EFL Responds to One of Life’s Challenges
March 31, 2020
Dear Friends of Education for Life,
At the beginning of January, I was giving EFL workshops in Hong Kong with only the faintest hint of a health problem developing next door in mainland China. Now, all of our lives have been touched. From an EFL perspective though, the question when faced with any challenge is always the same. Whether it’s being asked to share a toy when we are three years old or respond to a pandemic as an adult, the basic choice is, do we contract or do we expand?
My first glimpse of the response from the EFL community came in the form of a little video put together by our teachers in the school near Assisi. It is a very simple video for young children, put together with a love and joy that shines through the images. And that was just the beginning.
Since then there have been many other responses including virtual camps, online yoga for teens, discussion groups on sharing scary news with children, and a new little book called Star Child. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to review some of these opportunities through the descriptions and links below. At the very least, they will give support to your own positive response to this challenging situation that we all share.
Joy,
Nitai
Video from the teachers at the Assisi School, link
This very short, sweet and powerful video was created for the students of the EFL school near Assisi. It is in Italian but very simple to understand since it includes the Awake and Ready exercises. Enjoy!
Italian version:
English version:
Online discussion on sharing scary news with children, link
An online series based on the book Scary News by Lorna Knox. The course is lead by Aryavan McSweeney, EFL director in New Delhi. The book was written in response to the 9/11 attack, but the principles are timeless. It is available here at this link.
Online Yoga for Teens, link
Lead by Kshama Kellogg, director of the EFL High School in Palo Also
Camp Mukunda, link
This online “camp” is being organized for children near Pune, India as part of their plan to start a new EFL school there.. If you live elsewhere and would like to be involved, contact us at this link, giving your name, address, and the age of your children, and we’ll try to organize something that you can take part in.
Team S.O.A.R., link
A online adventure group for ages 6-12, similar to Camp Mukunda, but open to international enrollment.
EFL High Schools, link
Here are excerpts from a webinar that presents the three EFL options for high school: the day school in Palo Alto, the residential school at Ananda Village and our online version.
How one school responds to these new challenges from Rose Neal, director of the Portland EFL School, link
New EFL School in Gurgaon, India, link
Kabir MacDow shares the vision for bringing EFL to existing schools in India and potentially the world, with an invitation to join him in creating curriculum for this project.
EFL Online Training Courses for Teachers and Parents, link
This spring we are able to offer courses to those in China, Italy, Spain, and India.
Star Child
A story for ages 8-12+ about the adventures of a soul, a body, and a personality, written by Irene Schulman, one of our EFL associates, and illustrated by Mahnoush Moossavi, one of our online high school students, available as a printable PDF
