Pronouns, Nouns & Verbs

On Tuesday I went to service at Hlengsia and met Mr. Gaji, the teacher I am suppose to be assisting for the semester. He teaches English and natural science to 5^th, 8^th and 9^th graders. I was so relieved he was there to help facilitate activities with the class and the children respected and listened to him (for the most part). Mr. Gaji has had trouble with his legs which made it difficult for him to stand up or walk, so I went around the classroom helping the students. While the students worked on their class activities Mr. Gaji and I talked about the flaws in the South African education system and the lack of structure, discipline and assistance provided to schools in townships. He explained that the government says when a student is a certain age they must be in a specific class; therefore regardless of students academic understanding they will be passed on to the next grade. This logic is extremely detrimental to the class because the majority of the students are academically at a 4^th grade level. Students have no incentive to learn because no matter how poorly they are doing academically they will make it to 12^th grade. Most teachers often feel defeated and helpless because the students have no desire to learn and the teachers are not equipped properly with supplies and man power to help the students succeed. Also the teachers are employed by the government so a bad teacher is extremely difficult to fire.

On Thursday I was excited to go back to my site and to help Mr. Gaji teach however; come first period Mr. Gaji was not at school. Luckily I had prepared a spelling bee and a game of hang man with words the 9^th graders should know from their reading. The spelling bee was great but it only killed so much time. The students had a grammar worksheet where they had to pick out pronouns, nouns and verbs.  In 9^th grade the majority of the class could not define or comprehend what these words meant. At lunch time Mr. Gaji showed up but he did not come to teach until the last period. At Hlengsia it is common for teachers not to show up to class and the students are left alone to discipline themselves.