Back to School 8 - Oh, Happy Days...

Reflection - Week 8

Spring Delights - Spring Delayed

Spring has sprung... So too, has the Season of Tests.

The Learners are to face their September Tests and the Educators face the 'Test' of getting them test-ready and through this period of their School Year.

We still have a shortage of staff at School... Luckily, the Grade 12 Learners are at a neighbouring school - to write their Tests (we do not have a Venue for them at School). As such, I have the privilege of attending to the classes of the Teachers who are to invigilate at the other School. I still enjoy my classes with the Grade 11 Learners... We managed to get on with their Project for Life Orientation - Careers... And in the English Department we have shifted our focus to Language. I set myself the task to get through Parts of Speech, Levels of Language, and Figures of Speech (Revision) and look at Reference Texts (Dictionary and Thesaurus) and Visual Literacy (Cartoons and Advertising). I am constantly reminded, that one should be careful to not assume that the Learners remember or even know the terminology used in their subjects... Even the Home Language Learners still surprise me with their lack of knowledge (reference!?) of terminology that we, as teachers, use in our Lessons... It proves to me, that Proper (adequate!?) Education still has a long way to go... When one has to pause one's lesson... To explain in Detail with LOTS of examples, the difference between a Proper Noun and a Pronoun... Why an Adverb describes a Verb, but an Adjective describes a Noun and not an 'Ad-Noun'??? "Just ADD-the-Noun, Sir!"??? The Learners constantly remind me that they are 'grown up' - "Ek is mos oud genoeg en groot genoeg... Meneer kannie vir my vertel nie...". Yet, I cannot help but chuckle to myself when I have to resort to Kindergarten Songs I used in teaching English to Korean and Chinese learners during my TEFL Days, to teach them Grammar Rules... When, you hear your Preposition Song (In, on, under...) sung to you when you pass a group of kids (smokers!?) while on playground duty, it does leave you with some sense of 'achievement'... Even though, they only do it to mock you - the Teacher. The little Victories... I gladly accept them...

I have hoped to not put down any of my negative experiences with the Grade 8 to 10s, this Week... Since I am merely their 'Toesig-onnie', as they like to remind me, they simply refuse to do the work I write on the green board or hand out to them (I have stopped wasting my time and money on printing worksheets and fun activities for them... I end up having to clean up all those torn and wasted paper every time they leave the classroom). Detention or any other type of 'punishment' is not a deterrent - they simply do not show up... Yet, even though the rotten apples have received their 'walking papers' and are not allowed on the School-grounds until they attend their disciplinary hearings with their 'adult care-givers'... They cannot 'afford' to stay away from School because that would affect their 'biessageite' at School!? I too, cannot afford anymore altercations with these 'kids' - replacing torn ties, shirts and punctured tyres is a very costly endeavour and as the kids remind me - they make a lot more money than I do - I need to 'know my place'!?. Best to leave them be, and hope they 'mature', before it is too late? Some kids have lost their 'innocence'... Trying to reason with them... Trying to explain to them WHY their choices in life will have detrimental consequences... Why the fast money and infamy they enjoy today, won't last... It seems, that all my annoying nagging does is simply incite them to try and do worse? What started with mere snide commentary and muffled sneers and jeers, has turned into very confrontational attitudes, with some groups even trying to get 'physical' with me... As yet, I have not raised a hand to any of the Learners... But, I am sad to have to admit... That I find it harder every day, to remain compassionate towards those learners who have verbally made it clear, that they only mean me harm. From where I started - with the hopes of trying to be empathetic and try and affect some change... If only by really listening and trying to understand where they come from... I sense, that I too have started to become a product of my 'environment'... an Environment, where one seems to have to be a 'hard man' to be respected. An Environment where everybody is always competing to be at the top of the food chain... Or end up being a Victim, like the rest of the 'weaklings'...

This was not, how I saw my journey of self discovery play out...