{"id":22561,"date":"2024-02-28T05:40:52","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T05:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eyeweb.in\/newmind\/?p=22561"},"modified":"2024-10-29T10:57:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T10:57:31","slug":"6-things-we-do-to-support-international-students-through-covid-19-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/6-things-we-do-to-support-international-students-through-covid-19-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Things We Do to Support International Students through COVID-19 Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In January and February, Chinese international students helplessly watched from afar their anxiety-ridden family and friends deal with a new deadly disease. In March and April, these same students now grappled with quarantining in a foreign country, navigating cultural and language challenges from left and right.<\/p> \n\n

The coronavirus has unique effects on different groups, that is why New Mind\u2019s top priority has to support the student population we understand most, by minimizing their sense of loneliness, isolation and uncertainty. Beyond that our students are encouraged to make the most of their time by furthering connections, deepening reflections, and staying active. Read below to discover how New Mind staff and students worked together to continue developing their leadership, learning, and intercultural competence remotely.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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A successful transition to online learning<\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter the early March announcement from NC universities to switch to online learning, New Mind\u2019s seminars and advising sessions immediately transitioned to Zoom as well. Many instructors experienced caveats to the online transition, and the UPP & UNC-Greensboro\u2019s ESL 601, Culture and Community, collaboration class was no different; in this case, more reflections were assigned in exchange for less Zoom meetings. As a result, student\u2019s reflective assessments revealed a depth of insight that surpassed their previous work, shocking teachers and indicating student engagement to a new level.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Massive resource development keeps students and parents informed<\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks to the enduring partnerships with campus offices, our students and parents have been informed honestly and quickly since the onset of the issue in January. Hundreds of hours were devoted towards developing campus-specific documents and university FAQs that quickly highlighted and summarized, in ESL friendly terms, the proper course of student action. A \u201cResponding to Harassment\u201d advising lesson plan addressed the discrimination towards mask-wearing Asians in the US, and equipped students with background knowledge of the issue and responsive confidence anytime they stepped outside.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Reformatted student life activities promote health and continue learning<\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversity Performance Program (UPP), a flagship program by New Mind,invited students to multiple live sessions in the weeks of quarantine to continue building a sense of group cohesion and cultural awareness. Live sessions like movie watching and cooking together were a hit, and paired well with weekly at-home challenges such as yoga, fitness, and reflection presentations. Videos of students singing, cooking new recipes, exercising, and remarking on Van Gogh piled up for advisors to proudly look on. Students like Alysia enjoyed the ideas, \u201cI always feel tired when I have looked at the screen all day and I have no idea about exercise inside my dorm. After suggesting we do exercise and Yoga, as a result, I have got into the habit of yoga every day.\u201d\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Social media connections keep parents in the loop<\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWeChat was used as the primary source of messaging where staff member Lys Lin vigilantly manned the program group chats. Here parents asked questions and received photos and responses detailing the protocol in the U.S. in regard to PPE, visas, flights, and housing situations. These chats provide an honest and direct source of information for parents, who must themselves wade through conflicting reports and conspiracy theories regarding how the virus is being handled internationally. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Zoom cooking classes increase student learning<\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUPP’s module class \u201cCooking Corner\u201d thrived virtually as students cooked on Zoom together in their own kitchens rather than the UPP office. Without the chance to rely on their friends for help, students developed a great sense of chef-autonomy in the kitchen as their results hinged entirely upon their own listening and cooking abilities. As a result, the class provided a greater challenge but increased overall learning and engagement.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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PackPals Program gives opportunity for intercultural discussion<\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t UPP’s Packpals program, which connects domestic and international students through partnership and programming, continued virtually throughout March and April. Pals met over Zoom and discussed the different cultural perspectives of the virus and international quarantines, reflected on the potential benefits this pandemic caused, and considered what global minded citizens can do to learn from this experience. In a later (and lighter) activity, students used Google Earth to give tours of their hometowns, connecting and exploring together all from the comfort of their homes. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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THANK YOU! <\/B><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew Mind is passionate and committed to the mission of helping our students not only endure but thrive in their integration process of studying in the United States. With the goal of inspiring and cultivating global talent, we must thank the wonderful universities we work with; without you, we would not have been able to so quickly and appropriately inform and support students during this period of chaos. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 Things We Do to Support International Students through COVID-19 Crisis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22561"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23424,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22561\/revisions\/23424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmind.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}