They come from a range of grades, which means they show varying levels of mastery of English. It is hard to tell how much English each learner knows however because the club is only going to last 10 days. We weren’t able to run a formative assessment to get a baseline of their ability, which is something we’d like to do with our learners when we start teaching fulltime. We have been able to get some sense of what the learners know and what they are able to do, though, by conducting small, informal assessments. We do things like warm-ups at the beginning of class to gauge their ability. This informs us how we can direct lessons.
Getting to run the English club has been a gift for many reasons. First, teaching is our primary reason to be in South Africa. Second, we get to interact and have fun with about 20 learners for 2 ½ weeks. Lastly, we get to gain a glimpse into what our classrooms might be like when we start teaching fulltime.
A special highlight for me occurred a couple of days ago when one of my learners hung around after club ended. He wanted to show my co-educator and me a picture he drew. Aside from the fact that the picture was really good, I thought it was so cool that he was willing to be vulnerable with us. I didn’t expect something like that to happen so soon. I’m glad it did and I hope we’re able to reach more learners in a similar, if not the same, way.
In addition to learning isiZulu, Michelle and I have also learned some educational terms in South African English that differ from U.S. English. Here are some fun examples…
- U.S. : South Africa
- Student : Learner
- Teacher : Educator
- Kindergarten : Grade R
- 12th Grade (Senior Year) : Matric
- Grading : Marking
- Review : Revise
Assessment - yes! Keep the stories/posts coming :D
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