,一開始對我來說,對很多人來說 這場鬥爭也許會輸,但是現在我知道自己得用一個良好的態度去面對。疫情帶給我了社交,職業
,家庭上的挑戰,但我知道自己不可以放棄。我希望疫情趕快結束,這樣子能夠還給小學生們一 個開心健康的童年。