One Year On / 一年後

　One year has passed since COVID-19 landed in Japan. In that one year our lives have changed a lot, and we have learned a lot. What's been hard about the pandemic is that no two countries are experiencing the same problems. Right now in Ireland, students are not back at school — they are still doing homeschooling. For many Irish students it’s been a year of homeschooling.

　While I am glad we are all learning back at school it’s important to remember to be careful. In our oral communication classes we have decreased the number of pair speaking activities and tried to out more distance between students when they do. Recently in 7th grade we have been using our WebCampus platform more to allow the students to do listening and reading activities that can improve their vocabulary and aid in helping them to recognize their own mistakes. Today we wanted to review past tense before we do a speaking activity so the students played memory and did a word search. These are common ESL activities but by utilizing the iPads we can save paper which is good for the environment and allow the students the opportunity to practice after class too. It also means the students can work individually and reduce the risk of COVID-19. I hope that we can start to increase speaking activities soon, but for now we can think outside the box and continue learning while staying safe.