Sorry I’ve been a bit lax in my blogging—this past week was super hectic and this week I’m home sick from work (no need to worry out there, it’s not some ridiculous disease, just a bit of flu—I’ll be back and at it tomorrow). Anyways, I think I’ll give you guys an update on work and what’s going on during this busy season as the school year here draws to a close.
I’m still working with the Foundation phase class at my elementary school and I think I’ll stick with the little kiddos until the end of the year. There is a new computer class that started up at a different school where it is safer and as much as I would love to continue teaching kids how to type a CV and make powerpoint presentation and paint their families, I think the Foundation phase has a bigger need. The current teacher for computers is a very talented lady and she’s got it under control. The 60 kids under the age of 7 however…well, let’s just say control isn’t a word I would use to describe them.
Nosibulelo, the primary teacher, has an incredible way of making these kids behave, but when there are 60 of them in one room, things can get a bit hectic. In order to ensure maximum learning in our classroom, we have decided to give them spelling tests in Xhosa and English. I administer the Xhosa side and she administers the English side. This way, we both learn each other’s language. When it comes to marking these kids tests, I mark them both. It’s really great actually! Not only are the kids learning to listen, read, and write in English and Xhosa, but I’m adding to my minimal Xhosa vocabulary at the same time! We’ve done a few art projects and some games, but most recently we worked with colors in Xhosa in English. It was during one of these days when the door handle broke….
The school that I’m teaching at isn’t exactly the nicest school in the world, but it is pretty well maintained as far as township standards go. Only a few windows are broken and all of the doors have handles and locks and close all the way. While I was busy explaining the color blue, one of the kids decided to hang all of his weight on the door handle as he went out…..and then it snapped. The outside part fell off and the inside part was now completely broken in two. Somehow he managed to lock the door before breaking it so now we were completely stuck. Funny how it seems to be a theme that I am stuck in this one classroom with 60 kids…..
Anyways, after trying to pry the door open with a stick from the trashcan, the kids decided it would be a good idea to all rush over and help. No surprise here that they ended up pushing and shoving until 3 girls were crying and two boys hitting each other. Eish! These kids! After regaining control of the room and sitting them all down again at their desks, I did the only thing which seemed feasible at that moment—put a kid out the window. I took the smallest kid who knew where to go and opened the window and lowered him down. He then ran to get the supervisor who proceeded to bring a metal spoon and pry open the lock (apparently this wasn’t the first time the door had broken). After about 8 long minutes of suspense, we were free!
Only here would you throw a kid out the window to fetch a spoon to pry you out of a classroom…oh the stories I am racking up by teaching at John Pama! I love that every day is its own adventure and when people ask me for a typical day at work, I really can’t answer with a straight answer. Because here, anything can happen J
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