Teachers' livestreams bridge gap in studies

FUZHOU/LANZHOU－Hou Qianqian, a fifth grader in a remote county in Gansu province, felt too shy to look into her new teacher's eyes even though she was 2,500 kilometers away.

Now after three weeks, Hou is obsessed with online study. "It feels like the teacher is giving a lesson especially for me," she said.

Distance learning was once rare for students who live in rural areas like Hou. However, it has now become part of their daily routine as online education has been encouraged amid the novel coronavirus outbreak and postponement of regular classes.

On Feb 10, teachers in Gulou, a district of Fuzhou, Fujian province, began offering livestream classes to over 60,000 elementary school students. The classes were also offered to 8,000 students from several less-developed rural counties.

In 2017, Gulou paired up with Gansu's Minxian county as part of a nationwide effort to help impoverished rural residents rid themselves of poverty. They have since cooperated closely in education.

The online classes over the past week began with a five-minute video clip, in which Wu Xintao, a renowned scientist, explained the novel coronavirus outbreak to students. Wu encouraged the students to work hard to help the nation overcome the difficulties.

Ye Yuxin, an official with the education bureau in Gulou, said it offers online classes in mathematics, Chinese and English, with each lesson lasting about 20 minutes "as per the advice from ophthalmologists" so as not to damage the students' eyesight.

Ye said 152 of the best teachers from the district take turns to livestream lectures to ensure the quality of the classes for students.

He Caiming, a teacher with 30 years of experience, suffered from stage fright before his first livestream.

"It was my first time to give a class to over 10,000 students at the same time, and I was quite anxious," he said.

"I could not make a single mistake because the video can be replayed again and again. I spent three days preparing for the class and rehearsed at least three times."

Realizing that most rural families do not have large-screen computers and tablets, the teachers enlarged the fonts on their presentations and focused on core aspects of the syllabus.

Their hard work paid off. Fascinated by the online English teacher's pronunciation skill, Hou developed a strong interest in the subject.

Bao Yafen, Hou's English teacher in Gansu, was struck by the large educational gap between her province and Fujian. "Every classroom in Gulou district is equipped with a piano and an interactive whiteboard, but in Gansu, we are still short of teachers in some areas," Bao said.

"The teachers in Gulou are well-prepared for the class. They have very good teaching skills and very authentic pronunciation of English words."

Bao was also impressed by the fact that they integrated information on prevention and control of the virus into their courses.

Encouraged by her Fujian colleagues, Bao plucked up the courage to record a 75-minute video of herself teaching a class.

Jin Liang, a Chinese language teacher in Gulou, said she felt like an internet celebrity.

"I can't wait to begin my second live-streaming class. I'm sure this time I can do much better," Jin said. "Online courses have given teachers from both the cities and rural areas the same opportunities to learn and improve."