HEY TEACHER, LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE

This year our days are jam packed with teaching, teaching and more teaching. Our day starts at Siseko JSS which is about 10 km’s from here, so every morning a taxi bakkie collects us and as we bounce to school on the gravel roads, I practice my Xhosa on the driver. His English isn’t too wonderful but he enjoys helping me build up my Xhosa vocabulary and laughs at some of my pronunciation attempts.

We really enjoy teaching at Siseko JSS as the principal is serious about education. The classrooms are tiny and 2 grades are squashed up in a single classroom. Many learners sit 3 to one desk. Some desks are broken or have tops made of hardboard which is disintegrating at the corners and some students can’t fit their legs under the low tables. None of these factors make writing an easy mission. One grade face their teacher in the front while the other half face their teacher at the back of the classroom. I can’t imagine how this situation works effectively. The grade 1’s don’t have desks, just a plastic chair, many of which are broken so writing is not an option. Their little faces light up when I enter the class and I always bring a teddy bear, a coloured ball, a floppy hat, home made alphabet flashcards or some sort of realia to make the lessons interesting. They love pleasing me and they are so eager to shout out the answer and sometimes they can’t contain themselves and they rush forward, shouting missy missy, with their little arms reaching up and their face scrunched up as they shout “f for fish”. As cute as they are, I prefer teaching the Grade 5 and 6 class since, even though there are a few boys who don’t really try and can’t really read, never mind speak English, I find it easier to teach them since, as a class, they are able to understand me much better and I teach them grammar in fun activities with realia, role playing and they absolutely love competitions.

Its difficult teaching 2 grades at a time since they are not all at the same level of competency and I can’t use their prescribed English work books since each grade’s book is different. I therefore have to create my own lesson plan every day. Generally, they need basic sentence structure lessons since they’ve had no experience expressing themselves in English.

The principal is very keen to improve teaching at his school but the challenges are tough. The teachers are keen to welcome his new rule as of this year, based on ideas which we’ve presented to him, using English in all lessons as the first change but unfortunately their grasp of English is very poor. Do the maths! They are not very imaginative in creative lessons and games such as Eye Spy are as foreign to them as umfino, the much loved wild leafy vegetable, was to us.

We teach at Qolora By Sea in the afternoons for an hour but unfortunately by then, the teachers at this school are either in some sort of meeting or something or other and the learners are unruly which makes teaching there not very pleasant. We are barely into the year and we feel demoralized having to deal with this schools lack of interest in dedicated teaching. The only thing keeping me there are the little ones who run to meet us at the gate and fight for a chance to hold our hands. My skin and hair are quite a fascination point with all the young kids at both schools. We would much rather teach at Isolomzi, the high school over the hill, where that principal is doing a wonderful job of offering his learners a good education. He has a team of dedicated teachers and the first rule of the school is that only English is spoken after entering the school gates. Mr Butshingi, the principal, is not very popular with the other schools and is considered a tyrant but he just produced a matric pass rate of 75% and many distinctions to boast of. He only has about 25 learners per class since not many students around here want to attend his school as the expectations are too high for them. Alternatively, Tjali High, which is over the other hill, is a totally different setup. They are fed by about 5 junior schools in the area. They have 6 grade 12 classes, each with 80 plus learners per class, 4 grade 11 classes, also with about 80 learners per class and not much less grade 10’s. Teachers go there to do crowd control more than teach.



We open the Qolora Education Centre from 3 to 5pm during the week for the local kids who come around. Some just come because they enjoy being there and have nothing better to do but some enjoy the English and Maths handouts which we’ve been giving them to do lately. I’ve gotten the little ones to read to me in the past, but as of yet, none of the older children have shown any real interest in actually reading a challenging book. At 5 o clock I tutor a couple of students from Tjali high school, 2 walk the 10 km’s 2 or 3 times a week for my English lesson (and computer lessons) which I give them before walking all the way back home again. I’ve asked them what challenges they face at Tjali High School and they tell me that besides sharing desks, some students don’t have textbooks. Also, some students stay after school to hide a chair for themselves to use the next day. Half of the first period is usually wasted by teachers trying to resolve chair ownership issues. I guess some students just have to stand for the lesson due to the shortage of chairs. I believe the one and only maths teacher will be leaving in a month or two and will not be replaced. Abongile also told me of her concerns that when it rains, the long drop toilets get flooded and can’t be used.

Many learners drop out along the way. I can’t imagine why, can you?