CORONANINJAS UR: https://coronaninjas.wordpress.com

https://coronaninjas.wordpress.com pursues the double objective of making children practice English whilst interiorizing some tips to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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WHAT INSPIRED CORONANINJAS?

Spain was one of the first countries in Europe to be affected by coronavirus. Suddenly, schools closed and both teachers and students were forced to adapt to a type of education we had not implemented before: online education. The implementation of this type of education relied heavily on the autonomous work by students, and presupposes a certain intellectual and emotional maturity in them. Primary School students are one of the most affected collective in the Education sector, due to two reasons: (1) they strongly need adult supervision to learn school content, and (2) they strongly need to develop emotionally and physically, as well as intellectually. We observed that there was a need of special attention to Primary School student's intellectual, emotional, and physical learning process during quarantine.

Secondly, we observed that the available information about the virus had mainly targeted adults. The pandemic ignored the participation of children in the fight against the virus, yet their welfare not only contributes to the emotional stability of families, but also to stopping the spreading of the virus, as we have seen recently when children under 14 were allowed to go out with adult supervision in Spain. We claim that children must be educated in the fight against the virus, not only understanding what the virus is, but also what is their role in being part of the fight against it.

Coronaninjas meets these two needs. By using the theoretical principles of Cognitive Linguistics and Pedagogical Grammar, the platform we have designed provides Primary School students with English exercises (mostly in the form of video tutorials) where they can practice their pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary skills, while practicing physical exercise, playing, and most importantly, learning how to prevent the virus, and their essential role in fighting the virus both at the emotional and physical levels.

WHAT WILL I FIND IN CORONANINJAS?

By using the conceptual metaphor of the ninja warrior whose discipline and efficiency in training leads him/her to success, the platform addresses Primary School students as ninjas who must learn English to fight the virus. The website is structured around a training plan where the students of the Didactics of Foreign Languages course at the University of La Rioja (Spain) propose different (mostly) video activities in English where they Primary School students will be able to reinforce their knowledge of English, while learning not only preventive measures against COVID-19, but also ninjas recipes, ninja games, ninja songs and other activities that will empower them to take an active part in contributing to their families' welfare and the prevention of the virus. These activities not only cover academic needs (e.g. math, social sciences, arts, music) but also physical needs such as exercising.

All activities are labeled with a level (little ninja, medium ninja, master ninja) so that both students and parents can choose the activities that are most suitable for each student.

HOW DID WE BUILD CORONANINJAS?

Coronaninjas has been built on the platform Wordpress.com, using free tools and our own design skills. The imperative need for a product like this in the present situation motivated us to contact our students of the Didactics of Foreign Languages at the University of La Rioja to ask them for their participation. As future teachers, the students showed an outstanding interested in improving the children's knowledge of the English language and also of involving them socially as part of the change towards the defeat of the pandemic. The coordination between us teachers and the students has been seamless. The production of activities has been triggered by brainstorming sessions and idea-feedback individual conversations between teacher and student.

CHALLENGES SOLVED!

When we set up to build this project, we both lacked knowledge of programming and design, and we have had to learn almost completely intuitively to build a web product. Fortunately, the process has been very rewarding, and we are proud of the final result. Another challenge was to spread the word about the website. However, we have managed to reach many families through schools and other educational institutions, and we currently have more than 10.000 visits from 10 different countries: Spain (9.575), Finland (117), Argentina (65), Mexico (38), Austria (30), Peru (27), Uruguay (22), Germany (22), United States of America (20), Dominican Republic (15).

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Coronaninjas has taught us the value of small actions, such as how the design of activities by oneself, if united with a team worth working with, can bring major results, such as helping thousands of children and their families academically and emotionally under these circumstances. Taking part of the EUvsVirus Pan-European Hackathon with Coronaninjas has given us a voice and has made us believe more strongly in the importance of collaborative creative work.

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