Week 20: Addressing Language, School Reports, and Pilanesberg Game Reserve

Pilanesberg Game Reserve Crew

Sunset at Pilanesberg Game Reserve

 After my rejuvenating weekend in Mozambique I jumped back into work early Monday morning after dropping Kim off at the hop on hop off bus. My office continued to have students lined out the door even though I had submitted their grades the week before. In addition to preparing reports for each of the schools I was working with in Soweto I had agreed to speak at Professor Makalela’s class on “Paradigms and Methods in Applied Language Studies” at Witwatersrand. The class was designed for honors and masters level students to reflect on research-based theories and practices concerning language acquisition, development, and instruction. Prof. Makalela and I spoke at the Teachers Upfront event in April on Multilingualism and Biliteracy.

Baby Hippo in the sunshine in
Pilanesberg Game Reserve

As common, there were issues with technology…so I began class as the professor went looking for an LCD projector (the person with the remote from the university had already left and we so we were not able to use the one in the room). I had seen the students’ syllabus and noticed they had been exposed to theories, language variations, and policy so I focused on practices when working with language learners. I had the group work in pairs and try to figure out the different diverse learning tasks (emotion pictures, cloze story about Harry Hippo ____ the ____, and explain themselves without using words with certain letters). Then I reviewed some of the sections of my presentation from the Teachers Upfront. For the best practice section of the this presentation I had the students go through the chapters of the SIOP Model book (Echecarria, Vogt, & Short, 2013). Pearsons Publishing provided copies for me to bring to South Africa and I have been leaving the textbook at schools and universities because of its helpful strategies.

Honors and Masters Students at Wits University

We spoke about cooperative learning groups…one of the students was concerned about homogenous groups, especially if they were all low level learners. I explained that no one strategy worked all of the time and that stigmatizing learners was never effective, however, allowing students who struggled or excelled in similar areas work together could be a powerful tool for explicitly teaching skills. After our discussion about groupings (interactions), we spoke about specific strategies for increasing learning and retention. There was of course not enough time but I did scan and send the information to the students afterwards (okay, actually I had tried to scan and provide handouts, but I found out my scanning skills are lacking and a few pages were missing, so I had to rescan and email them the next day-ugh).

After class I met up with Cristines and Kim for dinner. Cristines works downtown and so Kim got off the hop on hop off bus near her work because I was teaching the afternoon class. Thank goodness for good friends! We enjoyed a delicious bottle of pinotage that evening, Deetlefs. Pinotage is the South African take on pinot noir, but because of the temperatures in wine so they crossed the pinot noir and the cinsaut (hermitage) grapes to create a delicious wine (most of the time). The bottle we drank this night was from Cristines and my trip wine tasting when Lesotho wouldn’t let a Brazilian into the country.

May 21^st- Time is going by so quickly. I was glad I made it to work fairly early because I had a full day of planning and writing to complete. There was a luncheon for one of the lecturers who was leaving UJ for another job. It was kind of emotional to be in the luncheon because this lecturer isn’t one to cry and she was so overwhelmed with gratitude she couldn’t speak. I was thinking this place and the people at UJ seem to have a stronger hold on us than we would expect…my eyes got a bit glossy as well.

I gave part two of the professional development seminars to the school Funda Ujabule in the afternoon. The topic was barriers to reading. We quickly reviewed sections of reading and possible factors that could indicate barriers for each component:  phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. We talked about the three sections of the brain used in reading:  the frontal lobe with helps with understanding/semantics; temporal lobe for auditory processing; and visual cortex for visual processing/orthography.  A discussion about code-switching and translanguaging as educators and with students- here in South Africa, most teachers, students, and families switch from one language to another with ease…although this provides more exposure to languages it can be confusing for students who are expected to learn in their mother tongue until 4^th grade and then learn mostly in English (matric test given in English). We spoke about how learners can struggle with sounds, meaning, and fluency when they haven’t gotten a strong grasp of one language.

The teachers asked specific questions about how to explicitly teach skills and still work with learners who already knew the skills, especially with students with dyslexia. They agreed that assessment was important but they were not sure how to fit assessment into a full day. I went through some examples of how you can teach to the whole class but analyze work, individual reading, and barriers while moving through the classroom. Also, Funda Ujabule has a special circumstance because they are a university teaching school, therefore, they have access to preservice teachers to help them in assessing and working individually with students. We finished with the teachers creating two mini-lessons: one in the mother tongue and one in English including assessments.

That evening Kim learned to make quinoa salad and somewhat seared tuna, my friend Thiago came over for dinner and we all enjoyed the fruits of Kim’s efforts.

I completed all three reports for the schools I am working with Soweto:  a special school, a secondary school, and a primary school. The offering for each site was slightly different based on the interviews, surveys, and observations made at the site. My original plan was to meet with the schools in the first two months of my Fulbright, however, due to various issues (schools not having time because of testing, principals calling back, etc) this did not happen. For two of the four schools in Soweto I met with the principal and head of departments in February and asked for their staff to complete the survey and I would return to pick them up. One school lost the surveys and asked me to come back in late March, however, I was in Cape Town and Richard’s Bay until the end of April. The second school did not return my phone calls so I just stopped by. I found out that the one of the heads of department was not in the initial meeting so she told the teachers not to complete the survey. I met with her and told her my plan for support, she said she would have the surveys ready by the next Friday. By May 15^th I had finally received most of the surveys, interviewed school staff, and in some sites observed teaching. Based on this information I wrote a report using the survey results, interviews, observations, and school documents they provided followed by a description of how I felt I could support the school best. On May 22, I presented the reports to each of the schools.

 

Library at School I

School 1 (School for students with special needs):  Out of 38 teachers teaching 440 students, 17 completed the survey. The school’s languages include English, isiZulu, and Sesotho. Most of the teachers have taught for over 7 years, they felt that have been properly trained in inclusive practices, and they felt knowledgeable about visual, auditory, physical, and emotional challenges…however, they all agreed they would benefit from additional training. This school reported that they utilizes differentiation of instruction, visual aids, assistive technology, and relevant teaching practices. They have informational workshops on life skills and support groups for teachers and parents. Because their students come from all around Soweto, they didn’t feel like they have as much support from the community as they like, but they do feel like they have been able to give back to their community with informational workshops. They asked for a workshop on practical strategies, teacher empowerment, and community involvement. My offer included writing a grant for their library and 2 workshops on inclusive strategies and assessing learners. I scheduled a day the next week to return for a 2-hour workshop.

 

Gate to Library (School II)

School II Library

School 2 (Secondary School- grades 8-12):  This school has 44 teachers teaching 1,141 students in English, isiXhosa, Sepedi, and Sesotho. Ten teachers completed the survey, however, more allowed me to interview them about the school in a group. The teachers who completed the survey have almost all taught over 7 years. The teachers felt they had not been trained in inclusive practices by their credential program, school, or outside agencies. They had not been trained in the last year and they said they were not at all confident in their understanding of visual, auditory, physical, or emotional issues. Although they reported remedial classes, differentiation of instruction, tutoring, and teacher support as available, many of them said student, life skills, teacher, family, and community support was limited and inconsistent. They asked for more training and workshop materials on inclusive practices. My offer included writing a library grant, providing assessment materials (reading, writing, and math) and training on how to assess learners, and working on postsecondary transition plans for students. I said I could return for two workshops. The school thanked me graciously and the head of department said she would give me a call once she spoke to her department about when to return.

School III Library (with volunteers)

School 3 (Primary School- grades R-8):  School 3 had 580 learners enrolled (one teacher corrected me when I called the students) and 17 teachers on staff. They speak English and Sepedi. Thirteen teachers responded to the survey and, once again, most of them had been teaching for over 7 years. Almost all of the teachers reported they had not been trained well in inclusive practices by their university, district, or outside agency. They wanted more training on visual, auditory, physical, and emotional challenges. The said most of the adaptations for students included meeting with students after school and trying to implement remedial support. Many reported knowing more than one language as a support in the classroom. This school has two major non-government organizations supporting their students:  City Year Program (a tutoring and mentoring program from the United States) and Shoes of Wisdom (an NGO focused on literacy and enrichment for struggling students). They also had representatives from the university (intern) supporting psychological needs of some students. The teachers said they were given curriculum, pamphlets and information from the government to teach their students but they were not supported on working with diverse learners. They said teacher, family, and community support was limited and inconsistent. My offer included revising their school focus plan, work with the NGOs in developing a plan, writing a library grant, providing training and materials on assessment, assisting with the organization of a Career Expo (to relate learning to future success), and providing workshops to teachers and NGO staff. I scheduled two workshops after presenting the report and offering to 14 staff members (teachers and administration).

That afternoon (after a 20 minute meditation to clear my head), I took Kim to Rosebank mall African Market. We then met up with Michelle at an event for GreenPeace…although they mentioned the damage American companies cause all around the world, they also said there was hope because some of the big companies had recently stopped production. They also highlighted the France’s damaging use of nuclear energy.

 

Elephants in Pilanesberg

May 24- My lovely assistance, Nthabiseng, came in and helped with data input until after dark and so I agreed to give her a ride home…my darn phone gps system died while I was weaving my way back through Soweto in the dark. Thank goodness I have a pretty good sense of direction, I was able to find my way home. Kim, Cristines, Diana (lawyer from New York), and Constantine (German) met at Bassline for a concert for Africa Day. Both Cristines and I were exhausted and Kim and I were going to Pilanesburg the next morning so we left the show early. 

 

Agata and Kim at Predator World
(with porcupine quills)

Memorabilia at our hotel
"Anglo-Boer War theme"

Pilanesberg:  Thiago drove Kim, Agata, and I up to Pilanesberg for the night. We scheduled a tour into the Pilanesberg Game Reserve and Sun City (large casino everyone in South Africa insists needs to be visited). The tour began by going to Predator World…not a stop I would have made on purpose, but it was informative. Our guide at the park/zoo told us about porcupines (they can’t actually shoot their quills) and gave the ladies a quill to take home- I have no idea where mine went or what I would do with it if I knew. There were two leopards that were enclosed together because it is mating season. The female is darker than the male…they “mate” for 30 seconds many times throughout the day then return to their respective spaces.

One of the saddest things we learned was about jackals. They mate for life and if their partner dies they usually die from a broken heart because they are monogamous.

 

Depressed Jackal 

There were Bengal Tigers, Pumas/Mountain Lion, and White Lions in the park as well. The White Lions’ life span is about 7-10 years, however they often die of starvation because of their light coat. I did like the fact that the men take care of the pride…they babysit.

 

gorgeous white lions

On the game drive through Pilanesberg National Park we were able to see giraffe, zebras, elephants, and ostriches. The most exciting part was the group of White Rhinos. 

White Rhinos

Some tidbits of information I learned are: 1) one kick from a giraffe can kill a lion, 2) they brought 80 ostriches to the park two years ago, there are only 50 left, and if they don’t reproduce soon they won’t survive.

Game Drive

After the park, our driver took us to Sun City for dinner. Sun City is a large casino where there was just some controversy because the ANC (government) allowed the Guptas (Indian family highly invested in South Africa) to close part of the casino, land a plane on the military airport, and close roads for a wedding. The next morning we went back to Sun City to check out the wave pool, but it was closed for the day. We headed to the Lion and Rhino park but ended up near Hartsbeespoort Dam at a roadside attraction for Afrikaners- beer, large portions of meat, motorcycles, and a cover band.

 

Beer, Wine, Fried Food, and Cover Songs