What is happening to the overseas Chinese in all countries as the new pneumonia epidemic spreads all over the world? China Overseas Chinese Network (ID: qiaowangzhongguo) specially launched a series of "Overseas Stays" series of manuscripts, telling the story of the "war epidemic" left by overseas Chinese. In this issue, Steen, who teaches in the United States, tells us her story of staying behind.

I teach at a public elementary school in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Since the parents took notice of the school district on March 13 to pick up the children, the school has been closed for 29 days today, and each day seems very long.

We are a Chinese immersion school. Although it is a public school, it is similar to a foreign language school in China. There is no scoring, and the source of students has always been quite popular. Many families do not live nearby and need to drive a long time every day to pick up children. But they are all proud that their children learn to speak Chinese. The principal is also the head of the school's international department. He is an authentic American principal with decades of teaching experience. He does not speak Chinese, but all the teachers in the main class are teachers who hold California teacher qualifications and Chinese.

A classroom without children. Photo courtesy of interviewees

Since the outbreak in China in late January, Chinese parents here have paid close attention to it. The principal was also very cautious and kept asking the health department for any guidance. Families who had international travel in the school were quarantined by the principal for a period of time when they returned. It was only in early February.

In winter, San Francisco is cold and rainy, and children are prone to catch colds. There are 25 children in my class. People often ask for leave when they have a cold or fever in February and March. During that time, I was worried all day. When I saw my parents' leave emails, I would meditate in my heart, "Don't you infect the new crown."

There were two little girls who were severely cold and were hospitalized. One was from a white family and the other was from a Mexican family. According to the parents, they were all cold.

Fortunately, emergency response in the entire San Francisco area is the earliest. On February 25, San Francisco declared a state of emergency. Thanks to the managers who are on alert, the epidemic here is relatively calm, and the data is not so scary.

At the beginning of March, there was a rumors that the school would be closed due to the epidemic, and we waited for the boots to fall while we were in class normally.

I frequently remind children not to touch their faces with their hands or put their hands in their mouths, and sing Chinese hand-washing songs repeatedly with them every day.

The weather vane made by the children. Photo courtesy of interviewees

Later, the epidemic became more and more serious. I also paid attention not to be too close to the children when I spoke, and showed them a mask, saying that the teacher will wear this mask when talking to you alone to prevent the spread of the virus. They are very good, no fuss. At that time, I was really anxious. The children were so young that they couldn't keep their distance from each other.

Fortunately, in the second week of March, the school was finally closed.

On the last day of class, I sent each child a QR code to teach them how to log in to the school district ’s online learning platform. From that day to the present, we have taken online lessons for three weeks. I divided the learning content into seven or eight modules and spread it to the platform. Every afternoon, I distributed the learning schedule of the next day to the parents, and the parents guided the children to learn according to the schedule.

The teaching resource website in the United States is extremely rich, and it is free during the epidemic. Teachers and children are very comfortable with it. However, because it is a Chinese-immersed elementary school, the first week after the school was closed, parents began to worry that their children would not speak Chinese without the teacher's 24/7 Chinese conversation. We quickly opened the zoom account of the online meeting and interacted with the children online.

At the beginning, the children were nervous when facing the camera alone, and many elementary school tyrants in the class dared not speak. The children and teachers who were forced to walk out of the comfort zone tried hard to persevere and gradually supported them.

Morning quiet campus. Photo courtesy of interviewees

For low-income families, the school district distributed computers and mobile Internet devices for them, and distributed free meals on time. A family in my class did not receive it. This single mother from Cuba seems to be living in a garage. The telephone company also said that there is no line to install the network. On April 9, the school district finally got the new equipment, and the principal hurried to her home. The child's mother was very grateful in the mail and praised the principal as a "community hero".

Many parents write emails saying that their children miss the school, and our teachers also miss the children. Before the spring break, Teacher Zhang of the second grade suggested that all teachers and employees record a video of "I miss you" and send it to the children together. The teachers who do the online class every day immediately responded, and the video was edited the next day. Everyone was sad when they circulated it. Parents received the video and said they cried.

In April, the governor made it clear that it is impossible to return to school this school year. The school district informed that the school will open for three hours on the afternoon of April 3, and parents will retrieve all teaching materials and learning materials in an orderly manner.

On that day, the teachers returned to the school, sorted out all the children's teaching materials and folders, and arranged them in a row in the small courtyard outside the classroom door. Parents came in one person at a time, some said hello, took care, and some stood in the small playground, chatting with me from afar. I stood at the door of the classroom silently, feeling a little sad, so I said goodbye this year.

A black mother said that the child was arguing at home to go to school and go to martial arts training class. My mother said that the world is different now. You should not be as annoyed. The child said annoyedly that I do n’t like the current world. I want to go back to the past. We all laughed at the children's words. Although it was a bit helpless, why not the idea of ​​some adults? The past is past, and after this period, the future is still expected.

The child's mother lamented that she was very grateful and had at least a job. I nodded. At that moment, the sunshine was just right.

Author: Siting