NAME: Lucy Walker PLACEMENT: Teaching DRAMA COUNTRY: South Africa
Dear Andrew,
[Andrew is Travellers Project Co-ordinator for SA in the UK]
Had you given up all hope of a reply?!!
Sorry it's taken me so long...it's merely because things have been so
wonderfully busy in South Africa, with trips climbing up Table Mountain
and experiencing the nightlife of Cape Town, whale-watching in Hermanus,
open-water diving....and of course setting up the drama project with Vicky
at Chris Nissen Primary School.
It's quite magical to be here. Knysna is
better than imagined....the volunteers are all very lovely, friendly,
fun-loving and understanding friends now. Jim [Travellers SA Assistant
Manager]has been the best host we could have wanted...along
with Bill [Travellers SA Manager] and Val [his wife], of
course....but Jim sorts out all our problems...however small or large. And
he entertains us grandly, going out of his way to make sure we're having a
fantastic African experience.
The teachers at Chris Nissen are very
supportive of all Vicky and I are doing...and we've shared many a giggle
with each other in the staff room and beyond. Trying to pick up Xhosa...my
teacher is Jane, the cleaner, who is incredibly patient with my slow
language-learning skills!
So, in answer to your questions:
(a) I like, actually love, everything....it's more luxurious than life
back home; and
(b) [What can we improve on your project?] The only thing to improve is my
Xhosa!
Just to fill you in on a wee snippet of
school life...
The teachers (who seemed very distant
towards our ideas at first) have been slowly approaching us to do
workshops in their lessons. Word has spread after the first few we took.
On Tuesday I was teaching a class about floods, earthquakes and volcanoes
and yesterday I held a workshop on Maths....yes maths!! I had the children
pairing into different numbers, shapes and they loved it. We then had a
decimal point quiz involving conversions from fractions and percentages.
There were other games fitted in as well and by the end of the 3rd period
there was enough time for the children to perform some traditional songs
and dances...magic. There seems to be a huge interest from the kids about
the drama club after school which Vicky and I will be holding on
Wednesdays....we may have to split up different ages and hold a few more
workshops each week. Its so lovely to be with such enthusiastic young
people...they've never had a drama lesson in their life, but they're
natural born performers all of them. Yesterday in the maths lesson there
was one little girl...absolutely tiny would looked so scared (excuse the
phrase 'runt of the litter' but it's just to give you a picture). Well she
seemed to be mocked by some of the other children (predominantly boys) and
I couldn't help but feel protective of her. When it came to the kids
putting on their own individual performances, she stood up, a few of the
boys sniggered and she was muttering to herself in a consoling way. There
she stood, this tiny figure in the middle of the classroom with total fear
in her eyes. She opened her mouth and the most beautiful little voice came
out. After a while some the other girls joined in and harmonised from the
sidelines. It was the bravest performance I've ever seen and got the
loudest applause. At the end of the lesson I approached her. She looked as
though she thought that I was going to swallow her up...and I said "you've
got the most wonderful voice. Thank you for singing to us." She gave me a
huge smile.
I've taken pictures of all the
teachers....they are NOT camera shy...they love a digital camera. And with
the photos I've made a smart collage of them with names underneath and
will be displaying it on the reception wall. It helps me learns their
names too. We have such a giggle with them and the head master is very
supportive of all we want to do. The kids love playing at break time. I
seem to be the only one of the volunteers who lets rip with them at
playtime. We've played at funny walks, animals and even had a huge human
train going around the playground at one point!!
I hope this give you a little more incite.
Hope all is very well with you too.
Kind regards,
Lucy
Caroline Menzies
Caroline was one of the first group of volunteers on the DRAMA WORKSHOPS Project
(Caroline helped initiate and set up the Project, laying the ground
work to build on in the future).
Hi Andrew, [Andrew Kemp is Travellers UK Project Co-ordinator for Teaching in
South Africa]
I'm at Percy Mdala School (where Star tells us you
taught) and we're having a great time ... we teach 'Arts and Culture'
which is a combination of drama, the arts and telling the students all
about England (education, politics, marriage, laws, health problems and
other social issues).
We have been very active outside of the
classroom: World's Highest Bungee Jump, Kyaking through the Knysna river
(saw baboons in the forest!) Four day PADI Scuba Diving course (saw a
Ragged Tooth shark!) Sand-boarding Learning to surf etc....
Our teachers are taking us to the Rasta
Community after school tomorrow and the teacher who does the after-school
drama group is taking us to the Cango Caves and
Ostrich Riding on Saturday! We're off to a poetry-reading/Jazz night
tonight and have lots more planned.
Caroline Menzies
Emily and I work at Percy
Mdala School but may swap next week to Chris Nissen (where Sarah and Sally teach).
We all get on really well and as there's nearly twenty of us (including
all present and old volunteers who have returned here to work/live) - we
know nearly the whole town!!
We're not doing as much drama
as we hoped but gradually we're introducing more practical lessons. Today
we took the class outside to do some energising warm-ups and we have spent
several lessons discussing the idea of a School Performance (variety show
in which they can showcase their talents - whether it be hip-hop dancing,
Kwaito singing, comedy sketches or Rapping). The idea seems to appeal to
most of them but it is hard to co-ordinate it with a class of 50+ and only
the two of us! Despite this, we're still intending to put on a performance
before we leave, even if it's just with the after-school drama group.
It's really a great placement
and the teachers are so keen to show us around the area. Knynsa itself is
the most beautiful place, I'd move here tomorrow if I found the right paid
job! Oh, and Jim (the guy from the aquarium who works for Travellers) - is
GREAT! He organises all sorts of trips for us and really does look out for
all of us (he's our big bro!). Haven't seen much of Bill [Travellers SA
Manager]but we go to Jim
if we have any concerns or requests.
I'm also thinking of staying
longer, what would be the cost if I decided to teach for another month?
Well, I'll e-mail Charlotte soon [Travellers' UK Project Support]and forward all my old e-mail to her (there's so much we've done which
I haven't mentioned!). But the school is fantastic and there is so much
talent here. I'll e-mail soon. Caroline
.
+44 01903 502595
