So, second entry.

Has definitely been difficult where to start with this blog entry, such an overwhelming time, we have been so busy with school, and we’re finally getting ourselves a social life, and immersing ourselves into Besotho life! It’s been so manic this time I asked everyone to have their own input, so we’ve all written our own experiences, they’re all very different, so definitely worth a read!

Ellie Masters, Holy Trinity Primary

What a few weeks (2 to be exact) first week in school was observation week. Was a serious shock to the system, they definitely have a different way of doing things here.

I’m teaching in a Church school Holy Trinity Primary, it has about 400 children. In Comparison to other schools over here it is fairly well equipped, it has tables and chairs, a few books for a library, and the children have some pens and pencils. The classrooms are very bare, and just have the concrete blocks on show. There is a lot of outside space for the children, but its pretty unkempt, and the soil is unbelievable orange!

Every morning starts with us getting up at 5.45 (Kath makes me a nice brew) Me and Ffion have to be in school for 7.15, and taxis (4 + 1s as they’re called) are pretty unreliable, often they try to fit two of us into one space! The first day the taxi wouldn’t drop us anywhere near our school so we had an absolute trek on foot to get there!

Every morning the children have assembly outside in the sun, all standing in lines, and all march back to their classrooms singing (they can’t stop singing until they’re in the classroom).

I managed to observe every class during this week, they have grade 1-4, and class 5-7, the oldest child is 19 (in grade 7) yes this is a primary school! Lets’ just say I have a lot of challenges ahead of me, engaging the children is one thing, and engaging the teachers is a whole other thing, they’re more preoccupied with personal things than engaging in the lesson. They’re are extremely confused by their curriculum, to be honest I’m a bit confused by some aspects of it; why at the age of 9 is it important to learn to waltz, and at the age of 7 why do they need to learn the difference between common and proper nouns, but yet they aren’t really taught to read (Yes this is in the curriculum).  

I tried as much of the school dinners as possible! We all thought school dinners in the UK were interesting at times, you should have a go with these ones! Papa is a bit like powdered rice, they have this pretty much every day, with a load of other stuff; cabbage, pea soup, beans etc. By the second week I was bringing my own lunches.

Spent some really good time with the kids during this observation week, went outside at lunch time and they taught me to make a skipping rope out of grass, and I have taught them all songs, they all just want to touch me and high five me.. every time I walk to my class in the morning I walk past the grade 1s they’re lining up to do it, I feel like I’ve won gladiators and I’m running down the crowd. They’re fascinated by my skin and hair. Over here all children in education must shave their heads, the boys and girls.

 The buildings aren’t too bad apart from the lack of electricity, the roofs leaking, and every time it rains you may as well just forget about any teaching, the roofs are corrugated iron. There is one room with electric, and my school does have some reading books, I was also told that they had 5 computers in storage (did confuse me why they weren’t being used) But when I got in on Monday of week two the room had been sorted and cleaned with the computers out!!

Classes aren’t too bad, the most I have in a class is 70, yep the marking takes a life time!

So week two was first week of actual teaching, was again so much to take in, I’ve seriously got my work cut out.

Been teaching alot phonics, I’m going to be an absolute pro at it when I get back, luckily I’m enjoying it at the moment!

The children are keen and do enjoy my ways of teaching, but it’s a whole new way of thinking for them, they don’t know how to discuss with each other, and haven’t really had to verbally answer questions before. Every time they want to speak they are made to stand up to talk, I personally think its an absolute faf, and you could have asked another question by the time they’ve stood up and sorted themselves out, but hey I guess it’s a respect thing!

Every time you go into a class room and say good morning the whole class stands up and says ‘good morning madam, how are you?’ (Imagine radio 1s showbot saying it, that’s how they sound) you then ask them how they are, and every time is ‘we are fine thank you madam’ (again like showbot) they’re never tired, or great, or happy, or any other emotion other than just fine!

So back to the teaching, the kids are definitely having a tough time with my accent, but again the teachers are too interested in their personal things to try to say it differently for me.

I’ve started working with the Autistic boy in the school, again massive challenge; I allocate an hour a day with him, just one to one and have had some breakthroughs, he wouldn’t really say anything, but now says morning, and will count with me, quite a big step I feel in a week!

I’ve also sorted out a bit of a library, and asked for a bit of a reading scheme to start. None of the children had really read a book before outside of class. I gave them all a reading record, and they are to read as much as possible to someone, there will be a reader of the week from each class. I got to school on Friday and there was a queue of children waiting for me to hear them read, couldn’t believe it! Going to start up a buddy scheme in a few weeks hopefully so that the class 7s listen to the lower years!

The children have also named me Leratho (Lerado) meaning love, they are slowly getting used to having me around, but their reactions when I walk in to teach them is still overwhelming!

We also got invited to celebrate Chinese New Year, went over to our new friends the Mitchells, they have Chinese neighbours, who cooked the most insane feast, with all kinds of everything, we didn’t even know what we were eating half the time, probably for the best, as someone did shout out ‘OH NO I GOT THE BEAK’! Brought in the New year in their pool, under the stars, can’t complain!

Get to go riding with the family this weekend, cannot wait for the break and see the sights on horseback!

Phahameng Primary welcomes their new welsh teacher, Kim Tattum

Phahameng Primary is a school of about 480 children and 20 staff. It is very remote, but has the most outstanding views. The staff and children are very excited to be accommodating a welsh teacher. The school has no access to electricity and currently no running water. The school buildings are very minimal, and the roofing is not the best as I experienced after a heavy down pour.  The school day begins at 07:45 with a whole school hymn and ends at 14:00 with an assembly.

My first few weeks of being at Phahameng primary have been the best two weeks I could have wished for. The staff and children have been very welcoming and accommodating. A great bunch of people to be working with, I feel very much at home in Phahameng primary, one of the team!

The staff were over the moon to see me eating their local food, prepared by their friendly kitchen staff, who begin cooking very early in the morning and in the smallest space, when considering their cooking for nearly 500 people! On the first day I had their staple food papa (mashed white rice texture) with Moroho (cabbage), their food is very minimal but everyone seems to love it. Out of respect I eat their food occasionally.

 My first week at school was purely observations. It was very insightful to their teaching methods and their individual levels of enthusiasm for teaching. However, after day two of sitting and watching I was itching to get involved and do what I love the most, teach. I was not shocked by the methods of teaching, as I had experienced this before on my travels around other African countries, a lot of ‘chalk and talk’; it is very much passive learning and a lot of repetition.

My first week of teaching was fantastic. The children enjoyed my methods and the staff are very enthusiastic to learn new teaching techniques and ideas. It is one of my main aims to build confidence in the staff and give them the tools to teach phonics, as well as support them with new methods to encourage active learners.

The teachers seem to think I work very hard,’ you work too much’ they say in their broken English, I am always keeping myself busy trying to show them how easy it can be to make the classroom environment inspirational and use the outdoor as a space for learning. The classrooms are very plain and overcrowded. The exposed concrete walls are dull.  The work ethos here in Lesotho is very different to that in Wales. In some classrooms there are 3 teachers. Only one is teaching whilst the others seem to do personal things and sometimes work related acitvities.

I am happy how quick the teachers are taking on my ideas: individual chalk boards made from milk cartons painted with blackboard paint to use for numeracy and other subjects, plastic bottles to help blend sounds, group work, star of the week to encourage and motivate children, medals made from the bottom of water bottles, using games to learn, I am even beginning to change their view of grouping children by ability and providing them with different work- but this new concept is a working progress!

The children come from different family backgrounds. Some are from wealthier families; others are poor, whilst some are orphaned. Every day they seem to be joyous, eager to learn, and mostly well behaved. They are slowly getting used to seeing me around. They are still shy and giggly, but very happy to have me in their school teaching them. I have been named Lineo which is pronounced Dineo which means ‘gift’ as I am a gift to their school. Most days the children sing ‘we love you Dineo’ in their class, it is the most heart warming noise I have heard, often reducing me to tears.

I can see change already within the first week. The staff are very open and receptive of my ideas. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. The changes I am introducing are respectful of their culture and environment, changes that can be sustainable if the teachers have the enthusiasm and drive, which I believe they do.

Ffion Mullane - Moyeni Primary

So we have all had an eye-opening experience this week with our observation week – very different to what we are used to! Some of us have found it hard to get the teachers enthusiastic and engage them. It was incredible to see so many children in one class, and was very interesting to see how the teachers cope with so many children in one class, and trying to think how we were going to deal with it. We have all found that the teachers haven’t got a concept of differentiation and grouping the children according to ability, and that is one of the things we all want to improve in our time here. Some schools have a good amount of space while others are very crowded. We had a workshop on the Friday. We all discussed our week, before Kath gave us a phonics workshop, which we all found very useful, and have all been using this week in our schools. After the workshop we decided to head out for a meal. We met Wils mentor, his wife and Kims mentor and standard 5 teacher. When we asked what was on the menu we discovered it was pizza, which was fine by us – and it was delicious!! Feeling very full and satisfied, we walked to get a taxi. On our way we looked up and saw the most incredible stars, no photo will ever do it justice. We had planned on a day of planning and making resources on Saturday, but we were invited to the river by Elaine (our landlords granddaughter) and one of the Mitchell brothers so our planning was put on hold. We packed our bags and headed off in the back off Thabo’s truck. It was about a half an hour drive and the views were stunning. We enjoyed a bit of sunbathing and swimming in the river (in Lesotho and South Africa). We headed back to the Mitchell’s house, and it was so peaceful there. We stayed for a while chatting and playing with the dogs (they’ve got 3 Rottweiler’s and a pitbull), before coming back in the truck. It was a very surreal experience being in the back of a truck staring at the stars. Me (Ffion), Ellie and Kath went for a walk with Thabo and the dogs on Sunday morning before we had a quiet day of planning and resource making ready to teach. We all had different experiences this week, with some teachers engaging and reacting well to our teaching and ideas and others not so well. We have all been teaching a variety of things to a variety of classes. Thursday night we went to the Mitchells’ again as their neighbours are Chinese and were celebrating Chinese New Year. The food they cooked was superb and we had a lovely evening seeing in the Chinese New Year in Lesotho! We are going to church this weekend to show our faces, before heading to the Mitchells’ for a BBQ and a swim in their pool!

What a first week it has been in school! We wake at 5.45am, before Ellie and me head off in a taxi about 6.45. Getting a taxi that early can be problematic. We had a long walk on our first day and assembly had started by the time we got there! We start at 7.15, with an assembly outside. Seeing 800+ children all lined up neatly and singing is a lovely way to start the day. I was taken into the office and given the Sesotho name ‘Palesa’ which means flower, as i am the flower of Moyeni Primary. I have had a warm welcome in the school from both staff and children. They all say ‘hello’ and some of the children enjoy high-fiving me, and being around me, although others are giggly and are getting used to seeing me around. One girl says ‘hi. I love you’, every time she sees me. Have observed the classes I will be working with this week – grades 1-4. Majority of the teachers seem keen, so fingers crossed we will work well together! I am going to be teaching phonics to all the grades, physical education to grade 4 and English to grades 2 and 3 next week. I will hopefully be able to identify the children with ALN as the week goes on next week and do more group work with those children in the coming weeks. It has been very interesting to see the Basotho teachers teaching and see how they cope with very large class sizes (75 – 120), marking and how they are implementing the new curriculum in grades 1-4 (they are finding this hard). The school buildings are very overcrowded, and they only have electricity in the principals office, although they are fundraising to have it in every classroom. The school lunches leave a lot to be desired! Luckily the staff take their own lunch (phew!). On a Monday its papa and cabbage, Tuesday is pea soup and bread, Wednesday is papa, cabbage and boiled egg, Thursday is samp and beans and Friday is papa and milk.

My week of teaching went well, with majority of teachers engaging and reacting well (fingers crossed it lasts!). The children have been excitable and engaged when I was teaching which was lovely, even if my accent is strange to them! It was nice seeing the children enjoy being outside doing work, and they were eager to show what they had completed – ‘madam, madam. – I’ve done’ was heard a few times! For a class of so many children, they listen so well. The school has cultural activities on aWednesday afternoon, and it was nice walking around the stations and seeing the children playing traditional games and singing and dancing. We had rain on Thursday which made teaching a bit difficult as they have metal roofs, but as they say – TIA (this is Africa!) Arranged my timetable for next week which is a busier week than this week, but at least ill be kept busy!