Happy Halloween!

This has always been one of my favorite holidays; partly for the candy and partly for the decorations. I tried to explain the idea of dressing up and trick-or-treating to my host family here, but as I started to speak about it, I realized how silly it sounded. They said there was certainly nothing like it in South Africa. I miss carving pumpkins and apple pie, but I know that it will be there when I return in a couple of years.

I tried to do some online research on the origins of Halloween. While there are some commonalities in the explanations I found, overall, no one seems to be sure. Maybe next year when I am teaching, I will try to find a few more details and have a little Halloween party with my learners. I’m sure I can find some ways to incorporate maths!

Practice Teaching

After about six weeks of interviews and observations, I am finally able to start “practice” teaching! Even though I have had quite a few years of teaching experience in the US, it would have been foolish to assume that I would have been able to just step into a South African classroom and start. It was important for me to begin to become familiar with both the culture of the school as well as the culture of the students in the classroom. While there are certainly quite a few similarities (after all, kids are kids no matter where you are in the world) there are some important differences that I observed as well.

• In the vast majority of cases, the learners do not take any notes or write anything down. They simply listen to the teacher’s explanation or watch the work that is being done on the chalkboard. The writing does not come until they are asked to do their own class work. Therefore, if you look through a learners notebook, all you will see is a few problems here and there from various days when they had an assignment to either do in class or complete at home.

• The learners do not except to be singled out. They expect to be asked yes or no questions and respond as an entire class rather than individuals. The question that they seem to hear the most often is “Do you understand?” The answer from all sixty students is simply “yes.”

• If you do make a learner answer a question on his or her own, he or she must stand up when giving the answer. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is amazing how much time is wasted when you have to wait for a learner to get up out of their chair and then sit back down again. Especially when all you want is for them to say “five.” And it is especially frustrating when the answer is given is wrong – which it often is.

• Materials in the form of published workbooks are provided to the learners, but they are not given textbooks that have explanations and examples…at least not that I have seen. Truth be told, there are a lot of locked cabinets in the back of many of the classrooms.

• Neatness is extremely important in every learners exercise notebook – almost too important. An abundant amount of time is wasted finding rulers to draw perfectly straight lines under the heading at the top of the page, or the line at the end of an addition problem, etc. I of all people value being neat and organized, but this is an extreme that overshadows the actual content being taught.

There are other differences, too, but these were the ones that caught my attention the earliest. I need to tread lightly as I try to modify some behaviors and just try to adjust my own mindset to some others. But in the end, I think it is going to be a great couple of weeks of sample lessons. I know that both the learners and I are excited to get things going!

Baby Animals

As I did not grow up on a farm or in any proximity to animals besides dogs, cats, and squirrels, I am simply not used to seeing the variety of baby animals that currently live around me. And I have to say that they are really cute. Just about a week or so ago, one of my family’s cows returned from being ‘lost,’ and right beside her was a brand new calf. I could not believe how taken I was with this little cow. I mean, it’s a cow, not a golden retriever. But it is a beautiful brown color with a white mark on its forehead and legs so thin I can’t believe it can really stand on them. I don’t know how long it will take to grow out of this ‘cute’ phase, so I’m enjoying it while it lasts. The baby animal that I truly love the most, though, is a baby goat. In general, I have absolutely no interest in goats. As my South African mama always says, “Goats are chaotic.” Apparently my family used to have goats, but over time they either died or were slaughtered and the family was not interested in replacing them. Turns out they can be difficult to manage and you are responsible for damages they cause to any fields and crops that they destroy! But lots of other families have small herds of goats, and mixed among them are always one or two little ones. It sounds ridiculous, but they are just adorable. Whenever they sneak into the yard, a few baby goats always play just outside my front door, as it is usually shady in the afternoon. Since the goats are not really welcome in the yard (they are notorious for finding their way into the garden and eating the vegetables), my visitors are never there too long. But while they are around, it is fun to see them dancing and jumping. Perhaps when I return, I will see about getting a new type of pet. 

What's For Dinner?

I have come to realize that I am more or less going to eat the same thing everyday for the next two years. In some ways, it is not bad – it certainly makes shopping and cooking easier. But of course, there are a few things that I already miss. For breakfast I usually have a peanut butter and banana sandwich. It seems to fill me up more than cereal and I don’t have to worry about milk spoiling because I don’t have a refrigerator. I take an apple with me to school and eat that along with whatever the school serves for lunch. The choices are usually rice with a soupy vegetable mix or a grainy porridge with cooked cabbage. Sometimes there are beans (brown not green) instead of cabbage; sometimes there are pilchards (basically canned sardines) in the vegetable mix. I don’t always finish my lunch to be honest.  When I get home from school I will frequently make popcorn or boil an egg. Then my dinner is usually a Ramen-noodle like dish called 2-Minute Noodles. It comes in a variety of delicious flavors and only takes two minutes to cook. Can’t beat that. On the weekends I try to spice things up by having eggs or oatmeal for breakfast and making a real pasta or rice dish that includes some chopped up vegetables and sometimes even chicken. There are definitely volunteers (mostly the ones who have electricity) that have no problems cooking here. But as I stunk at cooking at home, and now have even less to work with, it has not really been a good scene “in the kitchen.”

Some of the things I miss are good for me, and I really do wish were here, like peaches and eggplant and strawberries and asparagus and blueberries and yams and raspberries and yogurt.  Some of the things I miss are total garbage and I probably should be thankful that I am giving my body a rest from them.  Cool Whip, Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, honey mustard and onion flavored pretzels, cupcakes, pudding, this list could go on.  I can buy a number of American brand candy bars here – including Snickers, thank god – so that will just have to be enough! But the next time you are enjoying a slice of pumpkin pie, know that I wish I was there with you.

End of Term 3

No school this week! The third term ended last Friday, so schools are closed for both learners and teachers. I am planning to visit many of my new neighbors and just explore the terrain in general. Hopefully the weather will cooperate! The end of the term was marked by a serious of high stakes tests from both the state (country) and province (state). There were actually so many different tests being given that I honestly could not keep track. All learners in grades 1-7 took state exams (called the Annual National Assessment) in Maths/Numeracy and Home Language (isiZulu), and learners in grades 4-7 also took an exam in their First Additional Language (English). Grades 4-6 also took a whole serious of tests from the province for other subject areas such as Natural Science and Arts & Culture. And there may even have been some “end of term” tests written by the individual teachers thrown in the mix. It took nearly two weeks for all of these tests to be written (taken) and marked (graded) after which the results needed to be sent to the appropriate education office. Not an easy job (no scantrons here!) and an enormous amount of paperwork. I’ll be interested to see if and how the results are used to guide further instruction.