Thursday, August 6, 2015

Teaching at Last!

Our visit to South Africa has been a whirlwind: professional development, the safari, and short visits to the five partner schools. Today, we each spent the day at our individual partner school and had a chance to slow down and really get to know the local teachers and the students.

I arrived at Penelopele Secondary at about 9 am, and the school day was already underway.  Shomane had a double block (90 minutes) of his 12th grade History class. He taught a lesson for the first 45 minutes and I had a chance to observe him.  His subject was the time period between Mandela's release (1990) and the first free democratic election (1994).  The class is very large (more than 40 students) and there was no room to navigate between rows of desks, so he taught from the front of the classroom and called on students for answers.

Then it was my turn.  I first asked them to work in groups to identify five important things about the United States. I wanted to see how much they knew, and what myths and misconceptions they might have. I think they really liked the opportunity to speak with their peers, and it was a little hard for my partner teacher...he kept trying to quiet them down, but I was ok with the noise level as long as they were on task. I then solicited answers and put them on the board. Particularly thoughtful responses warranted a Bullis tee-shirt, and others were rewarded with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Some of the responses included: wealthiest country in the world, Superpower (we had a good discussion about what that means), the popularity of American music and entertainment, Barack Obama (they were very excited about him), capitalism and democracy.  It was so interesting to hear their ideas.





I then asked them to tell me five important things about South Africa that I should share with my students back home.  They quickly came up with responses such as mineral wealth, Kruger National Park and 11 languages.  We then got a little stuck. I said there is an "elephant in the room!" Of course, that was a new idiom. But I pushed them a little...if we want to understand South Africa today, what do we need to know? That prompted a discussion about the end of Apartheid.
We had time for some questions, and they asked me about many things, but my favorite question: "how do you talk to your ancestors?"  I wasn't prepared for that one!  I asked them to sing the National Anthem, and they did a beautiful job. In return, I struggled my way through our National Anthem, which is hard to sing!

I was able to visit a few other classes, and then I left to go back to the hotel to meet up with the other teachers. We spent the late afternoon at a craft market and had an early dinner.

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