Juncai Lin is BSSC International Student and Confucius Classroom Coordinator. We spoke to him about the challenges and unexpected pleasures of working from home, and what he misses most about being on campus each day.
What are the biggest challenges for you working from home?
The biggest challenge of working from home is not being able to connect with students/teachers in the physical world and capture their body language effectively—something that forms a very important part of our communication and signals understanding and emotion. Some of these signals are instant feedback you would like to have to adjust what you are communicating.
What do you like about working from home? What has surprised you?
It has given me more space to think deeply and widely about how I can better support the team and students and take those actions by making a voice/video call. What has surprised me is being able to explain some of the ‘how-to’ tasks effectively by showing my screen as I talk. Some students seem to concentrate better without the distractions of the classroom.
Have you got a favourite place at home to work?
The old favourite spot goes to my wife who is also working from home. I’ve set up a large desk in one of the rooms and love where I am now 😊.
What’s you ISO exercise of choice?
I try to do skipping for 3 to 5 minutes every hour and I usually go out for a run in the afternoon with my daughter who has just learned how to ride a bike.
Any funny, unexpected things that have happened as a result of teaching from home?
One unexpected thing is to find myself putting on weight a little bit faster than usual without the regular commutes by foot from point A to point B/C/D within the school.
What do you miss most about physically going to school?
I miss seeing colleagues and students and the fun conversations with them at school.
What’s something you do to completely switch off from teaching?
Getting into the garden, trimming the plants and getting rid of the weeds.
Anything you’d like to say to the rest of the BSSC community during lockdown?
I hope you are all managing the balance of your work and whatever other commitments required of you in this unusual time. I can’t wait to see many of your smiles again at school.
