Advertisement
Published: January 19th 2010
I'm at school now during a break. This school is awesome! They are very focused on the "whole pupil" as far as encouraging content, culture, language, sports (lots of sports), art...oh my gosh, it's amazing! They also don't call the kids "students," they say "learners." On Friday they are having an athletics day where everyone attends. "Athletics" covers all the track and field stuff from what I've learned. Everyone from the school participates - even the student teachers, like me, who will be records keepers. The idea of these types of events is to build community among the students and teachers. At first I thought, crap, I can't do sports and this is taking away from a regular school day but the community and team building is an obvious benefit to this school between students and teachers. They don't do much group work in class, but I was thinking that they are already brought together by all of the clubs and sports and they may not need as much group work in the classrooms.
You know how in the US schools don't have enough funding so they cut fine arts or sports? Well, here, all the students pay to attend (it's a public school), and they use the money to work on the school. For instance, they are going to add a building on the property for visual arts and music because they need the classrooms for more content classes and a separate building with the view of the beach would be more inspiring. Good luck finding that attitude in the states! They are also building another building for sports and biokenticists who can monitor the kids to make sure they are healthy and safe while participating in sports.
All the students wear uniforms and address me as "ma'am." They are so polite and respectful. The teachers are more strict, but not harsh - it's effective and quite encouraging. They work on a 10 day schedule (obviously covering 2 week periods). Instead of "schedules" they are called "time tables." I'm still working on filling mine in. I have a lot of geography courses mixed with a few history courses. Unfortunately it is not possible for me to be in one classroom the entire time without having too much down time, but I will have a class that I'm in most of the time (geography) so that will work out for my course requirements for UK. With the 10 day schedule teachers are teaching multiple subjects to multiple grade levels during the day. Some classes are in English while others are in Afrikaans (which makes it difficult to participate, so I go to another class. School goes from 8am to 2:10pm. There is a full staff meeting every morning before school and two 20 minute breaks during the day where they provide tea for the teachers. Teachers do not have set planning periods. Classes are 50 minutes each with 6 periods. Some days teachers might have one or two periods without a class, but they also have a day or so during the week where they might not have any empty class periods. I am in one class that is taught in half English and half Afrikaans, so that is fascinating to hear. The class doesn't seem delayed in the process, she moves quickly and the students are focused for the entire period. I have yet to hear a student talk back or see one not participate in class. I may have to move here.
On a personal note - the sunburn was sun poisoning. It still looks bad but is getting better. I went for an evening swim at the beach with a friend yesterday evening and it was pleasantly warm, but not hot. I've been to several braais (cook outs) and have met some people - it's been a lot of fun. I have internet at school - thank goodness! It's even wireless, but it's really slow - oh well, at least it's something and I'll take it!
I think I'll be moving into the back flat at the house. There will only be 4 people in that flat instead of the 5 or 6 that are in my flat now, so it should be a bit more quiet. The back flat is also set up better with a kitchen and a lounge, so that will be nice. I should be moving there something this week. This weekend I'm going to Jeffery's Bay with Nicola's mom - I hear it's an amazing surfing location.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.224s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0764s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Michelle
non-member comment
Hello!
It sounds like your student teaching is off to a good start! I love that you get tea during the day and that you are in a class in half English and half Afrikaans. I can't wait to hear more about your experience in South Africa!