COVID-weary high school students ready to take on a new challenge: semesters
CBC
It is a sign that things are slowly, cautiously going back to normal: high schools start a new semester today, and students will take the same four classes a day, every day, just like in pre-pandemic times.
It's been a long time since students in Ontario have gone to school in a regular semester system; COVID-19 safety measures forced a variety of different learning models, but today London high school students are going back to class under the old system.
"I'm pretty excited, actually. I think it will feel a lot better. Socially, we'll be interacting more frequently, not sitting in a class for half a day straight," said Noor Farooqi, 16. "I've taked to my friends and we're excited, just to have a sense of what high school should be like."
CBC London spoke to three students as the new semester begins. Here's what they had to say:
Farooqi completed one semester of Grade 9 before the pandemic threw everything into a tailspin. Since then, she's gone to classes remotely, for two days a week, and more recently, taken two classes a week, half day for one, half day for the other.
"Now, we're just going to have all four together, switching every 75 minutes. I'm kind of relieved," she said, adding that teachers have told her there will be less content covered daily than there was when classes were more than two hours long.
"I get to take the time to learn the information and really understand the concepts better. Hopefully I can learn better like that."
The prospect of having four subjects to juggle at a time is a bit daunting, but Farooqi is looking forward seeing more friends in different classes. "Maybe I don't have a friend in this class, but I do in the next one. It's a chance to meet more people," she said.
Alex Chun is an English as a second language learner who moved to Canada from South Korea in the fall. He's apprehensive about taking four courses a day instead of two, he said.
"We used to take two courses a day but now we have four courses each day. So you have much more to review at night. I expect it's going to be hard."
He plans to take engineering in university, so is already thinking about the marks he'll get in science and math. And sitting through one course for an entire half day was very difficult, he added.
But the social aspect, of meeting four new teachers, and peers in four different courses, is exciting, he said. So is getting seeing friends every day.
"It used to end after two months, so it wasn't enough time to get really close with friends and share yourself, to make a good friendship. Now we'll have four months, and that will help form friendships," Chun said.
"I'm kind of excited because I'm going to have all new classes, meet more people, and we won't have to sit for more than two hours in just one class," said Hassan. "But I also wish they would have waited until next year, because this is all going to be so new to us. Next year they could have had a fresh year, fresh start."
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.