Fellow editor Cindy Marie Jenkins recently turned me on to an at-home learning tool, and let me tell you, it’s a game-changer. It’s called Crash Course and it just might save your summer! With school about to wrap up, limited travel options, and a whole lot of free time, you are going to need things to fill your kids’ days. If some of it can be educational and entertaining, isn’t that be preferable?

You are skeptical, I know. So was I. Post-pandemic, seemingly every time you turn around there’s a new company claiming to be the next big thing in online education. Most of them are disappointing gimmicks that are short on educational merit and generally have an even shorter shelf life. But as a teacher and self-professed lifelong learner, I was convinced after watching just one video.

The videos range from ten to 20 minutes and cover a wide range of topics including American history, coding, the human genome, and zoology. Let’s be clear though – this will not replace lesson planning, parent interaction, or qualified teachers. What it will do is to help give some context and content to existing interests. Plus, it’s free!

Heading to Beijing Zoo? Check out a video on how animal eyesight works. The Space Museum? Learn a little bit about how the earth moves! Most of the content is aimed at older students and there is plenty of content for curious adults too. The company also produces entire courses on Crash Course Kids and SciShowKids.

To learn more check out the website here.

Teachers, help our parents out by suggesting your own summer fun learning tools in the comments.

KEEP READING: Imagine That! The Art and Science of Pretend Play

Images: Unsplash

As some of you may know, each year we do a teen takeover issue. As submissions from young people have been coming in I am reminded of what it was like to be 16. Ambitious, creative, endlessly energetic, and…boy crazy.

I have been on a lot of dates – don’t judge. Many of them were Carry Bradshaw level awful and many of them were wonderful. But as I look back on the dating advice I was given as a teenager, the guidance I received has left me a little disappointed.

While generalizations like “just be yourself” are true, they are far too nebulous to be helpful, and dating in Beijing during Covid offers a whole different set of issues to navigate on top of the normal teen stuff. So, for all the teenagers diving into the dating pool – or just dipping their toes in the water – here is the advice I wish I had been given.

Note: Forgive my hetero normative pronouns. Feel free to adjust them to your situation and as always these are my opinions, they are not facts. Always listen to your own instincts above anyone else’s advice.

Movie theaters are closed: This is a blessing in disguise. You’re in Beijing! It’s one of the most exciting and interesting cities in the world. Go play tourist together. Pack a picnic and go to the Summer Palace. Take a cooking class at the Hutong or Black Sesame Kitchen. You’re going to learn a lot more about each other if you do an activity together and actually, you know, talk.

Dinner out: I know you are living in Beijing where there is no drinking age but trust me on this, alcohol’s never made the first date better. They might be your soul mate, but also might just be a fun interesting person or a person you decide you’re okay never seeing again. Alcohol won’t help you decide that, in fact, it will confuse the issue. You’re a teenager, it’s okay to act like it.

Watch how they treat others: How someone treats their elders, relatives, and the waiter at dinner tells you a lot about them. Do they hold the door for the stranger whose arms are piled high with boxes? If so, they are considerate and attentive. Do they hold your chair but yell at the server for getting a drink order wrong? Then they probably aren’t kind when not trying to impress someone.

Laughter is not optional: If you spend more than a few hours with someone and you don’t make each other laugh this probably won’t work. Life gets tough, boring, and predictable in turns. It generally comes back around to exciting and dynamic, but the person you are with needs to get you on a basic level and you need to get them. A shared sense of humor is vital to that.

They consistently ‘neg you as a joke: The person you are with should be proud of you, they should want to brag about you, not put you down. That doesn’t mean they think you’re perfect and they should tell you when there are things you have to work on. But if they always say things like, “that’s silly,” or “it’s cute that you think that, but…” especially in front of others, they don’t respect you.

Be honest about what you want: We often get pressured to be in a relationship because it looks good from the outside. Especially in our community, the optics feel important. They went to the right school, come from a “good family” and are really, really, really ridiculously good-looking. If you like them on paper, your friends and family love them, but you don’t get excited about hanging out, move on.

It doesn’t matter how cute they are…Okay, real talk? Looks do matter. You need to be physically attracted but we all get less traditionally attractive with age. Personalities last. If you want to kiss but don’t really want to talk, that should make you pause. If they only seem to want to get physical but show no interest in what you have to say, it won’t work out in the long run. Believe it or not the social taboos around PDA in China could work to your advantage here. Because physical contact is limited, you will find out if you actually like each other or not.

It’s totally fine if you want to be single: A lot of pressure gets put on people to be in a relationship. But it’s not a requirement. There are wonderful things about being in a loving couple, but flying solo is amazing too.

No big decisions in the rainbows and butterflies faze: You found each other and are in love! Everything is perfect, and you will ride off into the sunset together. At least that’s how it feels. It’s magical and you should enjoy it! What you shouldn’t do is make any major life decisions. Don’t move, change schools/jobs, or give up on anything you loved before them. Your brain is flooded with dopamine and endorphins and it feels great, but it also means you’re not appropriately weighing the pros and cons. Let the hormones wear off a little.

Learn how to say goodbye: Dating as an expat is difficult. You never know when an assignment will change for one of your families and you will need to move. Remember that the duration of a relationship isn’t what matters, it’s what you learned from each other. I have reunited with expat friends I said goodbye to in really unexpected places. Keep in touch via social media and trust that in a community as small as ours, there is a good chance you will find each other again one day.

Finally. Be smart, be safe, have fun, and trust yourself. It’s going to be a beautiful journey!

KEEP READING: We’re Recruiting Students for the Next Teen Takeover Issue!

Images: Unsplash

It’s no secret: it’s hard to find teachers in China right now. I don’t know a single administrator who isn’t searching for qualified teachers. But qualified is the important word in that sentence. Recently, I saw a post in an educators’ WeChat group blatantly offering “authenticated” transcripts and diplomas to help foreigners get work visas. I was flabbergasted.

Don’t get me wrong. Many of the best teachers I know do not have a degree in education. They often were professionals in another field prior to finding a love of teaching. But they DO have a degree from a reputable university and work hard to get additional certifications like a TEFL or a degree from an online master’s program. They also have extensive hands-on classroom experience. Good administrators also know how to spot potential and nurture it by making someone an assistant or aftercare teacher under the direct supervision of a more experienced staff member. But to see such blatant abuse of the system was disturbing. My curiosity got the best of me, and I ended up falling down a bit of a rabbit hole.

I started by adding the contact on WeChat. She lists herself as an Australian and among her personal WeChat moments are blatant ads for her visa services. Pictures of official documents like transcripts and diplomas are proudly displayed along with introduction videos some of her “clients” have obviously submitted claiming they have their degree.

I decided to message her and get more information. Below is our conversation.

Basically, for the equivalent of roughly USD 3,000, I could get a “degree” stating I was an education major or, just as frightening, a trained social worker. But RMB 20,000 is a lot of money, so I pushed back a little and asked how I knew I would receive the paperwork and that it would be effective at getting a visa.

She responded by posting a flurry of photos of the fake documents from her moments and two screenshots of interactions she has had with other “clients.”

Followed by the unquestionable, ironclad guarantee…

I know it’s easy to sit on my high horse as a person who was privileged enough to have a family that supported my ambitions and helped me pay for a college education. I fully recognize that this is not an option for many around the world. Other avenues to help bright, motivated people get an education and have a fulfilling career need to be made available. But that is another issue for another blog. To actively sell fake degrees is not only dangerous for our education system and the children in it, it is also taking advantage of desperate people who are trying to seek employment and better their own lives. Everyone loses in this situation…except the person on the other end of that Alipay account.

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Photo: Canva

I have noticed a disturbing trend over the past few weeks and months. Some of my students who were very outgoing and precocious pre-pandemic have become excessively shy and showing signs of early social anxiety.

Fear of large crowds or approaching people without masks, excessive hand washing, even things as common as an allergy-induced sneeze are suddenly spooking some previously unflappable kids. For adults, a return to normal pre-pandemic activities has been something we have waited anxiously for, but for our smallest children, the pandemic behaviors were normal because they don’t remember anything else.

This is one of those unexpected pandemic effects that we aren’t completely sure how to deal with and will probably see the fall out for many years.

I want to preface the advice I am about to give by stating I am not a doctor or therapist; there is very little scientific information I can cite outside of traditional social anxiety studies because it’s a new problem that has not been researched sufficiently yet. Much of this is conjecture based on my years working with children and allegorical personal experiences over the past few months. I hope it is helpful, but please take it with the pound of salt it deserves. As always, if your child’s symptoms are severe or consistently worsening then you should consult a professional.

Delineate between shy and scared: Some children are just shy, naturally cautious, or introverted. That is a personality trait not a cause for concern. Even outgoing people have situations that they don’t enjoy or want to participate in. So make sure your child is actually experiencing anxiety before you label this as a problem to be addressed.

Identify the fear factor: If your child is experiencing fear help them identify why. Is the subway scary because it’s crowded or are they worried about getting sick? What are they afraid will happen if they don’t wash their hands 10 times a day? Sometimes just identifying the thing you fear is enough to help dispel it. At the very least it will help you as an adult address the issues and brainstorm ways to help them face their fears.

Don’t Push: The answer to a fear of swimming is not to throw your child into the ocean at high tide. You wade in slowly. So don’t start with a trip to Shanghai Disney; maybe spend the afternoon at Chaoyang Park first and have a picnic at the edge of the crowd. The following week maybe you move a little deeper into the throng. It’s okay if they don’t want to do something; keep presenting your child with fun opportunities and show them you are staying safe while doing them. Eventually, they will join in too.

Keep it small to start: Find little wins. If fear of dirty hands is the culprit, finger paint and then have them leave the paint on for 10 seconds before washing it off, then try 15 seconds and then 30. Do this over several days and with longer time periods. As they see that nothing bad happens they will become more confident. The same is true for social gatherings. Start with 2 friends at the park, then 3 at an at-home play date, 5 the following week at a music class etc.

Prepare them for interactions: If a scary interaction is unavoidable, help prepare them for the experience by talking about it ahead of time and making a plan for how they will handle it. “Tomorrow we need to take the subway to get to school. I will hold your hand the entire time so if you get scared you can squeeze it. We will be on for 4 stops and we will count them together. You will get stickers at each stop!” Fear is often about an inability to control something. Giving them something small they can control, like squeezing your hand, singing a song or counting stops will help distract them from the unknowns.

Set examples through actions: Let them see you hug your mask-free friends and ride public transportation. Yes, you wash your hands before you eat and after using the bathroom but it’s ok to be a little messy while we create art or play on the playground. We will clean up when we are done. All people sneeze and cough sometimes, it’s normal. We just need to cover our mouths when we do it.

We have been sending our children signals for many months that the world is unsafe. As a society, we modeled some pretty extreme behavior out of necessity. Now we need to send them a different message. The world is a beautiful place full of things to explore and experiences to take part in. We still need to take some basic precautions but it’s safe to venture back out and rejoin our larger community.

KEEP READING: Am I Imagining or Has There Been Less Sick Kids Since Covid?

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