Table Mountain

After school on Thursday we went up the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. It was a beautiful sunny day, with no wind. It was great on the senses to get away from the constant poverty all around me. The conditions here are just so bad. Millions of people living in squaller.

It is great to be Friday and know we have the weekend off to recharge, before getting into the classrooms on Monday. The students return next week, so we will be observing the teachers, rather than running workshops.

The teachers are inspiring. They want to learn all they can. Given they have had no formal training, they are a delight to work with.

The teachers I'm here with are a great team (6 of us). We are having lots of fun, but also working really hard.

Many of the teachers are the age of my own girls and their lives are so different. Often they have three children. The teachers with children all live in the one room, and their children must also sleep in their bed. At age seven, the boys are separated from their mothers to live in one dormitory. I see no toys, no books - nothing for the kids to do.

The school is poorly resourced. We have found no instructional reading books for the children to read. Rote learning predominates, but the needs of the children are not met. I've been well received, spending my time on differentiating the curriculum, positive behaviour management, training of teacher aides, and introducing a simple IEP type system. Sixteen year old sit exams, that I would struggle to pass, and of course score zero, as they are only beginning to read and write in English

The children in the Ark School speak many languages (there are 11 official languages in SA). Many are Xhosa- this makes learing English very difficult, especially for untrained young teachers.

I'm loving my time here - it is such a good experience.

Sorry for the few posts, but internet access is very limited.