 Hello, my name is Carmel. I'm the head of education here at International House Dublin. I'm also a cell-to-trainer. And today I want to talk about the challenges, I guess, that the pandemic has posed in school. And I'm sure it's the same for many of us. We, you know, initial reaction, there was a lot of anxiety and fear for both students and staff. And none of us had lived through a pandemic before. And, you know, knowing what it meant for ourselves and for our families, of course, first of all, was the primary concern. And then thinking about how it could affect your school was obviously the next big concern. And we weren't really quite sure how that would all play out. Another big challenge for us was the kind of, certainly in the first lockdown, was the move to online tuition with very limited lead-in time and resources. We hadn't done fully live and interactive lessons before. So it was a big change for us. And I know certainly we were feeling our way certainly in the first days and weeks, certainly of that first lockdown. So that was a big challenge initially. A big challenge has been, it's been very difficult to plan or predict because the context has just changed constantly. You know, we, as we, in the summer, it seemed, you know, that it was over, that we were kind of going to go back to normality again. And as the summer progressed, we could see that the numbers were starting to increase and the restrictions were being introduced. And suddenly we found ourselves back, we found ourselves back now in the position where we were back in April and May. So, yeah, it's been, you know, difficult to kind of plan in that context. I guess another problem has been communication. You know, especially when we haven't been in the same building, you know, there's so many issues that can be dealt with very simply with just a quick conversation outside of class, dropping into the teacher's room to talk to someone. And it takes a little bit longer and it's a little bit more complicated when we're not in the same building. And I guess just the other thing to consider that is just the logistical and procedural and behavioral changes required due to COVID-19 procedures. So, you know, one-way systems in the building increased physical distance in the classrooms, but also kind of trying to encourage people to be vigilant and to remember those behavioral changes because, you know, it's human nature that we all kind of go back to what we're used to. So they've been big challenges for us. I guess in terms of how we've responded to those challenges, you know, a big thing is, I guess, being available and just talking, you know, talking to people, asking people how they are, having regular welfare meetings, lots of kind of feedback and advice for people. And I think what's been very useful for us, I know in the education department is just using WhatsApp groups for spontaneous queries and feedback. We found that really useful like when we're planning and also when we're teaching, you know, especially in the first lockdown, you're like, oh my God, how do you do that again? And quick message to the WhatsApp group and you've got a response immediately. So that was really reassuring and a great help in that first lockdown. And I mean, with the move to online tuition, you know, we were able to develop kind of training and self-study tasks for teachers. So teachers that kind of gradually rejoined us, you were able to do training with them and also give the class so they could practice so they could feel confident delivering their first lesson. Also kind of pair teaching for the first lesson as well. We've developed an online resource room, which is great because a big anxiety for teachers is not having access to their favorite resources. So we've got some really good online resources and that's made things a lot easier. I just, as I said, just staying connected and helping each other and being around to deal with questions and problems, I think that's really helped. Well, difficulty to plan in an ever-changing context. So we're just basically planning for multiple scenarios and being aware that those scenarios might change. So together with my colleagues in our registration and marketing departments are looking at, you know, what happens in these various different scenarios and how to be ready for them basically. And then the logistical, behavioral changes required you to health and safety guidance. We did a lot of pre-return training for both students and staff. So we returned to the building in July and we had training for both students and staff so that they would be fully aware of what was required of them and all so that they would have kind of like a manual kind of to take with them that they could refer to as well. And we've been able to kind of do dual delivery for isolating students as well. We've been giving students and teachers regular feedback and advice. So kind of saying that's great. Like everyone's, you know, following the one-way system, that's fantastic, but we need to remember to be socially distant kind of as you come into the building and not just within the building and just kind of constant vigilance, being aware that, you know, as we said, it is likely that we do kind of fall back to old habits and I'm just being careful with it. Feedback from staff and students has been mixed, and both positive and negative. There certainly has been positives about it. And so as teachers, I think we always enjoy finding new resources, new materials, new tasks that work really well in class. And that's been exciting. Learning how to use like the online platform, learning how to use it well, I think has been great. Like that kind of buzz that you get from trying something out, it works really well, and you share it with your colleagues. That's been brilliant. We've also really enjoyed being able to share materials and lesson plans with students before the lessons because then they can use it for their own revision after class. I think one of the kind of, I suppose magical things about working online is that kind of personal, cultural exchange you get when one student is in Brazil, one student is in South Korea, you're seeing the sun right in Brazil, you're waving goodnight to the person in South Korea, and even things like pets dropping into the lesson, children dropping into the lesson, brothers, sisters, housemates. That's made an experience of working online seem more intimate and human and has really helped kind of bond the groups, I think. And also, yeah, the opportunity to work on fluency writing tasks, it's not something that we did very often in physical classrooms, but we're using the chat box a lot, like for tasks where students are asking and answering questions, and that's actually worked quite nicely. In terms of negative, I mean, there is no substitute to being in a room with people, and it's a special experience, and returning to the building while we were all quite anxious about it was actually really quite emotional, really, to have everyone back in the building. You can see I'm in an empty class now and the school is empty, and there's no substitute for having the buzz of people around the building, so that's something that we miss. And for students who planned their year abroad and didn't know that they'd be doing their year abroad in the year of a global pandemic, they perhaps didn't come with laptops, and they're working with iPhones and things like that, and that's been frustrating for them. Maybe they're living in accommodation or the internet connection is patchy. You know, I've had students who've had to go out the corridor to hang out the window to get a good connection, so that's been difficult. It's been a real difficulty for both students and for teachers at times as well. What else have we learned along the way? Yeah, there needs to be adaptable, positive and resilient. Yeah, you just have to keep going, it's fine. You know, we're all still alive. We're all still working well together, and we're all enjoying kind of good lessons. We've learned how to use online tools, platforms to engage and to facilitate learning, engaging and interactive lessons. We've learned the value of staying connected and of meaningful online communities, and that's, I think, something that we felt as teachers, and I know the students really felt as well, that the daily connection that we had was something that actually helped us all get through the first part of the lockdown. Also, I think, you know, the benefits of physical movement. You know, we've been working in online classes where you're sitting at a computer, so trying to integrate physical movement into that has been fun, and also bringing that into kind of physically distant, in-person classes as well. The need for constant vigilance with COVID-19 procedures. And then, I guess, just refocus on our core values and how they translate into an online environment. You know, we focus on student-centered lessons. We focus on meaningful communicative tasks and working in an online environment. It's still possible to really integrate those values into those lessons. I suppose the last thing is, how do we see the situation developing into the meeting to long-term is a hard one. We're all looking into our crystal balls at the moment and wishing that we could see what was going to happen. Anyone's guess is as good, but I think it seems to be periods of greater freedom followed by periods of greater restrictions. I, you know, that's as much as we can see right now. Longer term, a vaccine, back to the law, you know? That's it, that's the hope, you know? That's the hope, definitely. So, yeah. Yeah, I thought you'd come in then and ask a few questions kind of related to that. The thing that, I think, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think that IHW were one of the first schools to go back into the classroom. We were back in the 27th of July, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Almost a month before kind of people fell obliged to you were already back there. Can you tell us something about the thinking there of going back as soon as possible and what kind of reaction you got to that? Well, we, I mean, students were constantly asking, it's like, when is the school reopening again? When is the school reopening again? We were lucky, we're very lucky that we have some classrooms that are really big because we share our premises with independent colleges. So we have rooms that have capacity for, in normal times capacity for 50, 60 people. So we thought we could really make use of those rooms, obviously, independent college. They weren't in session in the summer. So that was, we felt like we have this space. We can have really, really good kind of physically distant classes and make use of the building and get people back in here. So the reaction was actually really positive. Everyone was delighted to be back and we were, of course, we were all nervous about it. Everything has been an unknown quantity, but the training, I think, really helped. Students knew what they were doing. They knew where they were going. They knew to follow the one way system. We had everything set up for them. It was, it was, it was good. Yeah, it was good. And then the last question I have in kind of related this kind of, how does the future look? What do you think you're gonna take with you from this experience into the future? What do you think might go back to the way it was? And do you expect completely new things to come up and do it forward? Well, I mean, I think, you know, what we've learned from working online has been great. And I think it's something that we should carry with us into the future. I think, you know, there are benefits to working in a Zoom class that you can bring into a face-to-face class. And so, you know, students working on tasks together in breakout rooms. You could have students working in different parts of the building, working together on a task. You could be interviewing students in different classrooms. I think that that's something that we could definitely work with. And something, you know, there's, you know, different online tools that we've, that we've enjoyed becoming familiar with that I think would be useful in any kind of context. And what was the next question? Sorry. What was, what did we take with us? What might go back to the way it was and what you... What might go back to the way it was if we go back to normal? If everything goes back to normal. I guess, hmm, well, we will... Hmm, that's an interesting question. I don't know, it's hard to say. I think, you know, we will be able to do the kind of the activities for students mingle around and, you know, the running dictations and those kind of activities without any kind of stress, you know? The physical social distance has been, you know, it's something that we kind of have to be careful with. And at the moment that we have to be careful with. So not having to kind of think about that, I think will be a relief for everyone. Just taking students out of the building for excursion lessons and kind of making use of the city, I think, will be something that we'll be able to do kind of again with any kind of anxiety about it, you know? Yeah, I think that's the thing that I'd look forward to as well, to be able to run those activities and involve movement. I think that's a very interesting point that you said, that movement in the classroom is something that adds a lot and then having to do that makes it quite difficult. It does, definitely. And especially when the lessons are like an hour and a half or two hours long, you know, you physically need to move in that time, you know? And then just to kind of wrap it up, I think maintaining motivation is a big challenge when there isn't really a clear end or a back to normal in size. And what you say about constant vigilance is very important. How do you maintain that student and teacher motivation? I think trying to keep things fun, you know, trying to do like different tasks. You know, we students doing kind of presentations on their favorite pop stars and sharing that with other groups. We have, you know, social activities where, you know, that they're not just mingling with the students in their class or meeting other students as well, trying to bring the group together, trying to bring the whole group together as a group rather than just each individual class. Trying to kind of, I think it's been important to kind of have that sense of kind of community, I guess as a whole school, you know, that we're all in this together. I know it's a cliche phrase, but, you know, we're in it together, we're here to help each other, but also we can gain a lot from each other as well.