//vol.13-3 Youth speak

  • Adjustment is a preoccupation for everyone involved in education now, especially those concerned about underprivileged students.
  • Inequality, disengagement, disparities in parental support and failed socialization are among the hurdles.
  • Ms Leung and Ms Li, both primary school teachers, are worried about restoring normality.

  • 不少老師為學校即將復課而感憂慮，然而這班8至11歲受訪小學生卻顯得雀躍。
  • 他們渴望能與好友見面，並想及早回校上課。
  • 有些學生則擔心自己追不上學業進度。

 

Christian, 8-year-old government-aided school student

More than anything, I have missed face-to-face lessons with my class teacher. I like her very much and even though she won’t be teaching me this year I can go to find her during break. I have missed my friends too and I feel excited about going back. I’m the class monitor and during recess I talk to the other monitors about who has been naughty.

It might be a bit difficult to make new friends though. I won’t know what to say. I am not used to it after so much time at home and feel a bit shy. It will take time to warm up and get used to sharing again.

In online lessons we did Kahoot quizzes for English grammar. That was fun and exciting. PE was the worst online class. It was so boring doing exercises in front of the computer’s camera. Now, I’ve got lots of new textbooks to read so that I am ready.

 

It will take time to warm up and get used to sharing again.

 

Sze-yuet, 11-year-old cross-border student

Please let me go back to school! This is my last year in primary and it would be such a pity to spend it stuck at home. I feel nervous and worried though. It’s so long since I was there and I think my Cantonese is getting worse and worse. It will take a long time to catch up and get to know my old friends again. I think I have even forgotten the rules of the games we play.

I have to cross the border from Shenzhen to go to my Hong Kong school and I know I will need a super-loud alarm clock to wake me up. My mother rented a room for us in Hong Kong. It’s really small and I will miss my desktop computer at home Shenzhen.

Honestly, I like online classes. I kind of got used to them, and I really liked the visual arts lessons. We watched a lot of good animations that I would very much like to make myself. But I have missed my teachers, my classmates and my school lunch so much!

 

This is my last year in primary and it would be such a pity to spend it stuck at home.

 

Yip, 11-year-old government-aided school student

I’m so happy to think that I will be able to back to school again. I feel nervous and excited at the same time. If there are any new COVID-19 cases, we all have to stay at home for seven days but I love going to school and having face-to-face classes. I only see my mom at home. It is so boring and I cannot live with this boredom.

But I did like the online computer lessons we did at home with Scratch software. I didn’t like online English lessons but then I don’t like them anyway, even in class at school. There, I can chat and play games and chess with my friends. I have missed that so much. At home, even though I have more time, I have only myself to play with. What I have to do now is prepare loads of masks and alcohol tissues to make sure I stay safe.

 

I can only see my mom at home. It is so boring!

 

Molly, 11-year-old going to Secondary 1 this year

I only had one day with my school friends at the end of term last summer and now we are all at new schools. That makes me sad. I feel very nervous too but also excited. I think it will be easy to fit in but I am not sure about making new friends at my new school. I feel safe there, safe enough to share snacks with classmates. If I didn’t feel safe, I would tell my mum.

Things that helped me prepare for school over the summer have been keeping in touch with friends then getting my new uniform ready, and my books and pencil case. I prefer learning in a classroom. It’s easier and we can do role play together and that helps us learn fast. We couldn’t do that online. I was also really pleased to join the netball team. I got another uniform and I am enjoying school a lot.

 

I only had one day with my school friends at the end of term and now we are all at new schools. That made me so sad.

 

Garry, 9-year-old international school student

I’m a bit lazy and so I am not looking forward to attending classes all day even though I like being there and being able to talk to my friends. When we have to do online lessons, the best is the library class and reading. The worst was music class when they gave us stupid rap music to listen to and we couldn’t choose anything else.

When we are at school, we have to wear masks. I didn’t like masks at all in the beginning because it was difficult to hear what my friends were saying but I got used to them. They make PE difficult though. Running in a mask is very uncomfortable.

 

The worst was online music class when they gave us stupid rap music to listen and we couldn’t choose anything else.