G1, G2 and G3- the lower part of the high school. Much chaos happens here!
Week One: "Decisions, Decisions"
So, with much free time on my own in Ingwavuma this weekend, I am able to write about what it's been like coming back home. Before coming back, I had had a lot of issues with deciding on whether to leave my placement here and start afresh somewhere new. I was completely torn as I know that I feel completely settled here, we like our house and are surrounded by lovely people where we live and teach. I also enjoy teaching and would miss my learners so much if I left, and would feel like I've let them down in some way, or that I don't care about them. It would make me so sad to leave my closest friends behind who I spend so much time with and would I end up wishing I had stayed with them? I would also regret leaving this area when we haven't seen places we still want to see yet such as Swaziland, Mozambique and the battlefields, all of which I'm still really keen to visit. On the other hand, I was thinking that maybe it would be nice to do two placements- three months teaching and maybe the next three months could be spent somewhere else in the country doing something different. That maybe a different place would offer us more to do than two hours of teaching a day and more things to do and more people to visit. In the end I decided that instead of running from here, I would come back but try to improve things and get myself more involved in the community. On the first day back of school, Katie and I had a chat to the principal who was completely understanding when we told him we were feeling underutilised and bored. He was so lovely about it all and I asked him if maybe I could spend some time volunteering at the hospital here when I am not teaching. He thought it was a good idea, but just for weekends as he doesn't want to lose us at the school. I am quite happy to stay here some weekends now because I want to save some money mainly but also meet some more people here. That day our friend from the office, Beula, announced that she was leaving that afternoon as she had got a new job in tourism. I was sad to see her go because she has been so lovely to us from the start and was such a quirky character that she will be missed around school. However, this also means that they are now short of one of the office staff which gives us possibly more work to do, although we are yet to be of use in there. The principal said he would go and talk to the general manager of the hospital for me so I started to feel more optimistic about my time here. He also promised that he would find things for us to do, but as all principals are here, he is a busy man so we understand why he can't focus on us all the time. Unfortunately, our mentor Bongi has been away all week writing exams so hopefully when she is back next week she will be able to help me as well. Something that I am more excited about is starting my second teaching subject as of next week. I have been meaning to ask Mr Rafamoya, a lovely Zimbabwean guy who also teaches in the high school about his subject Social Science as I noticed he was teaching Nazi Germany last term to the grade nine's. He told me that the subject is half history and half geography so when I said I was interested in teaching some history he was more than happy to let me help him as he said he was more specialised in geography anyway. I was so happy because this means that I will be teaching more than twice a day, I will have more lessons to plan and I already know his classes as he teaches the subject to grades eight and nine. So this week he has been giving me the syllabus which consists of the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution for grade eight which I think will be alright but I've had to read up on it quite a bit. Grade nine are just starting Apartheid which I think will be great for me to learn about and teach at the same time, especially when it is so relevant to the country. After we finish that they are going to learn about the Cold War which I remember a lot about from A Level last year so I'm looking forward to that too. Life back at school and home. On Tuesday we started back at school and getting up at six was such an effort! I noticed that the sun wasn't as high in the sky as it usually was and the temperatures outside have dropped quite a bit- welcome to winter in South Africa! However, the sun still continues to shine and even today it is like a summers day in England! I was kind of dreading having the grade eights first for some reason but due to whole school assembly I only had them for half an hour and they were actually quiet as they wrote about their Easter holidays (it had to be done!). The rest of the day was spent planning my grade nine lessons as I have moved on from grammar and this term I am going to do poetry and literature with them. My 9b's last lesson were quite chatty but most were actually taking an interest in what we were learning about and I think we made some progress. Once we got home I did a lot of washing, cooked dinner, spoke to my Mum on the phone and then the boys came over from Manguzi in the evening. The rest of the week has been fairly uneventful but it's so nice to be back into a routine and I call this home now...I can't imagine being placed anywhere else! Our evenings after half seven are spent in Mienky's room in the house next door as she has a TV and a very comfy bed with lots of blankets! Mr Magagula is of course still living in our house and is still trying to teach us little bits of Zulu which I'm struggling to remember but “ou hambile” means “he went” if I need to use it! He is also still singing “Issy like Sunday morning” at me! This weekend I decided to stay in Ingwavuma whilst Katie went down to Manguzi to visit Johno because I wanted to save money and also sort out everything that is still in a mess from Easter. On Saturday I did loads of washing, cleaned up the kitchen which had become quite a mess from the last four days and started on the last four weeks with this blog which I had been putting off for a long time! A herd of cows managed to get into our garden so I had a bit of a surprise when I walked outside and was surrounded by cows eating the grass! I had a lovely Skype call with Heidi and then spent the evening at Mienky's watching a south African film called 'The Bang Bang Club'. There is a guy staying in their house who is a friend of TB's and he is studying to become a teacher but is also an actor and we were surprised to see that he was playing one of the characters in the film! I realised this weekend that I don't think I could ever live in a place by myself, it is way too quiet and lonely but I'm glad I stayed here to catch up. This morning, after tidying up my very messy side of the bedroom, I went over to Mienky's for a bit and then over to the Principals house. He was watching a film so I joined him for a bit and hinted about had he spoken to the manager at the hospital. He had not, but said he would go there tomorrow and so next weekend I might have some work there if it works out. Our mentor, Bongi, will be back on Wednesday so hopefully she will be able to help me too. The weekend after next we are going to Pretoria as we have five days off over a bank holiday weekend to see our lovely Rose who used to live here with us as that is where she lives and now has a job. I'm quite excited to see the capital of the country and also to catch up with Rose and meet her family.
Miss Donald and Miss Guess
Week Two: "YES, our oven is fixed!"
This week started off in chaos as it is the time of year where every teacher in the school must attend workshops. The education system here holds workshops for teachers on their specialised subject and they have to attend, even though it is during school hours. This basically meant that the whole week Katie and I were taking our lessons and then trying to keep the grades eight and nine in their classrooms during all the free lessons they were having due to various teachers being away. However, it was also my first day of teaching Apartheid to the grade nine's and it went well! We wrote notes on all the apartheid laws- what they were called, what they enforced and the aim for passing the law. I thought it might be a bit awkward teaching this subject because it is still not that long ago since people here were living through it, but it was not at all and I am trying to keep to just facts and no personal opinions! That afternoon I remember I was teaching a grade nine English lesson and supervising the grade eights with their social science (obviously there are clashes but I have to take English over SS) as Mr Rafamoyo was away and I was exhausted afterwards, due to constantly running between classrooms! Since we have been back from Easter, some of my students have actually started to take an interest in my culture and started asking me about the money and “do you have game parks there?” which I though was so funny! So the next day I grabbed a couple of the photos off of my bedroom wall of my friends and family; my photo book of the New Forest and some English currency I still have. They were really interested in the money and identified the Queen which they thought was great on a money note! They also marvelled at the pictures of the New Forest and asked if they could come back home with me! Towards the end of last week, the absence of so many teachers was starting to have a negative impact on both grades. They had had so many free lessons doing nothing that they started to think they could act like that when they did have lessons. Unfortunately, they do mess us around more so than the other teachers, not only because we are young but because they do not have the fear in them of us beating them. Sadly, although it is illegal here, some teachers do beat the children still. I absolutely hate seeing it and would never do it myself, but there is nothing that can be done to stop it when it happens, and it is unlikely that this is the only school in the country. Thursday was an exciting day as it was the first time I was teaching four lessons! I prepared really well for them: eight SS, eight English, 9A English and 9B SS. They all went really well and I am definitely getting to know my learners a lot better this term. In the afternoon I went to watch a bit of the grade twelve function which they were putting on to raise money for their matric dance. It was a variety show so there was dancing, singing and even some acting which was fantastic. We also had a fun time sitting in the office with Mienky, Mr Raf, Nqobile and Mr Stole- we laughed so so much over Mr Raf's political debates (it happened to be Independence Day in Zimbabwe that day) and a lady from a funeral company coming to talk to the staff about the policies they offer and no one turning up after she sent Mienky to go and find people. This resulted in a very annoyed looking funeral lady coming back to the office and Mienky running and hiding behind the photo copier because she was scared! Another highlight of last week was our oven being fixed! Ever since we got here we have been cooking on a two ring electric cooker, so this was a huge deal as we can do so much more and not everything has to be fried or boiled any more! Mienky asked me if I would help her with her grade fours' vocabulary and she gave me a list of words so that I could draw a chart. I was obviously feeling quite creative as I drew up a plan of what I would draw which involved the earth, villages and cities, the solar system including the sun, moon, planets and the stars, the four seasons and any other things that I could think of. I am still yet to finish the chart but it's looking good despite my questionable drawing and it has given me something to work on when I have free time in the evening. I am also hoping to do a clothing chart using cut outs from magazines after I finish this one. Last weekend was a big improvement on the previous one! On Friday night we went down to Manguzi to a place called 'Kosi Bay Cabins' where we met Johno's friend Harry who was experiencing a very quiet night at the bar. We had a lovely night chatting about English and south african culture, the places we had been to, the wildlife we had seen and I was introduced to the 'Springbok' shot. It was made with peppermint lacquer and Marula and it was actually nice, although I felt so rubbish the next day! We stayed in one of the cabins which was big enough for a whole family and when we woke up the next morning it was really hot! Harry cooked us breakfast and we stayed there all morning before going back to Patrick's to sleep/recover for the afternoon- never drinking Springboks again!! that night Patrick and I went back to Ingwavuma and just chilled and watched “Invictus” which was about the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. I enjoyed the film as it was so relevant to this country and it tied in with what I had been teaching that week about Apartheid. On Sunday morning I had accepted an invitation from my grade nine girls to go and watch them sing at their church at the hospital, which I was looking forward to as the singing is always amazing and it would be a good chance to meet new people in Ingwavuma. Unfortunately I got up too late and did not realise how late it was so I was disappointed at myself! Patrick and I wandered down to the shops, I did the washing whilst he skyped his friends in New Zealand, did a bit of school work and the day went so quick! In the evening I had a lovely Skype call with about ten members of my family who were all at home celebrating my Dad's birthday. They could see me on the camera and I could see fuzzy versions of them but it was like I was there with them and they asked lots of questions about South Africa and exclaimed at how long my hair has got! I also told them that I am so happy here now and I don't want to come home! (Don't worry, I will!)
The grade eight girls- they make me laugh all the time!
Week Three: “Ekse Majimbos!”
Monday started off pretty hectic as we got a new timetable for the high school. Over the weekend I completely forgot to plan anything for Monday but I usually had last lesson only. It turned out that I now have the first two lessons on a Monday morning- 9A English and 8 English! I somehow managed to get some stuff together and made it through the morning. Mr Rafamoyo gave me some lesson plan templates and taught me how to write a lesson plan which I thought was so lovely of him as it is giving me a real experience of life as a teacher. Up until now I have been using my paper pad to plan all my lessons, but using the lesson plans I have found makes everything a lot more structured and you can go through it easily. My new timetable has also given me a last lesson every day which means I have gained five hours also from taking on SS. I am really happy with this as it puts my hours up to fifteen and a half so I have three lessons a day Monday- Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday I only have first and last lessons so I am trying to find something to fill in that time.... This leads me to our visit from Matt from Lattitude on Tuesday afternoon. He was coming to see how we were getting on as the last time we had seen him was when he had arrived at our placement. We had a lot to talk about regarding how we had not been feeling fulfilled last term despite trying our best to get involved in the primary school and Bongi joined us and we realised at the start there had been quite a bit of confusion for lots of reasons about our role at the school when we arrived. The afternoon was really productive and we agreed to start meeting with Bongi once a week to talk about things. She also said she would try to start slotting us into the primary school to fill up some of our time, which will be helpful for me on those last two days of the week. After school, we visited the womens centre which is in a huge building behind the shops. The lady there explained to us that women come to do craft and make bags and clothes but there was also a school there. We ended up going to the classrooms and chatting to a lady who was teaching there. They are using an American system of teaching the students whereby they work on their own at their own pace and after asking how we might be able to get involved we decided it would be great if we could join in with their after school sports sessions twice a week. We were keen to set some after school clubs up at Nansindlela but unfortunately everyone goes after school as most of the children are not local so have to get their transport. If we can help out with these children at this tiny school in the women’s centre, and get our local students to join in, I would like to set up a dance or games club as I don't believe that everyone is interested in just football and cricket! Matt took us to Fancy Stitch afterwards which was nice of him and we then spent the evening planning our week after we finish our placement travelling from Durban to Cape Town on the Baz Bus exploring the Garden Route. Only eight weeks after this one! Time is going way too fast! Today was Wednesday which, as usual, involved a very long assembly and the last two days have been very cold so it was not fun standing outside! I taught lessons three and four, spent the whole lunchtime with the nine's finishing their assessment and then taught again last lesson which was productive for about half an hour and then sort of finished after I let them have a five minute break and got distracted myself. During the sports hour I let some of my learners plat my hair and they asked me if I would teach them how to do Ballet! I haven't done it since I was about ten but I said I would try and incorporate it into some fun dance if they could find me a CD player from somewhere (this probably means I will have to buy one myself!) and we would do that on Wednesday afternoons. Bongi told me that she had got in contact with an ex teacher of the school who was now running a special needs school down near Bhambanana (about half an hours drive from here) and some of the children were staying there at the weekend so would I like to go down there and do some stuff with them. I hope to go down next weekend as we have not got anything planned otherwise and I'm quite excited about it. After school we met up with Danny, an American guy who is volunteering with the Peace Corps down at Ingwavuma High School, at Fancy Stitch. He has been here for over a year teaching maths and science and we got in touch with him through Mr and Mrs Rafamoya. We chatted about both our experiences in Ingwavuma, our trips to Manguzi at the weekend, what we were teaching and then he came to see where we lived. Hopefully we will see him again as we have offered him a lift if we go down in the car to Manguzi where he also has friends. It was good to meet someone new here too! So yeah, that's about all that has happened in the last three weeks! Things are definitely getting much better as I am a lot busier at school which is filling up more time at home. I am so aware of time now as we only have eight more weeks of teaching and next week will only be three days long. I know that the three weeks travelling after placement will go so quickly and then it will be time to go home. I don't even like to think about it, it's going to be pretty hard for me! This weekend our plans to go to Pretoria to visit Rose were cancelled as she could not do it any more so instead Patrick and I are going to Swaziland for the five day weekend. Yes, five days! On Friday it is 'Freedom Day' which was the day the first democratic elections were held in South Africa eighteen years ago and then Tuesday is also a bank holiday, so we get Monday off too! Our plans for Swaziland are not very organised at the moment, but we are planning to taxi it to the Piet Retief border (we could just walk across the mountain here but it hasn't been advised!) then about an hours drive (possible a lot longer in a taxi) to Lobamba where our backpackers is. I am hoping to go to a cultural village and we are also keen to visit a game park there. The Swazi people are renowned for being extremely nice and the country is supposed to quite beautiful. I just hope it gets a bit warmer! Lastly, “You know you're back in Ingwavuma when...” Zulu guys are surprised when you don't want to marry them! You wait FOREVER at the shops for Mr Magagula and Mienky to do a few bits of shopping that should only take ten minutes. (and see all the teachers there too!) You have to confiscate a bible in a lesson? We are eating vetkoek way more than we should be You recognise a goat that you have previously named A massive lizard appears in your house but you don't even care You have strong cravings for chocolate biscuits You live off of polony and plastic cheese You're not surprised any more when a herd of cows enters the garden You respond automatically to “Miss D” “Teacher!” You say 'Sawubona' to every single person you meet along the road You are in bed by nine PM You recognise all the people that work in Spar You feel totally at home and can't believe you have to leave!!!
We are getting to know the staff here well now! When brownies and ice cream are needed, this is the place to go!
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