Océane Theard, edited by Ophélie Artaud 6:23 a.m., May 25, 2022

Three months of war in Ukraine, three months also that almost all schools in the country have closed their doors.

Despite everything, teachers continue to give lessons online to their students.

This is the case of Anna, a 24-year-old French teacher, who fled Odessa to settle temporarily in Paris.

REPORT

Anna turns on her computer, it's almost 2 p.m., class is about to start.

She has set up a small office in a studio in the 10th arrondissement where she has been welcomed since her arrival in Paris.

The 24-year-old teacher, who lived in Odessa before the war began, left behind the private school where she taught, her students, her parents and her brothers.

She crossed Moldavia, Romania, before being collected by a painter in this small apartment under the roofs.

"Online courses are a point of stability in their lives"

Anna ties her long red dreadlocks at the top of her head.

The three students aged 11 to 12 connect for the day's class.

The faces light up when their teacher appears on the screen.

>> READ ALSO

- Europe divided on peace in Ukraine

"How are you? What day is it?", begins by asking Anna, in French.

The answers are sometimes hesitant.

The teacher corrects, rectifies, with kindness.

"For Ukrainian students, online lessons are a point of stability in their lives. It's an exchange. I don't just arrive in a class, I give my lesson and that's it. When you are their teacher , we are part of their life", smiles Anna.

"The school is not just the building. Today they can see that learning can continue in any situation," she continues.

Finding his students "in a peaceful Ukraine"

Today's lesson is dedicated to the near future.

On the screen, Marguarita, 11, her brow furrowed in concentration behind her brown bangs, recites her conjugations.

"French lessons are one of the things that make me happiest at the moment. It's very well organized, you learn a lot of things. It helps me a lot to cope with the situation," enthuses Maguarita. 

>>

 Find Europe Matin in replay and podcast here

The virtual course ends after 45 minutes, the "goodbye", still in French, fuse.

Anna, whose smile never seems to fade, hopes to soon find her pupils in their classroom in Odessa, but "in a Ukraine at peace".