To try and help people understand Apartheid in South Africa, I am going to reverse the situation in this post (making it unfairly biased towards non-Whites). For this reason (if you are reading this post on Facebook or another site that does not support formatting) I recommend that you read it directly from my blog: stepheninsouthafrica.blogspot.com
This attempt will not do justice to the entire situation, I will admit that now, but I thought that this would be an interesting attempt to represent the repression of the system. I do not mean any disrespect to anyone in this post and if you are offended I sincerely apologise.
If you are non-White, please read the first section below, which will be posted in red. If you are White, please read the section section, which will be posted in blue.
NON-WHITES ONLY
Today we went to a museum documenting the history of Apartheid in South Africa. Outside the museum there we several large pillars, representing the fundamental rights granted to all citizens in South Africa by the post-Apartheid Constitution, to remind visitors of how South Africa is today. At the entrance to the museum we were segregated based on which ticket we held (they we randomly allocated) and sent into two corridors separated by a mesh wall. Although the exhibits on both sides of the wall were the same, the separation based on something seemingly as trivial as a word printed on your entrance ticket seemed very unfair. Unlike Apartheid in South Africa, this segregation only lasted for the first 25 meters or so of the museum before we could be reunited. As was to be expected, a large section of the museum was dedicated to Nelson Mandela, including the car he was given upon his release from jail. The materials for the car were paid for by the senior staff at the factory and the labourers who built it did so for free as a way of thanking Mandela for his sacrifice. I will not go into the full details of the rest of the museum. Needless to say it was exceptionally shocking and really made you think as to how one set of human beings could treat another so unfairly.
ALL OTHER CLASSES
Today we went to the Apartheid Museum. It was interesting. It made me think.
I'd better be off now, I hope I made you think.
Sunday 31 July 2011
Saturday 30 July 2011
Prisons, Courts, Stadia and Vuvuzelas
Today was a fairly busy day! In the morning we visited Constitution Hill, the site of the former prison that housed, amongst others, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi.
It was in the prison here that Gandhi's political activism really started. The prison, which in now a museum, had an exhibit of Gandhi's imprisonment in South Africa. This was particularly fascinating for me as, although a few years ago now, I have visited the location in India where he spent his final days and was assassinated. The prison also hit home how difficult it must have been to be non-White in South Africa under apartheid. In one of the courtyards there was an apple tree. When apples developed on the tree, prisoners would chose one whilst it ripened then eat it when it was ready. If prisoners misbehaved, their apple was confiscated when ripe, which must have been completely demoralising.
The site now houses the South African Constitutional Court, the equivalent of the United States Supreme Court. The courthouse includes part of the old prison as a reminder to all of the past of South Africa, whilst also showing the way forward to a better future. The courthouse contains significant amounts of South Africa's history, with large sections of the building employing architectural features symbolising the older rural courts that were held in the shade of a large tree. The building also abides by the principle of transparency, with easy access to the public galleries for all as well as windows from the courtroom directly onto the street outside. Media access to the building is also surprisingly easy, something I believe that South Africa does significantly better than the United Kingdom as, where it is the court dealing with constitutional matters, the decisions it makes should be as open as possible.
After this we went to Soccer City/FNB Stadium which hosted the World Cup final in 2010. The match was the Soweto Derby between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirates. Most of our group decided to support the Chiefs, however we lost 4-3 on penalties, which was disappointing as was most the the footballing skill throughout the entire match, yet the atmosphere more than made up for it. Most people complain about vuvuzelas, yet being in a stadium full of them it was fairly atmospheric!
Better be off now - we've ordered takeaway and it should be here soon!
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| The South African Constitutional Court |
After this we went to Soccer City/FNB Stadium which hosted the World Cup final in 2010. The match was the Soweto Derby between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirates. Most of our group decided to support the Chiefs, however we lost 4-3 on penalties, which was disappointing as was most the the footballing skill throughout the entire match, yet the atmosphere more than made up for it. Most people complain about vuvuzelas, yet being in a stadium full of them it was fairly atmospheric!
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| Soccer City/FNB Stadium |
Friday 29 July 2011
Just a Quick One...
Not much to report today - it was so cold that the school closed early and all the pupils (somewhat telepathically) knew and left simultaneously!
Tomorrow should be more interesting - we are going to Constitution Hill and then going to view the football final between the Pirates and the Chiefs!
Better be off now - got to go get some food!
Tomorrow should be more interesting - we are going to Constitution Hill and then going to view the football final between the Pirates and the Chiefs!
Better be off now - got to go get some food!
Thursday 28 July 2011
A Quick Clarification
I've realised that I've been using "Grade " when referring to the classes I am teaching without explain what the conversion is with the British system.
Based on the average ages in each grade:
Grade 8 is the equivalent of Year 9;
Grade 9 is the equivalent of Year 10;
Grade 10 is the equivalent of Year 11;
Grade 11 is the equivalent of Year 12 and
Grade 12 is the equivalent of Year 13.
In Grade 12 they take what they call the Matric and is their pre-University qualification.
Hope this helps!
Based on the average ages in each grade:
Grade 8 is the equivalent of Year 9;
Grade 9 is the equivalent of Year 10;
Grade 10 is the equivalent of Year 11;
Grade 11 is the equivalent of Year 12 and
Grade 12 is the equivalent of Year 13.
In Grade 12 they take what they call the Matric and is their pre-University qualification.
Hope this helps!
Ratios and Reports
Today went significantly better than yesterday (see previous post if you want to compare!) - the teacher I was working with had returned!
I was "officially" given control over Grade 8 and Grade 10 mathematics classes - I was pleasantly surprised by the Grade 8 class as they managed to remember and understand the method I gave them yesterday for sharing things in a ratio between two people. I say they managed to understand it as when I gave the a ratio today involving three people they managed to give me the answer without any prompting what-so-ever! (I've taught them something they understand - Yay!)
The Grade 10 class wasn't quite so good - I was teaching them Polar and Cartesian co-ordinates and trying to explain how to convert between the two without using Pythagoras' Theorem (which they told me they had never heard of before). Most seemed to get the method, yet their mental mathematics skills (such as calculating 4 times 0.5, which many gave the answer 4.5 to) were shockingly bad!
The end of the day came a lot quicker as expected. At the end of the 6th period, without warning, the entire school just decided to walk out of the front gate. I later learnt that today was "reports day" and to ensure that parents attended the kids were sent home early to go and get them before the end of the school day. Most other schools also finished early, yet they all seemed to be finishing early because there was some sort of remembrance service for someone in the community later in the afternoon.
I also (finally) got a South African SIM card for my phone - if you need it, I've put it on Facebook, but I doubt I'll get that many people calling it!
Better go now - dinner is being served - Mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and a main course to come
I was "officially" given control over Grade 8 and Grade 10 mathematics classes - I was pleasantly surprised by the Grade 8 class as they managed to remember and understand the method I gave them yesterday for sharing things in a ratio between two people. I say they managed to understand it as when I gave the a ratio today involving three people they managed to give me the answer without any prompting what-so-ever! (I've taught them something they understand - Yay!)
The Grade 10 class wasn't quite so good - I was teaching them Polar and Cartesian co-ordinates and trying to explain how to convert between the two without using Pythagoras' Theorem (which they told me they had never heard of before). Most seemed to get the method, yet their mental mathematics skills (such as calculating 4 times 0.5, which many gave the answer 4.5 to) were shockingly bad!
The end of the day came a lot quicker as expected. At the end of the 6th period, without warning, the entire school just decided to walk out of the front gate. I later learnt that today was "reports day" and to ensure that parents attended the kids were sent home early to go and get them before the end of the school day. Most other schools also finished early, yet they all seemed to be finishing early because there was some sort of remembrance service for someone in the community later in the afternoon.
I also (finally) got a South African SIM card for my phone - if you need it, I've put it on Facebook, but I doubt I'll get that many people calling it!
Better go now - dinner is being served - Mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and a main course to come
Wednesday 27 July 2011
A Mild Sense of Panic
Well today was interesting! I went to school thinking "I wonder what I'll be doing today?" - my question was answered 5 minutes before the first lesson of the day when I was casually told that the teacher I was assisting was absent and that I was expected to cover all of his lessons. Without preperation. Or knowing what they were supposed to be doing.
Needless to say it didn't go fantastically - imagine having 30+ kids staring at you as you try to guess what they were supposed to study on that day and then teach that in a way that they will understand. Then multiply that by 5 (the number of classes I had). Then throw in an arguement with another teacher about which lesson a class was supposed to be having (although I could prove I was right using my timetable, he still made me finish early so he could teach). Then throw in a class that were supposed to be moving onto a chemisty-based chapter with experiments that you had no idea where the equipment was or whether it even existed at all! Then you get close to how my day was.
To stop this happening again, I'm "half-planning" lessons for everyone tomorrow! Any suggestions on how to make trigonometric identities fun for Grades 10 and 11?
Better be off now - my laptop has decided it hates connecting to the internet, so I'm using someone else's and they look as though they want to do some work on it!
Needless to say it didn't go fantastically - imagine having 30+ kids staring at you as you try to guess what they were supposed to study on that day and then teach that in a way that they will understand. Then multiply that by 5 (the number of classes I had). Then throw in an arguement with another teacher about which lesson a class was supposed to be having (although I could prove I was right using my timetable, he still made me finish early so he could teach). Then throw in a class that were supposed to be moving onto a chemisty-based chapter with experiments that you had no idea where the equipment was or whether it even existed at all! Then you get close to how my day was.
To stop this happening again, I'm "half-planning" lessons for everyone tomorrow! Any suggestions on how to make trigonometric identities fun for Grades 10 and 11?
Better be off now - my laptop has decided it hates connecting to the internet, so I'm using someone else's and they look as though they want to do some work on it!
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Impressions of a School
Just finished my first full day of teaching at KwaBhekilanga and I've already managed to identify several problems:
Time-Keeping - Neither the teachers nor the pupils seem to have any concept of time. Although there is a timetable, nobody seems to know what it is and nobody seems willing to follow it. Bearing in mind that lessons are only 30 minutes each and this was my first full day, I've already been in a class where the teacher (and I) turned up 20 minutes late, and another where we overran by 25 minutes and actually sent the next teacher away.
Organisation - Rather than the "teachers-having-fixed-rooms" system that I am used to, they students are the ones with the fixed rooms and the teachers move around. This exacerbates the problem with the time-keeping as the students are used to teachers just walking into their rooms as and when the lesson is supposed to be (to be frank, I don't think the pupils have ever been given a copy of their timetables) and some periods they naturally have free anyway so when a teacher doesn't turn up they don't really notice. This also contributes (I believe) to poorer behaviour as the teacher is entering their space rather than the other way around. It also means that a lot of time is wasted as questions must be written on the board upon the teacher's arrival rather than being able to be placed there in advance.
Observation Skills/Attitude - This probably sounds quite harsh, but I feel that a lot of teacher either do not know or do not care that their classes cannot perform simple mathematics. For example, I was in a class today that knew the Pythagorean Theorem from rote, but could not perform simple addition and multiplication - it took 5 minutes to get a pupil to work out "5 + 5 = ?" and I got the answer "3 x 6 = 16" from another student.
During my time on this scheme, I hope to try and make an impact on some of these issues and, even if I cannot solve them completely, make a difference to the achievement of the pupils.
Most of the classes I was in today were fairly chaotic. In a few, the teacher either assigned reading from textbooks being shared between 5 or 6 or talked about maths at the class, then set some questions, told the class I would help if they had issues, then left the room! In a way, and not to be mean to the teacher in any way, I hope that for at least the first week or so after I start teaching properly I am left alone as otherwise I think I would feel somewhat uncomfortable undermining the teacher's method in my first lesson with them watching. But hey! We'll see what happens!
In somewhat sadder news, some of the WiA students at other schools have got invited to funerals of teachers who had recently died, I'm hoping this doesn't happen at my school.
Better be off now - it's one of the coldest days on record in Jo'burg and I'm starting to lose the feeling in my toes from sitting too long typing!
Time-Keeping - Neither the teachers nor the pupils seem to have any concept of time. Although there is a timetable, nobody seems to know what it is and nobody seems willing to follow it. Bearing in mind that lessons are only 30 minutes each and this was my first full day, I've already been in a class where the teacher (and I) turned up 20 minutes late, and another where we overran by 25 minutes and actually sent the next teacher away.
Organisation - Rather than the "teachers-having-fixed-rooms" system that I am used to, they students are the ones with the fixed rooms and the teachers move around. This exacerbates the problem with the time-keeping as the students are used to teachers just walking into their rooms as and when the lesson is supposed to be (to be frank, I don't think the pupils have ever been given a copy of their timetables) and some periods they naturally have free anyway so when a teacher doesn't turn up they don't really notice. This also contributes (I believe) to poorer behaviour as the teacher is entering their space rather than the other way around. It also means that a lot of time is wasted as questions must be written on the board upon the teacher's arrival rather than being able to be placed there in advance.
Observation Skills/Attitude - This probably sounds quite harsh, but I feel that a lot of teacher either do not know or do not care that their classes cannot perform simple mathematics. For example, I was in a class today that knew the Pythagorean Theorem from rote, but could not perform simple addition and multiplication - it took 5 minutes to get a pupil to work out "5 + 5 = ?" and I got the answer "3 x 6 = 16" from another student.
During my time on this scheme, I hope to try and make an impact on some of these issues and, even if I cannot solve them completely, make a difference to the achievement of the pupils.
Most of the classes I was in today were fairly chaotic. In a few, the teacher either assigned reading from textbooks being shared between 5 or 6 or talked about maths at the class, then set some questions, told the class I would help if they had issues, then left the room! In a way, and not to be mean to the teacher in any way, I hope that for at least the first week or so after I start teaching properly I am left alone as otherwise I think I would feel somewhat uncomfortable undermining the teacher's method in my first lesson with them watching. But hey! We'll see what happens!
In somewhat sadder news, some of the WiA students at other schools have got invited to funerals of teachers who had recently died, I'm hoping this doesn't happen at my school.
Better be off now - it's one of the coldest days on record in Jo'burg and I'm starting to lose the feeling in my toes from sitting too long typing!
Monday 25 July 2011
Being on the BBC and an Introduction to Alex
Today we headed out for our first day in our schools in Alex. Supposedly we were all supposed to be in our schools by 11-ish, but being the most photogenic group (naturally), we were chosen by the BBC to be filmed entering our schools for the first time. For those who don't know, a 'school entry' sequence takes about 45 minutes to film. And there were 5 different schools. Needless to say, it was much later than 11 o'clock by the time we'd reached KwaBhekilanga (my school) - try closer to 1330!
First impressions of the school were fairly positive. The kids seem nice, teachers are alright and the school even has a (basic) computer lab. Timetables are fairly manic though! Each day starts at 0800 and runs until 1415, split into 11 periods of 30mins each. From my timetable (or the one I'm assuming I'm supposed to follow) I've got two Grade 11, one Grade 10 and one Grade 8 Mathematics class and one Grade 8 Natural Sciences class. Rooms are fairly basic (I say rooms, plural, as the teachers move to the kids, not vica verca), some have three to a table or two to a chair!
Slightly freaky fact: The school is made of the same brick as my secondary school - I wonder what conclusions can be taken from that!
Better be going now - lots to do tomorrow!
First impressions of the school were fairly positive. The kids seem nice, teachers are alright and the school even has a (basic) computer lab. Timetables are fairly manic though! Each day starts at 0800 and runs until 1415, split into 11 periods of 30mins each. From my timetable (or the one I'm assuming I'm supposed to follow) I've got two Grade 11, one Grade 10 and one Grade 8 Mathematics class and one Grade 8 Natural Sciences class. Rooms are fairly basic (I say rooms, plural, as the teachers move to the kids, not vica verca), some have three to a table or two to a chair!
Slightly freaky fact: The school is made of the same brick as my secondary school - I wonder what conclusions can be taken from that!
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| KwaBhekilanga Secondary School |
Better be going now - lots to do tomorrow!
Sunday 24 July 2011
Arrivals and Warpaint (Courtesy of the BBC)
First reflections on South Africa, and Johannesburg in particular, is that it appears to be a country of two halves. Our accommodation is a guest house in the same neighbourhood as Nelson Mandela himself (who turned 93 a few days ago), however this itself highlights the difference. I'm staying in a gated community that locks at 10pm, behind another 10ft high perimeter wall for the guest house itself. Yet tomorrow I'm heading into the townships to teach maths (and possibly more) to children who have so little. It really makes you reflect.
I'm not complaining about our accommodation though, I understand why we have to stay here, yet when you walk out of the block we've taken over and see a splash of paradise it really makes you think.
This difference was also highlighted in the mall we went to for lunch with BBC Worldwide (who are filming us for a documentary), we took over the upper floor of a restaurant and had a lovely 4+ course meal and got out faces painted with African tribal patterns.
I'm not complaining about our accommodation though, I understand why we have to stay here, yet when you walk out of the block we've taken over and see a splash of paradise it really makes you think.
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| Our Guest House Garden |
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| Team Alex |
That's pretty much all for now. Better go prepare for teaching tomorrow!
Thursday 14 July 2011
Three Peaks, Thanks and Trains
This post is mainly going to be a general update pre-departure and hopefully one of the last I write without photos of Africa in it somewhere!
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my JustGiving page and helped me raise the £250 that will make such a difference to learners in South Africa.
I found out recently that I will be teaching in Kwa Bhekilanga Secondary School - Don't worry if you cannot pronounce or spell that, I'm not even convinced my pronunciation is correct!
From what I can gather the extra-curricula activities they specialise in are football (which I suck at) and debate (which I'm actually fairly decent at). It also seems that where the school has some land, they are in the middle of building Alex's first rugby grounds and an eight-lane athletics stadium for use by the community!
On our weekends off in Johannesburg, we are going to be spending some time visiting Constitution Hill, which is the location of the Constitutional Court of South Africa as well as The Old Fort Prison where activists opposed to apartheid where held, as well as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela in 1906 and 1962 respectively.
We will also be watching a football game between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirates, a match known as the Soweto Derby.
We will also be visiting the Apartheid Museum as well as going on Safari in the Mankwe Game Reserve, which is on the border with Botswana.
It seems appropriate at this point to mention that I successfully managed to complete the National Three Peaks Challenge in a time of 28 hours and 30 minutes. Although slower that the target time of 24 hours, this was a respectable time seeing that, where quite a few members of our team suffered from prior injuries, our nickname was Team A&E.
As a final message to people wishing to book trains to Heathrow: Prepare for some face-palming as at no point do the trains and buses that run there make any sense whatsoever!
That's all for now! See you in South Africa!
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