Welcome to First Grade!!

So I have officially survived my first week of South African school and it was a great week!  University here works pretty much the same as it does back home, but there are a few differences.  For example, most of the classes that I am taking only meet once a week for three hours instead of three times a week for an hour.  Although three hours is a long time to sit through, professors give us lots of breaks, (one of my professors stops us before the last half hour so he can smoke a cigarette outside), and one of my other professors says that we will be let out around half an hour early each week.  Another difference is the amount of work that is required for each class.  In many cases, I only have a research paper and maybe one other test or assignment in addition to the final exam.  Although there are some courses like this back at St. A’s, I had one class last semester in which we wrote an essay almost once a week.  Also, I’m taking a class that the readings are optional!?  Everything on the tests comes from what we talk about in class.  The readings are just there to further your understanding.  Although it is kind of strange that I don’t have to spend all my time doing homework, (I read a book for pleasure today - something I NEVER do back home), I’m glad that I will be able to spend some of my weekends traveling instead of sitting in the library all day.

My Final Schedule:

Monday:  Learning, Sustainability and Community Engagement Practical 9:00 - 1:30ish

Tuesday:  From Destructive Conflict to Sustainable Peacebuilding 1:00 - 4:00

Overview of South African History 5:00 - 6:30

Wednesday:  Nothing!!

Ultimate Frisbee Pick-up game 5:20

Thursdays:  Public Theology 2:00 - 5:00

Overview of South African History 5:00 - 6:30

Fridays:  Learning, Sustainability and Community Engagement Lecture 9:00 - 4:00

Ultimate Frisbee Skills/Technique Practice 5:20

Although each class is going to be very interesting and I’m going to learn a lot, the class that I’m most looking forward to is Learning, Sustainability and Community Engagement (LSCE).  I told you readers a little bit about what we did on Monday, but let me fill you in about Friday.  For most of the day we talked a lot about the logistics, (or admin - that’s what they call it here), of the course, organized the presentation schedule and went over the course outline and schedule.  But, during our break, we got to go outside and meet the kids.  Immediately, we were swarmed by kids wanting to know what grade we were going to be teaching in.  I’m teaching 1^st grade with two other American girls and I’m so excited!  We found some of the younger looking kids and we started to play hand-clapping games with them.  Within two minutes, I had a kid on my back and four others wanting to hold my hand.  I have noticed this with the refugee kids I work with back at St. A’s - kids are super trusting of strangers and will be your best friend in one minute whether they can understand you or not.  As long as you’ll play with them, it seems they could care less who you are, what you look like, your skin color or if they know what you’re saying, they’ll grab right on to you.  After a little more admin, we had lunch.  Lunch is one of the best parts of the day!  Our professor’s mother cooks all our meals for us and the food is delicious.  We are going to be having an eclectic mix of dishes throughout the semester.  We had curry today, but have had some other stew-type dishes and really fresh salads.  I have come to understand why I haven’t really been able to find a lot of “South African” food.  It’s because “South Africans” are a very large mixture of people.  There is an enormous amount of variety in people’s ancestry and the food reflects that.  There are hints of Indian, Asian, European, American and of course of other African cuisines all mixed together.  It has been really nice to have someone else do the cooking and to have food that is more “traditional” than the burgers and other almost-American food that I can get in restaurants or the basic egg or pasta that I’ve been cooking for myself.  After lunch was the best part of the day.  We got to sit in a room with the 12 or so teachers and faculty members of Lynedoch Primary School and just ask them questions about anything we wanted.  I took a little over 10 pages of notes in under an hour!!  Here’s some of what I learned about the school:

• The school itself is actually over 100 years old
• Started as a missionary school, but around 30 years ago became a state school
• The building/land itself is owned by the Sustainability Institute of Stellenbosch University and the only way for them to gain access to the land was to build a school for Lynedoch
• This was how the new school building (around 10 years old) came to be
• It replaced a one room school
• The children come from 26 of the surrounding vineyards
• Their parents are workers on the vineyards
• Many live in one-bedroom homes with the rest of their family
• Many of the houses have indoor fires which cause major health problems (in children and in adults) such as carbon monoxide poisoning, TB, pneumonia, and respiratory infections
• Parents are not usually involved in their child’s education - mostly because they lack a formal education and can’t keep up with their child
• Parents work long hours and may leave the house before their child is awake and return home after their child is asleep
• Teen pregnancy is a huge problem
• Some girls are 14 when their have their first child
• Some are 20 years old and already have a child in school
• There was one women, at 32, who was a grandmother
• Alcoholism and violence are huge problems the children must deal with
• Teachers can see differences in behavior on Mondays - after they return from “evil stuff” that happens on the weekends.  On Fridays students show anxiety over what may happen over the weekend
• There are 266 “learners” attending the school
• It is a state school - state determines curriculum and provides funding for rent, electricity, some books, maintenance and the bus comes from these funds
• There are no funds for extras
• The school lacks basic necessities like projectors, books, water fountains, swings, a bigger playground that can accommodate more children, a kitchen/cafeteria (food is prepared in a corridor on gas stoves and then kids sit on the floor or outside to eat) and a lot of supplies that are common at schools back home are not to be found here
• There is a voluntary payment of 70 Rand (under $10) from the parents
• About 90% of the students from Lynedoch Primary School attend high school and about 70% of these children complete it
• My professor says that "teachers are the noblest of professions" and that teachers "groom everybody in society and thus should hold a high place in our esteem and respect"
• The students were referred to as “my children” by the faculty
• The faculty compared their roles to that of a mother or father and stressed the importance of treating these kids as you would your own - strict but kind and supportive…

Today, Monday February 11^th, was our first day in the classroom.  There are 42 first graders in Mrs. Jephthe’s class!!  She is usually in there by herself, or with one other person who deals with a handful of kids who need extra-special attention.  When we asked our questions to the teachers, we asked about special education and we were told that almost all of the kids are considered special ed because they have some social, emotional, cognitive or other problem that impairs their learning.  Today, there were around 35 kids.  South Africa is on a totally different schedule than the USA and these kids just started 1^st grade a few weeks ago so many of them are about 6 years old.  These kids speak Afrikaans although many of them are black or considered colored, (of mixed race), and would typically speak something like isiXhosa.  This is because their parents/ancestors work(ed) on farms for white, Afrikaans-speaking farmers and thus their parents had to speak Afrikaans.  However, according to our professor, many of these kids struggle with Afrikaans let alone speak any English, so communicating with our children is going to be very hard.  It’s a strange sensation to have 35 pairs of eyes staring at you and not really have a single one understand what you are saying.  But between a mixture of translating by our teacher and instructions using hand motions and demonstrations, we were able to communicate okay.  We started the day doing the hokey-pokey and then moved into some drawing.  We had each learner write their name, (that was a struggle for some), and then draw a picture of something they liked.  We got a lot of pictures of apples, dogs and swimming, (which is what I drew for the example and I think some of them just copied my picture - but that’s alright).  We had each kid go up in front, say their name and what they drew.  This worked for about 5 minutes, but after the 10^th kid went, it was very hard to get the rest of them to listen and sit still.  We had a break, and then played outside teaching them Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light.  It was very necessary to have them run around for a while before bringing them back inside.  This kids have so much energy and literally can’t sit still - ever.  We had them teach us a song about right v. left - although we just learned the dance, because we had no idea what they were saying in Afrikaans.  Then we asked to observe the teacher for a while.  She read them a story about the Gingerbread boy/man and then worked on phonics with them.  This was very interesting to listen to, because we, as 20+ year olds, are at an even more basic level than they are at 6.  Afrikaans, which is very similar to Dutch, is very interesting to listen to and the sounds some of the letters make are very interesting and almost guttural.  Then we entertained the 6 kids who usually get taken out of the classroom while Mrs. Jephthe worked with the rest of the class.  I “read” some books with two of the kids.  This basically consisted of me pointing at a picture and having them tell me what is was.  I couldn’t really read the word of what the picture was because there is a very interesting way of pronouncing certain sounds, but I learned that sun = son and socks = sockies (questionable spelling though).  Mrs. Jephthe is an amazing woman.  The kids listened to her so well and she was able to control them while we were definitely struggling with the listening when we were teaching them games.  Her patience was incredible and it was easy to see that she really loves the kids she works with.  After that, we had lunch (mmmmm) and then went to a show with the rest of the school in their “auditorium.”  It was in Afrikaans so I had no clue what was happening, but I figured out just enough to know that it is important to wash your hands.

All in all, it was a great day.  It was very tiring, and I realized that we needed to come up with about 20+ things to do with the kids because we went through our planned activities in about half the time we thought they were going to take.  I also learned that first graders have a very (very) short attention span!  But, I had fun, the kids had fun and hopefully they learned something.  It was a little strange to be called “teacher” by all the kids and to have little voices call “teacher, teacher” and have them hold out a picture to you, but I guess I’ll get used to it.  We’re meeting with Mrs. Jephthe on Wednesday to get a better idea about what we should be doing.  I think that’s going to be super helpful and make the rest of the semester a little less scary - because as of right now, I have no idea if we can come up with 20 different games to play every week.  Although today didn’t really go as planned, it was really fun and I can already tell that we’re going to learn a lot and hopefully the kids will too.

Challenge:

If you know any fun games, arts and crafts or other activities that can be done with basic supplies (really only crayons, scissors and paper), send me an email or post a comment!!  The 1^st graders of Lynedoch Primary School, as well as myself and my two fellow teachers would really appreciate it.

Coming Soon - Cape Town overnight