The other day one of my Peace Corps Volunteer friends
suggested applying to Teach for America together. The first thing that went
through my head was will I be able to
confirm back to the ways that we teach in America?
This got me to start thinking about all the things I love
about teaching in rural South Africa and decided to write a short blog post
about it.
1. Respect
From being a City Year Corps member, one thing I remember
from serving in Belaire High School in Baton Rouge, LA, was the lack of respect
that students had for their teachers. I would see students blatantly talking
over teachers’ lesson, students on their phone, students talking back to
teachers, and so on. This is far from the case in the school I teach in. Firstly,
students know that they are not allowed to have their cell phones in school, so…
they just don’t bring them (also, don’t picture the smart phones that we have
today in America, but the blocky Samsung phones we had in the early 2000s).
Also, when I arrive at school every morning, am I greeted by
whatever student sees me first and asks to carry my purse, soccer balls, or
whatever it is I might be bringing to school that day to my office. I would be skeptical
if a student asked to do that for me in the states.
Pictured: Me and one of my students who always wants to carry my bags for me in the morning.
2. Class
structure
Another thing I love about teaching in South Africa, is I
have a lot of freedom to teach what I think is important, and relevant to my
students. Yes I have to abide by CAPS, so that the students can pass the end of
the year test, but I don’t always have to teach out of the book. On most days I
look to see what CAPS wants me to teach, and then I teach it in the manner that
I think the students would be able to grasp the best. The best example of this
working was during the poetry section, and instead of using the poem that was
given, I took a song lyric that they already knew. Not only were they able to
grasp the concept of poetry and all the vocabulary of it, it also inspired them
to write their own poetry!
On another note about class structure (one that is both
good, and bad), teachers usually don’t abide by the class schedule. This is
frustrating when I find out that a grade hadn't been taught all day because all
the teachers decided to just not teach. But on the other hand it’s good,
because I can easily teach all of my classes, even if they are not on my
schedule. Another good on this side is I can leave students by themselves to
finish up work. For example, when I teacher Grassroot Soccer, I can split my
grade 8's (a class of 42 students) into two sections. While I am teaching
Grassroot Soccer to one half of the class, the other half of the class is busy
working in the Life Orientation book.
3. Rewards
and Punishments
Rewards and punishments are very different here than in the
states. I reward my students with apples and they are beyond happy, I give them
a book and they are ecstatic! For my top three learners last term, I had some
left over medals from a race, and they loved them (remember my student age
range is from 12-22)! I think if I brought apples, books that I found in a
rubbish bin, or janky old medals as prizes to a class in America, they would be
beyond bummed. Other rewards that I give are 20 minutes of soccer/netball, or
if they are extremely good all term, they get to watch a whole movie on the
last day (their favourite movie is Jamaica movie a.k.a. Cool Runnings).
Punishments are quite different here too. I have sent
students home to fetch their pens because they forgot to bring them to school.
I've made students sit outside my classroom because they were disturbing the
class, and I've walked students out of the school and told them to try again
tomorrow because they weren't behaving.
Pictured: My grade 7 class enjoying a movie on their last day of Term 2.
Pictured: Two of my students reaping in the benefits of behaving well, by being able to play Zoombinis on my laptop.
4. Village
life
There are so many great things about the fact that my school
is in the same area where all my students live. When working in the states,
probably 10% of my students who attended Belaire High School lived in that neighbourhood.
This made things difficult when students were behind on work, because they had
to take the bus home, and couldn't stay after school to work on homework. This
is not a problem where I work now. If a student is behind on work, they easily
stay after school (or come an hour before school) to finish it. If a student
feels like they are too cool to stay after school, I can easily walk to the
soccer field, find said student, and have them come back to school to finish
it. So much easier.
Pictured: A few of my students saying late after not finishing their assignment during school hours.
The other great thing about working in the same village that
my students live, is I don’t have to make phone calls home. All I have to do is
walk down the road, and visit their mother. I have developed a great
relationship with most of my students’ mothers, one that they now come and
visit me at work to see how their child is doing in my classes. This works
great, if one of the students are acting out, I can easily relay this
information back to their family. This also works well if a student is
struggling, because then they are (usually) encouraged to stay after school and
study. This also works if I have a student who is doing very well, because then
their parents are ecstatic and put more emphasis on their child’s education.
Pictured: Three of my students who stayed after school one day a week to work on their handwriting.
5. Desire
to Learn
My favourite thing about teaching in South Africa, is my
students’ desire to learn. Each of my students are excited about school. When I
ask a question in class, almost all of their hands go up. When there isn't a
teacher in the classroom, usually the class sends one student to me to ask if I
would come and teach instead.
My students love reading, and the library is always filled
with children flipping through books, and reading each other stories. When I
ask students to stay after school to work on something they are struggling
with, they don’t roll their eyes, instead they say “okay” and they come and
they learn.
Teaching in rural South Africa is wonderful!
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