The pandemic has got serious again. This time my apartment is so close to high-risk areas that all the grocery stores and parks in the neighborhood are closed.
Last night, the kids' kindergarten notified us that they advised kids to stay home for a week. As I was worried about how daddy could manage to look after both kids while working from home, I received the notification from school that grade 7 and 8 teachers would stay home and have online lessons. It was a relief!
Today is the first day of working from home since May. I got up at 7 and showed the kids an episode of Avanti Cartoons. I recently realized that they should be exposed to more diversified videos, which include more than ultra man heroes. As it is easier to choose what they want to watch, they get to watch ultramen every day. Ultra man becomes their main topic for entertainment. While in my age, we only watched TV and it was impossible to decide what TV programs to watch, so we watched quite broadly, from children's programs to historical documentaries. Convenience can be a double edged sword.
Another problem I detected recently was my English was declining. The first symptom was I could not express myself freely in class any more. I stuck some times as I forgot some words, for example: 感染者. infected people, etc. Also, as I was preparing lessons, I I could no longer think aloud in English fluently.
The reason for this problem is first, I have stopped reading massively in English this term. At home, I rarely read English. First, we rarely read. Most of the time I do housework and take care fo the kids, when I spend time alone, I watch videos. Yes! I just found the answer, taking care of the kids takes up a lot of time, but that is something that I should do. While video watching, that is something that is not supposed to take up so much time. On average, I spend 2 hours on video watching. Then when I made the decision to enjoy some reading, I read Chinese magazines, which is also beneficial to the soul, but in a more efficient perspective, it is better to switch my reading to English, as it can benefit both my soul and language skills. In a word, from today on, quit some video watching, do Reading in English for at least one hour.
The second reason for my declining in English is I stopped writing in English. Two years ago, when I was studying for the master's degree in TESOL in a British University, I actually felt my English level peaked. By using the language to express complicated ideas, I activated thousands of English words and it felt good to be able to express myself freely as I wish. Two years after the course, when I stopped writing English essays, I made a plan to write English diaries three times a week in the subway on my way to work, it worked well for several months. For what reason did I stop? I could blame busy life, etc. But it is time to pick up English dairy writing again!
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