Easter came and went so quickly and school placement has finally come around. I couldn’t believe how quickly that my lectures had passed and now I would be standing in front of a class again being ‘Miss Lamont’. It had been over a year since I had stood in front of a class teaching them valuable knowledge so I was rather nervous but also excited, this was a new experience. I had my ‘teacher clothes’ and school bag brought by Aaron from home to South Africa so I was prepared and ready to educate some of the learners within South Africa. I had a mixture of feeling and emotions about school. I was worried about whether they would understand me, the lack of resources but was excited to teach in a new education system, to be able to compare it to home.
The Sunday before school started was spent relaxing at the beach and has been one of the last beach days we have had. Weather in South Africa is similar to home, winters are cold here. Although it’s similar to home, the summers here was great. I loved being able to wear my summer clothes all the time throughout the summer. Instead of needing to put on a winter coat like friends at home, I was putting on my sunglasses.
Aaron was still here so I was certainly lucky as he made my lunch for school and my dinner in the evening. He made some delicious meals so thank you Aaron for this, it helped me through school placement. Schools within South Africa start at 8am and staff meeting within our school started at 7:50am. The early mornings weren’t too bad and in the end of placement I was able to get up without any trouble. Aaron may disagree with this. On Mondays, the school would hold their weekly assembly which is held within the playground as the school gym or hall wouldn’t be big enough. We were standing at the front facing the learners when the principal called us over. She introduced us to the learners saying that we were not from South Africa and from Ireland and America. The learners would sing similar to what we do at home. The principal then told the learners that Jonny and I could sing in Gaelic and that we could sing really well. Firstly I don’t know any Gaelic apart from good morning and as for my singing, its not good believe you me. She asked the learners to show the international students how they sing in South Africa. The music teacher was asked and took a total blank and couldn’t think of a song then out of learners, a beautiful voice started to sing and the other learners followed her song. This was magical moment when nearly 1500 learners are singing for you. The learners could sing very well and it’s a moment I won’t forget.
Work started to pile up this week with preparation for lessons etc. Compared to home, school placement was very relaxed. Within Northern Ireland you have so many other things you need to think about but here it’s about the teaching although you need to teach effectively. Maybe it’s different for the other student teachers within my class but I was very relaxed and didn’t have many worries about placement. Within my class I had a blackboard and that was it, there was nothing on the walls. You can see this from the photos that compared to classrooms at home, this classroom was very boring therefore this was my plan, to brighten up the classroom and I had three weeks to do so.
I believe that my teaching style has changed since being here, I believe that before I would use resources to teach instead of teaching. Experiencing a school which doesn’t have any resources you can’t use them. I found that my teaching would involve me standing at the front of the classroom and talking to the learners, gaining feedback from questions. The learners within my class were very talkative but when it came to answering questions, they seemed to become very shy. It seems to happen all over the world.
When I return to school next year I will introduce a mixture from my experiences here and previous experience at home. I believe that being put of your comfort zone may not be seen as a good thing at the time but when you reflect on what you gained, it certainly out weighs the negative thoughts.
School this week came and went so quick, if only placement at home would go as quick. The rest of the week was spent spending time with friends, eating great food and enjoying being with Aaron in South Africa. We had a busy week ahead so this week was taken easy. I always find teaching placement feels like being a student back at high school. You get up in the morning to travel to school, you are at school for six hours, come home from school to do tasks for the next day, dinner, TV and bed by 10:30pm.
Another wonderful week here in South Africa!
Love to all at home
Jayne
x
The Sunday before school started was spent relaxing at the beach and has been one of the last beach days we have had. Weather in South Africa is similar to home, winters are cold here. Although it’s similar to home, the summers here was great. I loved being able to wear my summer clothes all the time throughout the summer. Instead of needing to put on a winter coat like friends at home, I was putting on my sunglasses.
Aaron was still here so I was certainly lucky as he made my lunch for school and my dinner in the evening. He made some delicious meals so thank you Aaron for this, it helped me through school placement. Schools within South Africa start at 8am and staff meeting within our school started at 7:50am. The early mornings weren’t too bad and in the end of placement I was able to get up without any trouble. Aaron may disagree with this. On Mondays, the school would hold their weekly assembly which is held within the playground as the school gym or hall wouldn’t be big enough. We were standing at the front facing the learners when the principal called us over. She introduced us to the learners saying that we were not from South Africa and from Ireland and America. The learners would sing similar to what we do at home. The principal then told the learners that Jonny and I could sing in Gaelic and that we could sing really well. Firstly I don’t know any Gaelic apart from good morning and as for my singing, its not good believe you me. She asked the learners to show the international students how they sing in South Africa. The music teacher was asked and took a total blank and couldn’t think of a song then out of learners, a beautiful voice started to sing and the other learners followed her song. This was magical moment when nearly 1500 learners are singing for you. The learners could sing very well and it’s a moment I won’t forget.
Work started to pile up this week with preparation for lessons etc. Compared to home, school placement was very relaxed. Within Northern Ireland you have so many other things you need to think about but here it’s about the teaching although you need to teach effectively. Maybe it’s different for the other student teachers within my class but I was very relaxed and didn’t have many worries about placement. Within my class I had a blackboard and that was it, there was nothing on the walls. You can see this from the photos that compared to classrooms at home, this classroom was very boring therefore this was my plan, to brighten up the classroom and I had three weeks to do so.
I believe that my teaching style has changed since being here, I believe that before I would use resources to teach instead of teaching. Experiencing a school which doesn’t have any resources you can’t use them. I found that my teaching would involve me standing at the front of the classroom and talking to the learners, gaining feedback from questions. The learners within my class were very talkative but when it came to answering questions, they seemed to become very shy. It seems to happen all over the world.
When I return to school next year I will introduce a mixture from my experiences here and previous experience at home. I believe that being put of your comfort zone may not be seen as a good thing at the time but when you reflect on what you gained, it certainly out weighs the negative thoughts.
School this week came and went so quick, if only placement at home would go as quick. The rest of the week was spent spending time with friends, eating great food and enjoying being with Aaron in South Africa. We had a busy week ahead so this week was taken easy. I always find teaching placement feels like being a student back at high school. You get up in the morning to travel to school, you are at school for six hours, come home from school to do tasks for the next day, dinner, TV and bed by 10:30pm.
Another wonderful week here in South Africa!
Love to all at home
Jayne
x
No comments:
Post a Comment