Prefect Training

This week I have been doing prefect training for the class leaders. Chris Blake has helped tremendously...including finding a digital projector at the school (which was hidden away in the school's safe and, apparently, not used much). We were told that we would have 14 prefects (2 for each seventh grade class). We have ended up with 27. Mr. January joked that some of them were self appointed class leaders. I think that some of them were just interested in what we are doing. Our training has centered on the characteristics of good leaders, goal setting, and decision-making. Tomorrow I am going to have them choose a class project for the year and then design a plan to implement that project. Today we also attended a ceremony sponsored by the GM Foundation for teachers and schools involved in their Teacher Learner Care Program. Four of our teachers from Emafini won awards at the program.

This past Thursday, we took a break from school and visited Grey Junior, Kama Primary, and the Ubomi Obutsha Center--this is a center that offers youth programs and has a preschool for kids that range in age from 2-6. The Grey website is located at http://www.greyjunior.co.za/

They are a public school, but their students pay school fees. It's an all boys school that goes up to grade 7. The difference between Grey and Emafini is striking. The headmaster, Mr. Pearson, talked very openly and honestly about the differences in his school and a school like Emafini. The empty classroom in the photo above is part of a new addition to the building.

At Kama, we met with principal  Olafante. She says that she is going to retire next year. If she does, her leadership will be missed. She has been working steadily to get new computers, desks, and chairs for her  students.

Game Time

Our students are busy teaching while the Emafini teachers grade exams. Students are typically in classes from 8:00-11:15. Then, they all break for lunch at 11:15. Some classes go out for recess prior to lunch. We then have classes from 12-1 (prior to exams, classes lasted until 2:00 pm). In this hour after lunch, our UNCW interns have started doing review/enrichment games with the students. This actually has helped their English language skills. Attached is a video of Maria Johnson and Gareth Hoernel leading their 2nd graders in the Hokey Pokey. They are trying to help them differentiate between right and left. As you will see....they still have a ways to go:-)

Teaching, teaching, teaching

Lindsey Deans does a game with her 3rd grade students.

Mary Fincannon passes out name cards to her 4th grade students.

Emily Farmer explains a concept to her 3rd grade students.

Ashley Flynn assists her 4th grade students.

This week is our first post-exam week. Some of the students did not come to school today and Mr. January says that others will not come next week because they think school is over after exams. This meant that the interns had smaller classes today (e.g. 30 instead of 40). The team teaching is going well since most students are still learning English. Our interns are learning how to explain and demonstrate in multiple ways so that the students understand what is being asked of them. Today Chris Blake and I met with representatives from the Calabash Trust. They do work with 10 schools in Port Elizabeth (Emafini is one of those schools). We discussed ways that we might be able to collaborate, particularly as it relates to my research on public education in democratic nations.

Addo National Elephant Park

 

Yesterday we spent the day at Addo National Elephant Park. We saw four of the Big Five. The Big Five are the five animals that hunters say are the hardest to hunt on foot. These include lions, rhino, buffalo, leopards, and elephants. We did not see any leopard because our guide said they stay in the mountains and they avoid human contact because they have been hunted so much. Our guide was Mike and he was fantastic! Going to Addo always reminds me of how beautiful South Africa is...the landscape is breathtaking. Perhaps it is this contrast in the beauty of the landscape and the destitution of townships that represents the ultimate contradiction in South Africa.

Update

A lot has happened since my last post. On Friday, we visited with the District Director of Education for Port Elizabeth, Dr. Ntsiko. He actually has a master's degree from Ohio State University. He welcomed us to Port Elizabeth and praised Mr. January and the teachers at Emafini. We then went to visit an ex Model C school. These were the schools that were only for white children during apartheid. Today, they are still typically the schools with greater resources whose families can afford the tuition. They are still overwhelmingly comprised of white children and the few children of color who attend come from families who can afford to send them there. After we visited the former Model C school, we went to visit some of the homes where the children from Emafini live. Their housing is inadequate, often they only have two or three rooms for the entire family. Many families pay for electricity that is illegally wired. So there is a constant threat of electrical fires. Despite their extremely impoverished circumstances, the families welcomed us into their homes.

We left the homes visits and went to Red Location Museum, a museum that tells stories of apartheid and resistance (http://www.freewebs.com/redlocationmuseum/). There, we learned about the Langa Massacre (http://nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/Content.aspx?objID=498), the murder of 20 people who were protesting apartheid on March 21, 1985. Using photo exhibits, audio, and text, the museum captures the pain and resilience of those who fought to dismantle apartheid. In so many ways, the location of the museum illustrates the contradiction of South Africa. The museum is beautifully constructed yet sits in the middle of a township marked by abject poverty. This is the reality of South Africa. After we visited Red Location museum, we had a few hours to rest and then Mr. January and some of the teachers from Emafini picked us up to go to a barbecue at Mr. January's house. It was amazing. They grilled lamb chops and chicken, made potato salad and a bean and rice dish. They played South African music and we all danced! At the end Mr. January gave a speech and asked me to say a few words. I thanked them for embracing us and making us feel at home. The Xhosa people have a collective warmth that is beautiful and incredibly welcoming. Even though we are so different in many ways, they are taking such good care of us!

Work, work, work!

Mr. January has many technology needs that Chris Blake, Mark Phelps, Bryan Abernathy, and I are trying to meet. Chris completed a Power Point of the school profile. Mark helped by taking photos of the photos they had in hard copy and saving them as jpeg files so that Chris could upload them into the presentation. Mr. January was able to use this presentation at the principal's meeting he attended today. I am working on compiling the school history which, at present, is in a journal of sorts with the photos glued to the pages. Mark has taken photos of all of the hard copy pictures in the journal/scrapbook and I am uploading them into a Microsoft Publisher Newsletter along with the other school history that I had to type. Bryan has created a fire drill plan (complete with visual map) for the school and he is working on writing this up in document form. We are also going to help them create a finance policy document which will provide some clarity on their procedures for procuring vendors and using the petty cash fund. We also have been asked to do a website for the school, so we will start on that next week.

Yesterday, we attended the Peace Promoting Schools award ceremony. This ceremony was designed to honor the 21 schools that completed the peace projects through the GM foundation. We met Mr. Ntsiko, the Port Elizabeth district office representative in education. He provided some startling statistics and ended by saying that "peace should be in our blood, we should not just preach it, we should live it." Mr. Roger Matlock from the GM Foundation read excerpts from an interesting article in Time magazine that talked about the collapse of the U.S. educational system. He was trying to show that education is complex; even the U.S. is struggling to get it right.

As a side note, there was a word scramble competition and one of our groups won (we had to split ourselves into two groups). I was a little afraid that the other schools would not appreciate us beating them, but the ladies in our group were quite competitive and the other teams were good sports:-) Hats off to Mary Fincannon, Lindsey Deans, Maria Johnson, Emily Farmer, Ashley Flynn, and Chelsea Maser for beating all 20+ teams!

Exam Time

Today was the first day of exams. The students met for morning assembly and Mr. January gave a pep talk of sorts just prior to sending them off to write their exams. Mr. January had to pick the exams up this morning and bring them to the school. The heads of the departments then had to come in and count out all of the exams and then distribute them to the teachers (sound familiar?). In Ashley and Mary's 4th grade class one little boy was vomiting this morning. He said he felt fine. We suspected that he was nervous. Mr. January was not worried about how the learners would do on the exams, but he was worried about getting the exams marked (graded) and turned in on time so that they can be verified by the proper officials. I empathize with him...for his kids, these exam scores will determine their futures. As I write this, I just realized that I am starting to feel as if they are our kids. Mr. January and the teachers have really made us feel like a part of the school. At morning assembly, he told the students that we were here to help them. I am not sure if we will ever be able to express how much they are helping us. These young people have an inner strength that is inspiring.

South African Soccer Match

Thanks to Mrs. Thambo, a teacher at our school, and Mr. January, the principal, we got free tickets to a South African soccer match. It was held at the Port Elizabeth soccer stadium that was built for the World Cup. It was a fantastic match even though the game ended in a tie. The game was between the Orlando Pirates and the Moroka Swallows. The match was sold out but the stadium was only half full. Mr. January said this is because many companies buy tickets for their employees and then the employees do not come or something happens and, perhaps, the tickets are not distributed.

First Week

We survived the first week! Today we had a meeting with our partnership teachers here and the principal, Mr. January. We talked about the successes and challenges of the week. The teachers at Emafini and Mr. January admitted that they were skeptical at first. They did not think our UNCW students would be able to adjust, but they are pleased with their progress. The classes here are larger in size...typically 40 students in any given class. And the kindergartners operate separately. Next year, they will not have grade R (kindergarten) at the school because they will be under a new mandate to reduce class size down to 28. To make room for the extra classes, Grade Rs will be moved out of the school. In the pictures above you will see Mr. January and the UNCW students at lunch with some of the teachers.

First Day

Today we met Mr. January, the principal at Emafini and the teachers with whom we will be working. The school has about 1300 kids in grades Kindergarten through seven. The students have been paired with a teacher who has a grade level that matches the grade in which they student taught in the U.S. It's just before exam time and the end of the school year here. They are writing exams next week. Today we had an unexpected event occur. Mr. January had a meeting with all of the teachers during the school day, so all of our UNCW students stepped in and immediately started teaching. I did some teaching and helped keep students in classrooms and on task. The children are beautiful with a curiosity that makes me smile. They are learning in Xhosa and English, so we are having to navigate that process. In the photos above, Chelsea Maser is meeting her class for the first time and I am reading to 4th grade learners (as they call them in South Africa).

Thinking of dialogue and compromise....

We are all settled in now and are preparing for school tomorrow. Our taxi driver, Ryno, will pick us up at 7:15 am. I have been thinking about South Africa, her people, and their conversations today. If you just glance, you can barely tell that apartheid once existed here. But, of course, the vestiges of it are still very real, present, and consuming. Mandela's spirit is alive and well, however. As part of my research for this journey, I came across an organization dedicated to maintaining the memory of Mandela. On this site, they have included a number of case studies written to describe actual problems in South Africa. These are located at http://www.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/news/article/nelson_mandela_foundation_publishes_community_conversations_case_studies/

They are long, but I thought they might be useful in some of your classes:-)

D

14 hours!

We have landed in Johannesburg safely...waiting on luggage and then off to catch a much shorter flight to Port Elizabeth.

Departure

Hi All,

We are in New York getting ready to leave for South Africa! Everyone arrived to the RDU airport this morning on time by 4:15 AM. Wow...that was early. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, in preparation for this trip, we have been reading about South Africa. One of the stories I have found most compelling is about the life of Thembi Ngubane. Please listen to her story at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105017959

Peace and love,
Dr. R.