For our last week in South Africa we stayed at a village called Bulungula on the Eastern Cape. It was an amazing place. We lived in traditional Xhosa huts, tucked away in the hills, and we worked at the early learning center and went swimming in the Indian Ocean, which was breathtaking. The early learning center was great. Because they had received a grant, they were able to be well resourced. You had a sense that these children were getting a jump start on education. While we were there, we worked at an after school program and did crafts and games with the children. We drew all the flags of the countries in the World Cup and put them up in the community center where the community will watch the games. I had such a great time in Bulungula that I did not want to leave. All good things must come to an end, but I would love to return to Bulungula someday. We woke up at sunrise to get to Durban, a city in the eastern province where we planned to watch the World Cup. While going up the hill our van got stuck in the mud. As we all got out and pushed, the locals in the village were just waking up and starting their day. They must have been laughing as they watched us try to push the van up the hill! When we finally made it over the hill, I realized that our trip was coming to an end, and I would soon be back on the hill at Holy Cross starting my summer internship. There is a Xhosa saying, “Ndiwelimilambo enamagam” which means, “I have crossed famous rivers.” Whether we cross rivers or hills, our experiences shape who we are. I will carry the lessons that I learned here for the rest of my life, and I am so glad I went to South Africa with a group from Holy Cross.

Here are some reflections on the schools we have visited.

My reflection: One of the schools I visited was Founders, an urban school in the middle of Pretoria.  Here I was able to teach a lesson on how to make a pie chart.  I started with favorite soccer teams and students shouted out teams like Bufana Bufana and Manchester United.  I then had them make a pie chart on all the languages spoken in the class.  There were seven languages spoken in this class and the pie chart created a good visual of all of the different cultures that exist in this one school.  Later that day I watched some of the students play outside.  A lot of the games they play involve songs in different African languages.  If there is one thing that I think is important to bring back to the U.S. from here it is that we should really improving our foreign language education because it is through language that we learn more about each other.

Brendan: Walking into Pretoria High School for Girls for the first time was a surreal moment and seemed like something out of a scene from Harry Potter. The school had perfectly manicured grounds and an old, yet stunning brick building which seemed to lend itself perfectly to learning. I met my teacher, Ms. Albertyn, and proceeded to the school’s morning assembly. This consisted of the whole student body filing into a large hall in which they proceeded to sing hymns. Following this experience, I observed lessons on slavery, the Russian Revolution, and the Cold War. At the end of the day the teacher that I was working with mentioned that her Grade 10 class would be starting the American Revolution in the following days. I told her that I had taken a class on the Revolution and I would be happy to answer any questions they may have. This offer soon turned into a full blown lesson plan for two Grade 10 classes. It was overwhelming at first but I soon found myself thinking of having a debate which expressed the viewpoints of Patriots, Loyalists, Women, Slaves, and Native Americans. I was hoping that the girls would realize that there were more participants in the Revolution than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Both classes worked extremely well with the materials that I presented to them and shared some insightful viewpoints which I did not expect. I am extremely greatful for my experience at Girls High.

Elicia: I received stares of confusion and curiosity when I first walked into Ms. Velyouz Grade one class, but after the students were told I was a student from America exploring the possibility of a teaching career these stares turned into gasps of amazement and gentle smiles.  The anxiety I orginally experienced vanished after being greated by the welcoming faces of the 36 students that proudly donned navy blue “Sunny Primary School” jumpers.  During the time I observed this classroom it became obvious that the students had a genuine desire to learn.  Despite the class size and language barriers that served obstacles in the classroom, each student worked diligently and gave their best effort at all times.  During my two week observation period, I had the pleasure of working with three students who had more difficulty grasping the concepts explained in class.  Even though I often just repeated directions stated by the teacher or asked a question that attempted to guide to a solution.  The appreciation of this extra help became evident by the way these students interacted with me.  As time passed these students began to feel more comfortable directing any questions toward me and asking for my assistance.  Overall, My experience in this grade one classroom made me realize the characteristics that a “good teacher” must possess and has made me recognize the difference a little individual attention can make.

Chris:  Over the past two weeks I have been observing at the Sunnyside Primary School, an inner city school in Pretoria.  Unlike the other students on the trip I am not part of the TEP program at Holy Cross as it does not apply to economics majors.  Thus for my observation I decided to focus on mathematics as it has become an interest as my father is a high school math teacher who has talked to me a lot about math education.  While observing grades 4 through 7 math classes the greatest insight was seeing how “universal” math truly is.  Just sitting in the back of the classroom if I forgot about the lack of resources at sunnyside, the math on the chalkboard was no different from the math I learned in the U.S.  And my interaction with the students reaffirmed this.  Thus among the many differences I have noticed between South Africa and the U.S., I have seen math is math no matter what continent I am on.

Jill: My experience at our very first school, Pretoria secondary, was absolutely incredible! An all black government school in the downtown area of Pretoria, the high school was full of wonderful and energetic students who were more than eager to ask me questions about the United States! Here I followed a social science teacher, Mr. Nkoana, through grades 8-10 and I was allotted 4 periods my first day to lead the class! I started off asking the students what it meant to be South African and many of them had responses consisting of “We have 11 official languages,” “We are the Rainbow nation,” “Our beaches are beautiful,” “We have Rugby, cricket, and the FIFA World Cup,” “Nelson Mandela!” Needless to say the students were so proud of whom they were, but still had so many questions for me such as; “do you know lil Wayne or Beyonce?” What are schools like in the U.S?” “Why do Americans eat Oysters?” and “How many holidays do you have?” My second visit to the school, we got to interview the students on camera to take back to schools in the United States. Many students danced for us, especially a group called the ‘Spice Boys’, and told us about their day to day lives with family and friends. While the students significantly impacted my experience, two teachers, Mr. Nkoana, and Max, were two passionate and dedicated teachers; the kind of people Pretoria secondary needs for its students. Sharing philosophies on teaching and how to be an educator for his or her students, I learned a great deal on just how important being an educator is and how big of a responsibility it really is. Pretoria Secondary was an uplifting and remarkable experience that I will carry with me throughout our trip and back to the United States!

This past weekend we got to go to an African game park.  As soon as we entered we started seeing animals left and right.  At one point there was a herd of elephants that were right next to our van.  In this herd there were some baby elephants holding on to their mothers tail.  We then saw a family of hippos in the water, and the male hippo opened its huge mouth and you could see his giant teeth.  We saw a herd of zebras alongside a herd of wildebeest at the water hole.  And we came across a family of giraffes eating leaves from a tree.  Seeing these animals in the wild as oppose to a zoo was amazing.  You saw them in their natural habitat and they are such beautiful creatures.

After the game park we had a Braai which is like a BBQ except instead of hot dogs there are these Italian sausage type meats and there are no burgers but there is chicken.  Jerry Dickinson, a Holy Cross graduate who is here on a Fulbright scholarship, joined us.  He was really interesting to talk to.  He wants to become a lawyer, and he is here researching housing law.  He works with families who have been illegally evicted from their homes and helps them find housing.  It got me thinking about what I am passionate about and how I can use what I have to help others.

It was a fun weekend and now we are back visiting schools.  So far I have been to four schools, and the next time I write I will tell you all about them.

After visiting two schools in Pretoria the reactions I have gotten on being American have been interesting.  The teacher would introduce me and students would litterally gasp.  They are so interested in what it is like in America.  Number one question I get:  Have you met a celebrity?  They listen to a lot of American music, but there is some South African music with amazing dances that go along with them.  I have been taking in a lot of different aspects of the culture here.  For instance, everyone here is pumped about the world cup.  Today was jersey day at the school.  One of the teachers was able to get a deal on soccer jerseys and we all wore South African ones.  I have tried some South African food.  I tried Pop and atcha which is a corn bread and spicy sauce, and it was pretty good.  During break we got to see some of the students play South African games.  A lot of them involve a song in Zulu or Tswana.  The languages here are so different from English.  It is so hard to say the clicks in the kids names.

In the schools I got to teach a class, which was awesome.  It was on pie charts which I had done tutoring in at Burncoat Middle School.  I taught them a new way to make a pie chart and for an example I found out all of the different languages spoken in one class and how many students speak them.  There were seven languages spoken in this class and it was a lot of fun seeing them make this pie chart.   So far this trip has been amazing and I can’t wait to do more.

So we made it to South Africa.  The flight went well.  It was pretty much just sleeping and watching movies on those individual screens they have.  We are staying at the University of Pretoria.  They put us in our own suite with a kitchen and a common space, which is awesome.  The Univeristy is surrounded by hills covered in trees, and the campus is busy at this time as the students prepare for exams.  We’ve been laying low today since tomorrow we start going to the schools everyday.  On the TV they have been playing rugby.  It is cool to see profesional rugby on TV.  Go South Africa!