COVID-19

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What Lockdown Had Taught Me About The Environment

Being in lockdown, I have properly been able to see and understand the actual damage we cause to the environment on a day to day basis. Because of the lockdown regulations all around the world, there has been a huge reduction in carbon emissions and pollution. This really shed a light on the massive environmental impact of our everyday habits and is allowing us to be more conscious of how much energy we consume.

Carbon emissions have been reduced because of many things. Due to travel restrictions, there have been less frequent airplanes flying which have helped cut down CO2 emissions. Factories that pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere have been closed, fewer people driving cars, and many more.

What I find the disheartening part to be is that experts conclude for carbon emissions to rise and actually increase as we slowly return back to work. Since there has been a delay in most industries, firms will need to work even harder to profit, this means more consumption of resources at a higher rate leading to increased CO2 emissions. I just hope that while it is inevitable for companies to use resources at a higher rate, in an attempt to combat that, the general public will be more mindful of their consumption and keep an eye on it in an effort to save our planet.

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What Lockdown Is Teaching Me About Family

Surprisingly enough, the one aspect of life I feel as though hasn’t been affected by the pandemic is my family life. My parents are huge believers in bonding time and spending time with each other no matter the circumstance, whether is family game or movie night or debating different topics, we’ve always had time for each other. This lockdown is somewhat similar to what my family life would look like during study leave and the holidays. Of course, there are times of frustration between myself and other family members but if there is one thing to take away from staying at home during this virus outbreak is communication.

As cheesy as it sounds, the second my family and I learned to effectively communicate our reasons behind our exasperation it was as if most of our problems just disappeared. Since I’m not the best as expressing true emotions to the people around me, this did take a bit of work from my family and me, however, they were encouraging and understanding if I did have an outburst. Instead of lashing back, they’d realize that I was having trouble expressing frustrations since they too would be placed in a similar situation from time to time. We all tried our best to understand that we were irritated not because of each other but because of the circumstances we’re in.

I don’t think this pandemic has affected my family life much, instead, it has actually strengthened our communicative skills and in a way reinforced our familial bond.

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LangLit and Literature during COVID-19

During this pandemic, our English class has been exploring the two sides of English in IB. Langlit and Literature.

For Langlit we have studied political cartoons and the craft behind it. As some who is particularly interested in politics, I found this to be quite interesting and captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed analyzing different political cartoons and having a laugh at almost all of them. We had a go at drawing our own political cartoons as well. I am not much of an artist myself therefore mine came out subpar but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. I can see the connections that a course like Langlit has with other subjects in the IBDP, Global Politics for starters would be the most obvious connection. I am taking GP next year and I can comprehend how having the skill to be able to analyze political cartoons can be extremely useful in a subject like that. Though I am not taking Langlit next year, I can definitely see the appeal that the course has.

For Literature we have been studying the 7 steps to analyzing a poem. Personally, poetry is one of my weaker spots in Literature, I oftentimes find myself struggling to understand poems and giving justifiable answers while also commenting on the techniques used when constructing the poem. These 7 steps have now made me much less fearful to analyze a poem and have given me the chance to approach poems without pessimism. The 7 steps allow me to clearly visualize what needs to be analyzed while also organizing my thoughts into the separate categories allowing for me to easily write a passage without panicking over the thought of forgetting a vital detail. We have also been frequently reading and attempting to explain poems and practicing using the 7 steps on these poems. This task has given me a lot more confidence in my ability to examine a poem and I now feel comfortable with it.

All in all, online English has been quite enjoyable for the most part, I have learned many new skills during this period and am looking forward to the forthcoming courses!

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Reading Amidst COVID-19

As horrible as COVID-19 may be, I have found myself picking up books much more frequently nowadays. Reading has always been a passion of mine but unfortunately, I would not get too many opportunities to read during the regular school year, therefore, my reading time would be concentrated just before going to bed or during holidays. Since I have so much free time on my hand, it has allowed me to spend a huge portion of my day flicking through books, rereading old ones, and experiencing new ones for the first time. Before the pandemic I wasn’t a huge fan of ebooks and preferred hardcopy versions of books, however, I now have opened up to ebooks since I can’t leave my house to purchase handheld books and it hasn’t been all that bad. While I still do prefer paperback copies, ebooks have proven to be extremely convenient in handling and I have a newfound appreciation for them. Overall, reading doing quarantine has been one of my favourite pastimes as I’ve been able to relive parts of my childhood through merely revisiting old books and also learn about many new subjects by exploring new pieces of texts whether the medium may be books, articles or even encyclopedias!