INTERVIEW

HOST: Good afternoon to all the people watching on our Facebook live right now. Welcome to
your all-time favorite afternoon show, "Talk About It". Even though the pandemic is over, one
of the things students are still talking about today is the online class we suffered during the
spread of Covid-19. I am Jon Hilary, your student host from General Santos City National High
School and we have our student guests, my classmates to know their opinion about online
learning. Good afternoon…

GUESTS: Good Afternoon…

HOST: First things first, can you compare your experience between face-to-face classes and
online classes?

DERECHO: When I was in grades 7 to 8 I was not able to see my classmates which was sad and it
was hard for me to understand the lessons in online classes because of the slow internet
connection and also the noises from inside and outside our house. But now, I can easily
understand the lessons and concentrate on what is the teacher saying since we can have a
peaceful and silent environment when classes start.

HOST: I can relate to that. Back then, when I was having my online class, the dogs were just too
noisy and it was hard for me to participate well in class because of the very slow internet
connection of PLDT. How about you Ivy?

MANONG: Well, I can tell that the interaction between my classmates is different before and
now. I made friends with my classmates before, even online, but now I have everyone in our
classroom to chitchat with. This kind of interaction tells what a high school life is supposed to
be. If there's a time when I don't have a paper, when I need one, I can ask my seatmate or
anyone inside the room. I also borrow other school supplies from them. Of course, we cannot
do that online.

RIOFRIR: Oh! But the stress in face-to-face classes is just too much for me to handle. The
deadline for outputs and working on my assignments overnight are stressing me out. Well,
when we are in an online class, I can relax for a very long period and I do my task later on which
was the thing that I like in a virtual class.

VALENZUELA: There’s nothing to worry about when there’s google.

AGUILAR: And… It's more like having a chillax moment than studying.
HOST: Procrastination, yes… I do that all the time. Okay, so most of the students nowadays,
shared their story about what happen to them when Covid-19 spread and online classes were
implemented. Here’s our very last question for our stream this afternoon. How does online
class affect your mental health and your academic performance? Thrisha?

VALENZUELA: My mental health and academic performance were affected as a result of taking
online classes. Because of the lack of physical interaction and connections with others, the
negative mental health effects of online learning increased my anxiety and loneliness. My
motivation has also been impacted as a result of taking classes online. And, while I'm attending
my classes online, I'm experiencing difficulty focusing and trying hard not to be distracted. In
addition, my academic performance is not as good as before.

RIOFRIR: Online classes positively impact my mental health and academic performance through
increased flexibility, comfort, and accessibility. However, it also has a negative impact on my
mental health and academic performance through isolation, lack of motivation, and technical
difficulties, as Thrisha said. Well, I tried and still maintain good mental health while attending
online classes. My academic performance was not great during that time because it was really
hard to adjust to the situation.

AGUILAR: So in my opinion, taking online class during the pandemic placed me into a situation
for the first time in my life where i had to deal with stress. It may sound a little OA but that's
really how it is.

Online class did not do good to my mental health because it's different you know, online and
face to face classes. Because in face to face classes, if you have something that you didn't
understand in a lecture or you have something to ask, all you have to do is tap your seatmate or
ask the person you think will have the answers and VOALA there you go, you do not have to
overthink if what you've understand is wrong or is there something you mis understood in your
teachers lessons and such, you know things like that...

Because in online class, I think I’m fighting alone but in face to face class, even if you need to
figure something out alone the thing is, you have your friends and classmates and they can give
you moral supports and a little help which is a healthier for your mental health because you
know that there's someone to help you in just a tap so you can just relax and be rest assured
that you'll be fine. So that's how online class affected my mental health.

And for my academic performance...

I think if your stress, your capacity that you'll be able to do a certain task decreases and you
may not meet the expectations for yourself and you'll end up blaming yourself. So, it's basically
all just fall down at the same time like if You're stress, your brain will not function really well
making it hard to achieve high academic performance and then you'll find yourself disappointed
or frustrated to yourself. And that's that back to being unhealthy mentally.

MANONG: Frankly, I’ve always been scared of speaking specially when I know that many people
are listening, it makes me anxious but when the pandemic happened and online classes started,
my anxiety worsened. Whenever I get called in class, my hands would start shaking
uncontrollably and my palms would sweat. The thoughts of my classmates judging my answer
always crossed my mind because we really don’t know what our classmate could be thinking
and what their reaction is behind the camera, maybe they’re judging me. But online class did
not only affect my mental health but it also affected my academic performance. I used to be
active and focused in our classes in the past years but online classes happened and since we
only get to learn online we can also access other websites while in class and that’s why I get
really distracted easily and would go on an another website while I’m still in class, I wouldn’t
even listen to a word the teacher says so I really didn’t learn that much in our online classes and
whenever there are recitations and I’d get called, I would just leave the meeting. I also started
skipping classes more often and I’d always pass my tasks behind time.

DERECHO: magsalita kah

HOST: Well, for me it didn’t affect my mental health… But it has a great impact on my academic
performance. I didn’t loose any of my motivation, but it’s my focus and concentration that are
lacking because of so many distractions.

So, thank you for being here in our classroom today and thank you for your time and for sharing
your stories with us.

Again this is “Let’s talk about it” and we’ll end here, see you next time, bye!