This week local South African guys joined the sports program to learn about SAQ so that they can take the program to other schools. It is a great idea but there are just too many people doing sports now. There are 5 of us, 4 coaches from Masi and about 6 new guys learning the program. There are sometimes two people working with one kid and it's overkill. Many times our group find ourselves with nothing to do, so this week we decided to help some of the people doing the teaching program.
Everyone in the teaching program right now is teaching first grade. It is a very different and more challenging experience than the sports program. On Wednesday I was helping some of the kids with an activity. The teacher drew vegetables on the board and then wrote the name of the vegetable next to the drawing. The class (mostly comprised of 7 or 8 year olds because most kids have to repeat grade one at least once) was instructed to copy what was on the board into their notebook. It was shocking to me how much they struggled with this activity.I had to sit down individually with almost all 40 kids before the activity was completed.
The next day I helped out another grade one class an it got even worse. They were working on a worksheet where they had to write their name, age, grade, and gender and a large part of them couldn't write their name. I would dot out their name and some of them couldn't trace what I outlined. They understood me and knew what they were supposed to do but they simply could not complete the task.
I've asked almost every adult I talked to what the problem was and it is my understanding that everyone is blaming each other. The parents don't stimulate the kids at a young age and they rely completely on the school to educate their kids. Some of the parents treat the school as a place for their kids to go and get food and nothing more. The teachers are lazy and unmotivated. They expect little of their students and do not teach with any enthusiasm. Then everyone blames the kids for not being up to par. It is really a broken system, I guess that is why we're here.
In more upbeat news, Cam, a volunteer from Maine, and I are booked to shark cage dive on Sunday morning.If I post again it will have been a successful trip haha.
Last night I hung out with my American friend near UCT. It was really good to see her and she seems to be really enjoying South Africa. I'm seeing her again at her birthday party tonight so that should be a good time too.
Unlike last weekend, this weekend seems to be really chill. I think we're just going to visit the bird world on saturday. Sunday, after shark cage diving, I think a lot of the volunteers are going into Simon's town to get some souvenirs, and then there is a beer/wine festival on Long Street in the evening. There is no school on Monday because the national holiday "Human Rights Day" and I think we might go into Miuzenberg and try out surfing (though after I see the sharks I don't know if I'll want to go into the water again).
I tried playing basketball yesterday and the thumb held up pretty well (I did tweak my Achilles a little bit but you can't have everything I guess). There is another game with the local team next Friday and I'm going to try and play in it. Just pray that no one touches my thumb. I'm starting the teaching program on Tuesday and that should give me a much needed rest until Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment