Goodbye PE, Hello Capetown

Capetown is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The landscape is breathtaking. I'm so glad that we decided to go to Capetown at the end of our teaching experience, instead of just a weekend excursion. While in Capetown we went to Robben Island, met the First Lady, Madame Bongi Ngema-Zuma, and did a lot of shopping. It was definitely a much needed weekend full of relaxation.

Robben Island was a very good experience. When we first agreed to go to Robben Island I didn't feel like I would have a connection with it, being that I did not go through apartheid. After reading the books, and having the discussion I realized why it was so important that we take advantage of our opportunity to go to Robben Island. Just being there was an eye opener. It was even better that an ex-prisoner was our tour guide and he was there in the prime of Robben Island. I will never fully understand what they went through, but I'm glad they give the world a chance to get a glimpse at what went on on the Island.

We knew that we were going to meet the First Lady for at least a week before we got into Capetown. I don't think it hit us until we were actually inside of her house that we were meeting the First Lady. We  had to compare it to meeting Michelle Obama for us to get the full meaning. She was such a wonderful lady. She was really down to earth, and easy to talk to. The dinner was delicious. I love how dedicated she was about trying to help people with Diabetes. She offered to test all of us, but it was after we ate dessert so she decided against it. I definitely plan on getting tested for Diabetes on my next trip to the doctor.

Shopping is one of my favorite hobbies! Monday was our free day, so we got to choose how we wanted to spend our day. Of course I chose shopping, and I did a lot of it. I found my graduation dress and the perfect souvenirs. I even got a mini-drumming lesson. Shopping in the African markets is a lot better than shopping in the mall. They will actually negotiate with you on the prices which is wonderful. I wish I would've gotten some posters, but maybe next time I will be able to get some.

They do so much, but we acknowledge so little...

LIBRARIANS!!!!! I have gained a new found respect for you. As our service project we had to re-organize the for library so that it would be easier for the teachers to understand the different types of books that they have available for use. It took us five days to do our best to organize the books. We didn't have any ISBN numbers or any other kind of help . All we had was  a bunch of books and the 6 of our brains  It was very frustrating, especially towards the end because we would find more books that belonged in our section even though our sections were all full. It also very aggravating when we would find materials that we could've use to help teach our lessons. It made me think They have a lot of good resources that the students would enjoy, if only they would use them. We had to do a lot of re-arranging on Thursday! After this experience I just want to give every librarian I know a hug. I don't feel like librarians get all of the credit that they deserve. We should never underestimate the amount of work librarians do. As a future teacher, I will know how much hard work librarians put into organizing and arranging books by different grade levels, reading levels, and subjects.


After getting over how much work actually goes into organizing a library, it was clear to see that we were doing such a good thing. As we would work, the students would come in and pick out books to read which gave us more encouragement. 

The art of teaching..

This week has been so fun as far as teaching goes! The class has dwindled a little since testing is over. We usually have 40 students, but on Monday and Tuesday we had 24. Today we had 16 students. It is definitely easier to manage all the students when there is less of them. I have so much respect for the teachers at Emafini just for being able to handle that many students at one time. I got confused often when I had to take them to the bathroom. There was no way for me to keep track of all the students! This week we have taught the whole day. We usually only teach math, and literacy because like skills is taught in Xhosa.  Here is a wrap up of what we've done this week.

Monday- We read a book called Mup's days of the week and had the students arrange the days of week in the correct order. When they were arranged we had them figure out what day's of the week Mup did certain activities. We discussed the activities, and that led to us teaching about action and descriptive words. We had the students act out the different actions that Mup went through during the week. When we introduced descriptive words the students had trouble understanding the concept. I had them describe different animals and made a list of the words on the board. They described lions as big, mean, loud, and brown. After we made several lists, the students still could not tell us an example of a descriptive word. This could've been from misunderstanding or the language barrier. After our break, we sung the songs Hokey Pokey, If You're Happy and You Know It, and The Wheels on the Bus. We let different students lead each time.


Tuesday- We did a review on Mup's days of the week. We then reviewed action and descriptive words. The students once again were to told act out different action words. This went a lot better than Monday! We had several students come to the front of the classroom to act out actions without our help. We did estimation and measurement for math. We had the students estimate the length of their name tags and desk. After they made an estimate, we had them measure with bottle caps. The bottle caps are the only math manipulatives they have in their classroom. In the beginning, most students tried to measure their whole desk, but we quickly reiterated the directions. We had the estimations written on the board, so Gareth made a chart with the actual measurements and we compared the two. There were still a few that we had  to go around and help. We then had the students estimate and then measure their heights by using their own feet. After break we did the calendar songs (month of the year, days of the week), The Wheels on the Bus, and their FAVORITE Hokey Pokey!


Wednesday- We tried buddy reading, and it went GREAT. We had Chelsea's fifth graders help or second graders read in English and Xhosa. I was honestly shocked at how well it went. I thought it would be chaotic! They did buddy reading in groups of 3 or 4. It went so well that it continued for an hour and a half. We had to let our second graders take a bathroom break and a stretch break. Students volunteered to read one of their stories aloud to the class. After we took our students back to the classroom we had a short discussion on their thoughts about buddy reading. They all liked it, and said they wanted to do it again! I think it is something that they should look into doing at Emafini. After the break, we had them practice their directional words by making a beat in a circle on the floor.

Thursday- We had a break from teaching to go observe at other schools. It helped open my eyes a little more about the past of South Africa. I will save this topic for another blog.

Friday- Today we only had 3 students in our classroom, so we decided to combine classes. We still didn't have a lot of students, so we decided to make it a fun day. We stayed outside and played different games with them. We did a relay race and played leap frog, follow the leader, telephone, love tunnel, and red light/green light. We also played a game in Xhosa. We took them inside and played smiley face man(aka hangman). It was sad when we left today because we don't know who we will see next week. We gave them hugs and told them we would see them on Monday, but we know that they more than likely will not be there. It was really sad. One student who hugs me everyday gave me her picture and address on the back! I promised to write her and send her a picture.

Animals from Addo Elephant Park

Weekend: short, but a lot of fun!

Aghhh. The weekend always bring so much! After the long day Friday of visiting the homes we ended it by having a brie(cookout) at our principal's house. It was a lot of fun. I ate lamb, which was very tasty. It was good to be around our partnership teachers outside of school and learn more about then. We danced all night!!

Saturday- we visited Addo Elephant National Park. I was so ecstatic when I saw the lion just laying down in the grass. Our tour guide told us he hadn't seen the lion in months, until a couple of weeks ago. We saw all types of animals. The birds that we saw were so beautiful. It's amazing how close the animals can get to you. I really like that they were free to roam around. Not once did I feel like I would be harmed. Seeing animals in their natural environment is definitely a big change from seeing them in a zoo. The scenery in the park was absolutely gorgeous! I can see why it is a National Park. Also, the food that they served was delicious. I've been sticking to the same thing most places, but everywhere I go it tastes different.


Sunday- It was a very early morning on Sunday. All of the girls in the group did a walk/run 5k. Four of us walked and the other two ran. Walking was a bad choice on my part. I'm not a fast walker, so I should've done the run so that I could've had a choice. I still enjoyed it though! When we got back to our B&B (bed and breakfast) the power was off! So most of us just took a nap while our  power problem got worked out. After the nap, we had dinner and started planning for this week.

Tears of a stranger

Tears. My tears come down my face when there are no words to express how I feel. I wish these were happy tears, but they are not. Today we had the opportunity to visit our students homes, it was heartbreaking. I never would have imagined that I would see what I did. All types of emotions came over. I started to question myself as a person. These students come to school everyday happy, and ready to learn. After seeing their homes, I don't know if I could be that happy everyday. The homes didn't have any stoves, refrigerators, water, showers or tubs. These are things that are just needed for everyday living, and they didn't have any of it. The toilets were on the outside of the home, they used the bucket system. They used water from a faucet, which they shared with the neighborhood. How do they eat? How do they bathe? How do they wake up with a smile on their face everyday? How are they motivated to want better? At such a young age, how do they handle that most of the people surrounding them are infected with HIV? Here I am crying over things that they aren't even complaining about. How can my tears, the tears of a stranger, help them? If they are not crying about their situation why should I? I should be more focused on ways to help them get out of the situation. There is a 30 million rand museum built right beside the slums. If there is enough money for the government to build museums I am certain that they could start helping people get out of poverty. One of the doctorate students here said "It seems like the less you have, the happier you are." I totally agree, we could have everything that we ever wanted, and still find one thing to complain about. We need to think before we act. There is someone who would be happy just to receive a glass of sanitized water, so just be grateful at all times, no matter what you are missing! We are going to figure out a way to help the families and students at our school...more info coming later.

Oh, testing..

This week has been all about testing. My students have taken a test everyday this week except Tuesday. They were tested in math, English, life skills, and reading comprehension. All of second grade at Emafini had the same testing, so to some extent you can say they were standardized. On all for of the tests the scores ranged from 2/25 to 25/25. After being there for a week, I immediately knew who would score low on the exams. In my mind I also felt like they could have done better because the classroom still had all the posters from the different subjects hanging up. Some of the students realized it, especially when they were taking their English exams. All the students who received the lower grades will still move on to the third grade.I was told it was because they are in the process of getting assigned to a special school. The problem with that is, it can take 5 years. How are they supposed to catch up when they go to the special school if they are already behind by some years? In second grade in the U.S. there is not any standardized testing, but I know they test at the end of the school year, either formally or informally. I know that teachers identify students who may need help early in the year. Most students are identified in kindergarten so that supplementary help is already provided for them. I believe this single aspect may affect the students in South Africa success rate when compared to other places. I understand that there are not enough teachers, and teachers here are not specialized in one area, but I believe something needs to be done. This is not beneficial for current or future students.