Expand your mind during lockdown

Posted on 30 March 2020

Isolation needn’t mean brain-freeze. Use this downtime to learn a new skill – or to visit a destination remotely.

Beat the boredom of South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown by exploring these five in-house edutainment options.

1. Numerous reputable universities and educational establishments offer a range of online courses absolutely free. Whether you want to brush up on your coding skills, discover how to edit video footage or learn a new language, there’s bound to be a course with your name on it. Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) sites are among the most popular. In addition, Alison offers over 1 000 high-quality courses, from certificate courses that take less than three hours to complete, to diploma courses that take up to 10 hours and ‘learning paths’ that suggest an average completion time of 19 hours.

 

2. Experience theatre together. At a time when theatre fans around the world aren’t able to visit live productions, you can now watch some of the best British theatre from the comfort of your lounge. During lockdown, every Thursday from 7pm UK time, National Theatre at Home is giving you free access via YouTube for a week. This initiative kicks off with James Corden in the hilarious One Man, Two Guvnors on 2 April at 7pm UK time. The Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow has also announced that it will broadcast several classical opera and ballet performances live on the Bolshoi theatre’s YouTube channel for free viewing.

 

3. Start a cocktail hour (or coffee date) on a video conferencing site, such as zoom. Send one or two friends an invitation every day to enjoy a drink with you in front of their laptop (or phone) at a particular time. It’s surprising what a difference it can make to a day of isolation, and to your spirits in general, to see your friends’ faces in the evening and to share a laugh.

 

4. Thanks to Audible, you can now instantly stream an incredible collection of free audio books to help your family continue dreaming, learning, and exploring during lockdown. From Winnie-the-Pooh to Jane Eyre, all stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. Titles range from fairy tales to literary classics and are suitable for everyone from pre-schoolers to grandparents. Just select a title and start listening. It’s that easy.

 

5. You might not be able to visit a European gallery in person for a quite a while, but lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t still access your favourite exhibitions remotely. Google Arts & Culture has teamed up with over 2 500 museums and galleries to bring you virtual tours of some of the finest masterpieces and buildings around the world. The collection includes the British Museum in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Guggenheim in New York City. Just the inspiration you need.