I had the privilege of spending the morning with a group of Grade 12 students in Thubelihle in Mpumalanga province. I had to shake my head in amazement over these students' dedication - present and ready to learn on not only a public holiday but also the last day before they are back at school.
For the first few minutes I spent some time observing a tutoring session on math exam terminology. I was enthralled by the excellent rapour that the facilitator had with his students - he was an excellent teacher and the learners were very engaged with what they were being taught.
I also had the chance to teach the english portion of the program to a group of students. While I hadn't prepared to teach this morning - I was excited at the opportunity!
As I entered the room, the students were beginning to move the desks all piled at the back of the room, into rows. I quickly got everyone's attention and asked them to move the desks into a circle instead. I think the students were quite bewildered with me and my seemingly bizarre instructions!
Once we had managed to arrange the desks and find a seat for everyone around the circle, I introduced myself to the students - explaining who I am and what I am doing. I then explained that I would not be able to simply strut in and start teaching them without knowing who they are. So I asked them to please each say their name as well as their favourite food... this instruction was met once again with a certain degree of surprise. I was fascinated to learn that each student found in important to state both their first and last name. We also had frequent outburts of laughter over my attempts at pronouncing names and my being educated about certain foods that were new to me. We then all went on a journey together, discovering more about English exam terminology, grammar and essay outline creating.
I learnt, I laughed, I loved. I felt completely unsure yet comfortable in the uncertainty.
