THE LIMITS OF LEARNING

Surveys show that the majority of German students feel hopeless, listless and even
depressed as a result of the long lockdown. Homeschooling is overwhelming for
many of them, and some families are struggling to cope. We visited students at
home. Every morning, 14-year-old Catharina sits down at the dining table and tries to study
Latin, Math, or English. Her 10-year-old brother, Philipp, sits next to her. He also has to study
— and likes using Catharina as a teaching assistant. How are either one supposed to
concentrate? Their single mother can’t help, because she is a doctor and has to go to work.
Anna has it a little bit easier. She is 16 years old and considers the time she has spent in
lockdown to be the most productive of her life so far. She can finally concentrate, and work
in peace. Leandro is 14 and can't understand this. He feels completely overwhelmed by the
massive heap of tasks. What should he tackle first and how should he do it? He can't provide
the structure and guidance he used to get every day in the classroom for himself, and often
has trouble getting out of bed in the morning —an indication of early-onset depression. Axel
Rowohlt visited Catharina, Philipp, Anna and Leandro, and also spoke to Felix, their student
representative. He conducted a survey among students in Berlin — with alarming results.

Watch the video and follow instructions:

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

1. How do you feel about distance learning. Talk about your own experience
getting educated online.

The way in which distance education has had an impact on my life, has its good and
bad things, on the one hand, I saw the benefit of being able to work and study at the
same time, I saw it as a great advantage.

2. Which are the most difficult tasks that you find in distance learning.?

I feel that teamwork is not given the same importance in distance education.

3. How do you feel after come back to the physical classrooms? Explain your
choice,

A little strange, all my life I received face-to-face education and the change to distance
education makes me feel that now time passes faster in the classroom.
 4. Write an essay about the video, expressing your personal point of view
regarding to that topic. (1 page not less) Arial 12, space between lines 1.15

I think no one in the world was prepared for what we would experience in the
pandemic, but focusing on the children, you could see a wide range of effects,
for many it was like "Oh, great, classes from home, free time" others might miss
playing with their friends at school, some even took advantage of their time to
learn new things on their own, but also the other side of the coin, those who
experienced anxiety due to confinement, questioned their own existence,
visualized their whole life like this, in a At first it might seem like something
exaggerated, but it must be taken into account that the youngest, especially
children, are more vulnerable to having sequelae for all of the aforementioned, I
think it is very important, to be able to face a problem of such large proportions.
, have protocols and be more than prepared in case one day we have to face
something similar, so that the children do not have as many negative
consequences as already happened.

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FKR35OidyU