Be Thankful

My experience at Emafini was much better. I could not sleep last night because I was worrying about my lesson plans because I did not know what I was teaching about. I walked into the class and the teacher immediately told me to teach. I showed the students on a map where Wilmington is located. Then, I gave the, neon note cards which they absolutely loved. I asked the students to write down what they already know about the United States on one side and to ask questions about America on the other. Many students knew our major celebrities like President Obama, Beyonce, and Lil Wayne, but the questions were very interesting and some were quite entertaining. Several students asked me about the Illuminati which I thought was hilarious but I had no idea how to answer it. Other questions that brought tears to my eyes were: is everyone in America rich? Do people live in shacks? Why are Americans so rich?

After finishing the rest of the lesson, I gave the learners in my class the books that my students at Hoggard created last semester. I had my students write books about world history content and they had to include a picture of themselves with a brief description of themselves. Passing these books out to the class to read was the greatest experience in my life. The sheer joy expressed on their faces was amazing. The students were begging for others to share the books because they wanted to read them all. They read every story and loved seeing the faces of my students. We shared the books around the room for about 40 minutes before they went on their lunch break. They loved them so much that they asked me to bring them back tomorrow. I plan to leave them in the schools library.

I am still trying to understand my teacher's schedule and what the content is that she is responsible for teaching. From what I understand, she has four different preps throughout the day: history, geography, technology, and economics. In talking with her and some other teachers, I have learned that there have been several curriculum changes since the ending of apartheid. Though the reforms seem rooted in good ideas, there have been so many so quickly that teachers are finding it difficult to adapt. According to Cross, Mungadi, and Rouhani (2002), the government decided to drastically change the education system after apartheid by implementing curriculum that was non-racist and non-sexist, and that promoted the ideologies of democracy and equity. Many of the ideas in this reform are similar to the American education system: working in teams, identify and solve problems, manage responsibility, and understanding the world. However, it does not seem, so far, that these are truly valued in all classrooms because their is a sheer lack of resources and professional development.

Here are pictures of the students reading:

Notice how the students in the background are standing up around the book. Many students were reading with each other. The one student in the top center was reading aloud for his two friends.

We attended a faculty meeting and met all of the teachers in the school. They have all been very welcoming and we are intrigued by the similarities and differences in the education systems between e U.S and S.A.

This afternoon, we visited a different school that was recently built in 2012 because of the high demand in the neighborhood. The primary school (grades 1-7) had 1900 students and only 31 teachers, so there were 120 students in each class! The next time you hear me complain about 30 or 35 students in a classroom... remind me about this! Also, myself and my colleagues complain about lack of time and resources. These teachers do not get a planning period either or many resources. They are teaching six classes with 100+ students in each class with no breaks throughout the day. They have a textbook and chalkboard and that's is about it. Given our smaller class sizes and abundance of resources, in the United States, we need to figure out how to reach all of our students. Also, these students are walking up to six miles one way to get to school. It was truly unbelievable!

Again, I prepare to go to bed and I am completely exhausted. I do not know what I am going to do tomorrow. I plan to  answer the students' questions that I am able to and bring in pictures on my iPad for them to see. The teacher that I am assigned with has asked me to teach the next topic which is infant mortality rate which I am unsure of how to make exciting and relevant. I know that I will figure something out.

References:

Cross, M., Mungadi, R., and Rouhani, S. (2002). From policy to practice: Curriculum reform in

South African education. Comparative education. 38(2). 171-187.