12.03.19

Tuesday 12.03.19

Today we arrived at Tlamatlama to be greeted by all of the Key Stage 1 children who were in the middle of their assembly. As usual, this was outside because there are so many children and they don't have a hall. The children sang songs to start their day and skipped happily to class. Both Miss Kerrigan and Miss Lewis joined in with the assembly and loved singing and dancing to all of their songs. 

We began our day in grade 1 where we observed the children in a maths lesson using counters and number squares to help them count up to 20. They counted all the way up to 20 and then counted back to zero. We then went next door to another grade 1 class and they were learning how to add two numbers together. We now know how to count to 20! We understood that 'le' in sepedi means 'together with' and 'ke' means 'equals'.

Mid morning we went into class 6 and joined in with a life skills lesson. The children were learning how to work as a team, listen and dance together. We joined in with their dancing and learnt some new African moves. 

After lunch with the Headteacher, we went into grade 6 and taught English. We read a book that we gave them as their gift and taught them how to retell the story. We used story maps to do this and to plan our own story. The children thoroughly enjoyed learning from us and using the same planning method as the children at Bruche. 

Mid afternoon we observed a RE lesson and the teacher explained how the children are assessed. We then skyped the staff and some children at Bruche Primary School and the children at Tlamatlama sang and danced for them and joined in with the RE lesson. Almost 80% of South African population adheres to the Christian faith. Other major religious groups are Hindus, Muslims and Jews. A minority of South African population does not belong to any of the major religions, Hopefully we can skype tomorrow too! 

After the school had closed, we were taken to the informal settlements where most of the children live. We discussed living conditions and how some families live day to day. We were shocked to find out that there was only enough room for one bed in a shack therefore all five family members shared this bed because they couldn't afford anymore. We also saw the hospital, the private hospital, a taxi rank, the child welfare centre and lots of small shops. We can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!