Spearman Primary

a look at a 'successful school'.

Yesterday we visited Spearman Primary- a grade 1-7 school in Durban. The children were so cute and welcoming. They had organized songs and dances to perform for us, including some traditional Zulu dances and and gumboot performance.

some kiddos at lunch

After the initial performances, we were each randomly paired with a prefect, who took us to a classroom. We were given a random topic we were supposed to talk about for 5 minutes, mine was "South Africa- a beautiful country". The teachers were supposed to brief us about issues in the classroom, however, when I arrived my teacher said, "Boys and Girls, this is Miss Claire. We behave when she teaches us." And then she turned to me and said, "Okay. I don't have any plans." and then proceeded have me teach with no other direction. After 10 minutes describing South Africa and showing the kids were it was on the map, I explained a little about the US and how I flew on a plane. After that, I asked them to sing me a song. They chose, "I wave my finger in the air" to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it." It was adorable. After that I read them an ENTIRE book of Aesop's Fables. They were grade one, which means they had switched to English instruction very recently, and most did not understand a lot of what I said.

The teacher's lack of concern or care disturbed me. We had been warned it was difficult to inspire professionalism in teachers, despite their good salary...

playing "miss mary mack" with a little girl named Mary!

After our lunch, we went out to talk with the children. They treated us like celebrities which was pretty uncomfortable. They hoarded around us, asking for autographs. To make it less weird, I asked each what their name was, and then what they wanted to be when they grew up. A lot answered, "A doctor." or "teacher". I was happy with how many girls wanted to be doctors. After that I would write a little message. One girl wanted to be a pilot, so I wrote, "I hope to see you in the clouds some day."- things like that. I forgot to ask one of the girls what she wanted to be, but she wanted me to know after hearing me ask the others. She proclaimed, "I want to be a lawyer!" and I cried, "Me too!" They hugged us, jumped into pictures with us...

front and center in this picture is "toe stroker", a little girl who constantly stroked my second toes while I was teaching... it was awkward, and her English was poor so I didn't really call her out on it... haha.

After our final performances, we had some time to talk to the kids before they left again. I can't say I have a great grasp of the quality of their education, but they certainly seem happy and involved, and are lead by a caring principal and supportive staff. Their scores are successful in testing, so something must be going right.