Lower Elementary "Students showing their creativity during Home Learning"

One aspects of school life that teachers miss most is seeing student’s personalities. Teachers miss the student’s laughing, ask interesting questions, and interacting with them. We all feel as if something is missing in our lives without seeing the students each day. We know the students and parents have been working hard at home to diligently do each day’s school work.

The week of April 6^th -10^th we decided we wanted to have a bit more fun with the students and to see them be more creative. The results were much better than we could have imagined. We loved seeing the students entertaining videos, silly stories and creative food making skills. Some students went above and beyond what was asked and seemed to have been truly inspired. As teachers we have been impressed by the quality or work handed in.

In Grade One, students made breakfast sushi went on an A to Z scavenger hunt, experimented with vinegar and eggs, and made optical illusions.

In Grade Two, students created their own planet, learned about character traits, played with shapes, and sorted animals.

In Grade Three, students cooked at home and explained the process, learned the “Cup Song,” read with character, and had fun with a Mad Lib!

We hope that the parents enjoyed seeing the work each student created. We as teachers have enjoyed watching each students video and looking at the pictures. They have brightened our lives with their infectious energy.

UE “We are all in this together”

These past 2 months have been an extremely challenging and difficult time for students, teachers, parents, and administrators, mostly because it has been different than anything we have ever done before.  However, human beings rise together in difficult times.  We work together to make the best of difficult situations.  We adapt, we overcome, and we come out stronger because of it.

We have seen some tremendous things over the past month.  Teachers have been creating fun, interesting, and engaging lessons for the children. They have been encouraging students at all hours of the day, and providing valuable feedback to help the students improve their overall English skills.

Parents have supported their children by providing them with comfortable work environments at home. We have seen many parents involved with their students learning.  Most importantly, we have seen some students create some great work.  Students have shown incredible creativity with their writing, speaking, and videos they have submitted.

Life constantly presents us with challenges and difficulties.  Difficult does not mean it is impossible.  It simply means that you have to work hard.  When we put our minds to it we can adapt and overcome any challenge that confronts us.  The Upper Elementary Bilingual program at Clifford School has proven that to be true.

Thank you to the teachers for all your efforts.  Thank you to the parents for your continued support and understanding.  Thank you to the students for challenging yourself everyday to do better and be better.  We are all in this together, and we will all overcome this together.  We can’t wait to see you all again soon!

 ELS  “Striving for Excellence”

Since beginning the online learning program at Clifford School, the ELS Program, the Coordinator and our ELS teachers have diligently been striving to provide our students with fun, creative and dynamic lessons through our individual class WeChat Groups.

As many are aware, this process is new for both our students and teachers, yet with our teaching dedication and high standards we have seen positive results from our students each week with their writing, reading, speaking, phonics and English grammar skills.

Our ELS teachers love and miss all of our students and have been always available to our students during this time, whether they are here at Clifford or elsewhere in the world.

The goal of the ELS program is to continue to strengthen our students’ English skills by providing continued encouragement, feedback and personal assistance to each and every student whether in the classroom or through our online platform using WeChat.

The teachers love to see the fantastic work that our students have been producing and posting on their class WeChat groups. The photos of their artwork, writing, videos of their reading, phonics practice and discussions is heart warming for each of our teachers to see.

We are all proud of the hard work and commitment of, not only our dedicated LELS and UELS teachers, but mostly of our students and their enthusiasm to further strengthen their English skills. 

Moving forward, we will continue to strive for excellence from our Clifford students and assist them with their English to ensure that each individual student is successful with their studies in order to return to the English Homerooms.

Elementary Bilingual English Home Learning Program

During the time of the school closure our English teachers and TAs have been very busy preparing work for the students so they can continue their English studies and practice English at home. For the first three weeks the teachers and TAs prepared materials for the students to revise work they had completed in Semester 1. This work consisted of videos, worksheets, games, activities and PPTs. Last week we started a more interactive program, so we could introduce and teach new work every day. Every English teacher created a class Wechat group for sharing work and asking questions – for each class, all students, the English teacher and the TA are in the group.

Lessons are prepared for each day of the week. All the teachers record a video explaining and teaching the material to be covered. There are also written instructions prepared (and translated). Materials are also created, including videos, PPTs, worksheets, songs and games. The teachers post the daily lessons onto the class Wechat where the students can see the work and ask questions of the teacher and TA any time of day. For students who want extra practice, there are also optional activities, games, books to read and listen to.

Every day students are greeted with a welcome video from their own class teacher! Whilst it is not the same as teaching in classroom, the students are able to interact with their teachers and TAs who help them to complete the daily tasks. This has been a great addition to our teaching from home program and I know all the students and teachers love listening to and chatting with each other as they learn and teach new English skills.

We all look forward to meeting back in the classrooms soon!