My week went by so fast! After my first day of teaching on 10/25, I jumped right into things at Kingswood College in my first grade classroom (called grade ones here). My teacher is very enthusiastic and I am a busy bee during the school day. We have our students do writing, maths, handwriting and reading groups. My students also learn Afrikaans which my teacher knows and the students say poems and stories in Afrikaans.
My students also take Xhosa which is the language that some black people speak here. I have been able to teach writing (I had to re-learn some of my letters because they write differently here) and maths this week. I came up with a lesson for my students to do, an "All about me" activity that they will send my 3rd grade students at Lincoln Elementary! Hopefully they will do the activity this week so I can hurry and send it out. It takes quite a few weeks to get to Michigan.
The students participate in religious instruction as well, and I was very impressed with the minister who teaches this class. She is very interactive and has a way with explaining the bible in ways the students will understand. She prays with them at the end and meets their emotional needs. She acts sort of like a social worker and counselor at Kingswood.
My teacher decided I will do my unit on Christmas, and the way the South Africans celebrate it and I will throw in some American traditions as well. I think it will be a fantastic learning experience for me to see what types of cultural traditions they have in South Africa.
I was able to sit in on a Ritalin meeting as well as a Remedial meeting this week. Both were so interesting. Many students are labeled with ADHD at Kingswood which is similar to the U.S. During the meeting teachers were not told what indicators should be present before suggesting psychometric testing for a student to the parents. It is interesting as well that teachers can suggest testing. In the U.S, a teacher could be sued if they suggested such a thing. I think there are pros and cons to both ways of dealing with this.
The remedial meeting was interesting as well as students are not offered special education at Kingswood and since it is a private school, students can be denied admission to the school. If students have speech or OT or PT the parents must pay for it.
This weekend I was able to go to an amazing piano concert at the monument, I went to Port Elizabeth with the 5-7 graders for a swim meet on Saturday all day and was able to see a shopping center, and today I went to Professor Baxen's students' cocktail party to celebrate their finished research projects. We met a few very nice people who are willing to show us some more of South Africa.
All for now, must get ready for another busy week... I am really missing Dave and my friends and family but I have a new family here too! I think being far away puts everything into perspective and actually helps one to realize things one took for granted before....
Miss P
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