Corona Crisis: Online tutoring can be a break from quarantine for refugee children
The Corona crisis is upon us, and that means that like many places, Trampoline House is closed these days. This crisis can hit refugees extra hard, and isolation is especially difficult on children. With this in mind, Trampoline House has created some online activities. Here children are happy to take a break from quarantine with online homework help with a familiar face.
By Christiane Jessen
It's 1pm on a Wednesday, and Trampoline House is completely quiet. It is still so strange to have the house be silent. Normally there would be happy voices and preparations for the day's activities; there would be coffee being made in the kitchen, some people would sit on the sofas and talk about this and that, and over everything else, we would hear the kids break out in laughter from the children's club. But not today. Trampoline House is like everywhere else--closed because of the Corona Crisis.
But elsewhere in the city, Trampoline House Kids Club Coordinator Sara Ipsen has prepared for today's Homework Help. On the internet. Messenger, Snapchat and WhatsApp will be used, depending on which each child is most familiar with.
Sara Ipsen is used to chatting on apps with the kids in evenings or on weekends outside of Trampoline House's opening hours. But things are nevertheless different during the Corona crisis:
"In a way there's not much difference in our communication, but I certainly notice that they contact me more often now that they can't get to the house."
So far, homework help has been in Danish, English and Math. But sometimes homework help is also about the social and connecting to someone through the screen:
"We enjoy talking about this and that, among other things, corona-life in the Departure Center Sjælsmark. Most of all they just want to chat and show me things from home. "
These circumstances for homework help demand more patience than in-person tutoring does at the house. Doing homework together often takes a longer time when there is a screen between you.
Homework can alleviate isolation
There can be serious consequences of quarantine for children because they are insecure and under-stimulated during this time. This especially affects the children living in the Departure Center Sjælsmark that Sara Ipsen is in contact with each week.
They do not have a fixed daily routine, which children in vulnerable positions are in greater need of. There is a lack of information for their families, which could lend a greater sense of calm.
“You could say that the longer the children are isolated, the more it can negatively affect them. The children greatly need to have a normal daily life. Routines, schooling, habits, rules and so on. But they do not have this in Sjælsmark while there is a quarantine in place. "
Trampoline House has created several online activities during the Corona crisis to provide refugees and immigrants with a space that is still about community and connection. So every week, in addition to Homework Help, you can join the Women's Club, House Meeting and Danish lessons. You can read more in our temporary Facebook group here.
Sjælsmark: not safe during the Corona crisis
Many of the children who get help with homework through Trampoline House live in Sjælsmark. Here they struggle with living crowded in small rooms, a closed cafeteria and a poor wifi connection when they are receiving homework help or Danish lessons online.
Families in Sjælsmark are dissatisfied by the lack of help during the Corona crisis. They do not get hand sanitizer, gloves, or other supplies, which worries the parents and makes the children unsafe. The children tell Sara Ipsen about life in Sjælsmark during the Corona crisis, and it is not a pleasant time for them.
“They sit in their rooms and are not allowed to go to the canteen, to visit their friends, or receive visitors. A few of them play outdoors, alone when their parents need a break. The outdoor facilities are lacking, so the children are very under-stimulated, in my experience. ”
This is exactly why homework help can be a respite. Sara Ipsen says that the children are happy and grateful for the tutoring and to chat with someone they know.
Support refugees’ way into the job market
In Trampoline House, we’ve developed a method that makes it easier for refugees to find a foothold in the job market. Several municipalities have already started employing our method, but in order to get a broader reach, we also need the financial support from individuals. If you, your partner or your mother would also be able to support our work with a recurring donation, it would make a great difference to our work.
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