Recap of Friday July 29th
Today was test day. At the end of each two week session, the students take a test on what they have been learning. The tests went really well. All my boys rocked it. Onke only got one wrong and then Akona got three. Sinethemba did well too. They all finished the tests fairly quickly so we got to play a multiplication matching game again which was super fun. They all got stickers and you want to know something strange? Sinethemba wanted his sticker on his forehead. I would think that was weird regardless but he hasn’t been the only one to want a sticker on his forehead. Several students have requested stickers on their foreheads which is pretty odd.
Abongile wasn’t here today which pissed me off. But it worked out because I got my first girl! I have been tutoring all boys hoping that when one of them was missing that I would get a girl but to no avail until today. Let me explain how it works: I tutor the same four students each week but if one of them isn’t there, sick, absent, whatever there is a backup list. As of today I have gone through all four of the backup students. Today’s was Sisanda. She was really sweet and quiet. I had an extra test made up and she struggled through it. She had trouble multiplying by 0 and then multiplying by 1-2 digit numbers.
It was also strange explaining to my boys that this was my last day working with them one on one and that I’d be in the classroom starting next week. I’m not sure that they all understood me. I’m nervous for next week. It seems really intense. Mel and I met with Mr. Stofile who is the headmaster at ACJ and it was determined that I would be working with a different teacher each day. So Monday I’ll be doing literacy and staying with one teacher then Tuesday I’ll be doing literacy with another teacher. Then Wednesday and Thursday is numeracy. I’m discovering that I really like math. I think it’s a lot easier to teach than English especially for learners who are learning it was a second language. I need to learn Xhosa so I can handle being in the classroom better. It’s such a hard language though! It involves clicks and not just one kind of click but different kinds of clicks.
So basically next week is going to be completely different from the last two weeks which of course makes me nervous. Next week I’ll only be observing which is good then the week after that I’ll be more involved. The big thing is that 25 October are Grade 6 exams for literacy and numeracy so that’s why my help is really needed. It seems like a lot of pressure for me. I feel like I know so little.
Basically my role is being a teacher’s assistant. So I will be helping planning the lessons and such but I’m not supposed to ever be left alone with the students which is good because I hate how they can speak in Xhosa and I cannot of course understand what they are saying good or bad. I kinda wish I was staying with my boys and then doing classroom work after that but no such luck. We’ll see how next week goes.