Flexiblitiy

Excited about the game!



The Soccer Stadium



A new week begins with these wonderful learners at Emafini Primary School. We begin our week after a wonderful weekend that had a lot of fun filled events. The soccer game on Saturday was so much fun. Mr. January the principal of Emafini joined us at the game which was so much fun! It was a great game; the final score was one to one! Bufana Bufana was the home team and they received a lot of support from their 22,000 fans that were in the stadium on Saturday! It was a blast and we sat on the edge of our seats for the whole game!

Sunday we woke up early to go to church with LeAnn who is a friend of Doctor Roseboro. It was a really great experience! I enjoyed participating with them and hope to be able to go back again.

Today was Monday and it was the beginning to their exam week! To start off the day they had a morning meeting that included the entire school. I really like the sense of community that I received from this meeting that takes place weekly on Monday and Friday. The students sang songs, prayed, and listened to a scripture reading together. It was nice that it was something that all of the students could participate in together. After the meeting Emily and I were off to our third grade class. The students seemed to be ready for their exams. Some of the students seemed to be a little nervous, but for the most part I think that they felt comfortable and ready for the test.

As we do in the United States all posters around the room were taken down on Friday, student desk were separated, and there was no talking during the test. However, the regulations did not seem to be as structured as they are when we give standardized test in the U.S., but they were still taken seriously. Today the students took their reading exam in their native language of Xhosa. There were 14 questions, but most of these questions had multiple parts to it. The test also included an essay question. In their school they refer to grades 1 through 3 as the foundation phase and these students all do one exam per day! Tomorrow they will revise (which we call review) for their math exam that will be on Wednesday.

After the exam one of the teachers in the second grade class had to leave, so Emily took over her class while our students finished their exam. We read to them and then taught them some songs! We really enjoyed our time with them and I think they did as well! They listened very intently and were excited about singing and reading with us! We had them go around and tell us their names and we did receive a few laughs at our attempts to say them, but we just responded with “we are trying our best!” My flexibility skills have truly been tested through this experience and I am becoming more comfortable with this task. I have always thought of myself as being a flexible person, but in the schools here that has a whole new meaning! It is my fourth day in the school and I have been in grade R, grade3, and today we taught in grade 2! I am learning how to think of activities that are appropriate for any age group and take advantage of each moment that I am given with these children.

After lunch we were back with our third grade class! We started some revising with them for their math exam and we will continue with this tomorrow. I look forward to seeing how their math exam goes! It seems that their math curriculum is very similar to our third grade curriculum in the states!

It was another overcast afternoon here today, so hopefully tomorrow will be sunny and warm!