Don't be dodgy

New terms I learned this week:
dodgy meaning creepy/sketchy
sho sho meaning hot
mark meaning grade... I learned this term the funny way. I was collecting an assignment from my 5th grade math class and asked my teacher if he would like me to grade it. He looked at me funny and said, "Grade it?" and I was responded, "Yeah, like check if it's right or wrong." He then laughed and said "oh you mean mark it."

I started my teaching this week and I learned a lot. I taught exponents and rooting to grade 7. I had to refresh my memory of some it and I found that it is hard to explain without using a lot of examples. I taught place value and number value to grade 5. I really liked the lessons I did because they were hands on and interactive. I used money to teach tenths and hundredths. I brought some pennies I still had from the U.S. and let some students keep them. They thought they were sooooo lucky to have American money. I told them unfortunately you can't buy anything with just a penny.

Next week my mentor goes out of town so I have full responsibility for his class! I am really excited to get the full experience! I also get observed by my COST supervisor on Monday. I will teaching a lesson on introducing fractions. I am going to bring in candy to let teh students discover how to explain parts of a whole using candy fractions.

This weekend, my crew (which is how people who know myself and the 2 other COST students refer to us) and I are going to East London. We are staying in a hostel Saturday called the Sugarshack. It only cost $12 per night! East London is known for having teh 2nd best surfing beach and amazing sand dunes. For $10 you can sand board and learn how to surf! I love the exchange rate because it makes things so cheap! From what people have told me, when you sand board you take 15 mintutes to hike up the huge sand dune only to enjoy a 5 second ride down. I am looking forward to a surfing lesson! I have never surfed before so it should be interesting! Of course I will post many pictures to my facebook!

Cheers!

Kwantu Elephant Sanctuary

Today was an amazing weekend so far!

Last night, we picked up the rental car. It was quite entertaining to drive on the left side of the road. Auburn is the only one who can drive a manual, so Diana and I help make sure she stays on the left side.

We left at 8am to drive to the Kwanta Elephant Sanctuary. It opened only 7 months ago so they are still building parts of it. They have four female elephants that they rescued from being killed. Diana, Auburn and I got to ride the elephants for 30 minutes around the reserve. We rode with a guide that we held on very tight to! After we rode the elephants, we got to feed and interact with them. Of course the elephants know how to kick a soccer ball! We took TONS of pictures!

After we left the reserve around noon, we drove to the Kenton on the Sea. We got lunch then laid by the ocean. It is still surreal to think that we are swimming in the Indian Ocean!

In two weekends we are going to Port Elizabeth for 5 days. While we are there we are going to meet up with some other COST students living there!

Next week I start teaching so I have A LOT of work to do tomorrow!

ONE MONTH ALREADY!

I cannot believe that I have been in South Africa for one month already! I started my 4th week at the schools and next week I start teaching! Teaching here is going to be more difficult because I teach a different grade each class. For example, all grade 6 students have math from 9 to 10 am. There are 3 math teachers that teach the different levels the 6 grade math students are at. I teach grade 5, 6, and 7 grade maths so that means four different lesson plans a day! CRAZY! Next week, I am teaching place value and number value to grade 5, fractions to grade 6, and expontents and square roots to grade 7.

It is amazing how time flies by here. I cannot believe that tomorrow is already Friday. My friends and I have booked our first trip for this weekend. We are renting a car (or should I say "hire a car" as they say here) and driving to Kwantu elephant game reserve to ride elephants! They also have lions there and we get to hold the cubs! I am already charging my battery for Saturday. Later in the day we are going to the beach.

Next weekend, we are going to meet up with the other COST students in Port Elizabeth. There we will be doing a lot of sight-seeing and shopping.

Cheers!

Week 3...already??

Wow... time has FLOWN by!! I cannot believe I have been in Grahamstown for 3 weeks already! I am still soaking soooo much in! I have taught for 3 out of the 4 days this week so that makes the day pass by very quickly. Tomorrow after school, I am helping with the swim meet. The local private schools in Grahamstown are all competing so it should be a lot of fun. The girl I live, Diana, is student teaching at the Diosean School for Girls, which will also be at the meet so we will cheering for opposing teams :) Next week, grade 5 is going on an overnight outing to Boknes, which I am not sure what exactly that place is... but hopefully I get to go. Sometimes I feel like I am cheating with my student teaching by going on all the awesome field trips, but I actually work with the students so much that I am gaining more experiences on these trips. I wish schools back at home went on more trips. The philosophy at Kingswood is that these overnight trips are meant to unite the grade and build relationships to promote teamwork and leadership.

The local university starts next week so Grahamstown is getting busy. On my walk today I saw many students moving into houses. The weekend is called "The Big O" meaning orientation. As the South Africans would say, "This weekend is going to be hectic" meaning this weekend is going to be awesome!

Things I learned this week:
1) The southern accent does not pronounce their vowels well... I have the hardest time saying African names!
2) In the US, we have a phrase called PEMDAS to remember the order of operation. Here it is BODMAS meaning Brackets, Of, Divide, Multiply, Add and Subtract. Needless to say, my grade 6 class taught my what "of" meant
3) Instead of saying zero in math, students say "nought"... I am finding this difficult to remember when I am teaching
4) People here write decimals as commas... so for example 10,000 is not ten thousand but 10.000

I wish I wrote down all the new things I learn everyday... I just have to laugh it off and remember when I am back at home that foreigners are not always going to understand me

Indian Ocean

This past Sunday, Auburn, Diani and I went to Port Alfred with the family Auburn lives with, Jill and Earnest Rotham. They have a house in Port Alfred. On our way to Port Alfred, we stopped in this little town named Bathhurst. It had really neat and historic shops. When we arrived in Port Alfred, we put on our swim suits (or costumes as they call them here) and went to the beach. It was so exciting to touch the Indian Ocean! Unfortunately it was overcast, so we didn't swim much because it was cold. Something interesting about the Indian Ocean is that the algae is red. When I first saw it I thought a bunch of fish had been massacred haha Oh the many things I learn everyday here!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I am amazed at how respected teachers are at Kingswood. Whenever a teacher walks into the classroom, all students must stand and greet the teacher. When I am walking to and from school, all the students greet me with a "Hello Mam." If the boys are wearing hats, they take them off to say hello in my presence. It is amazing at how mannered these children are. Teachers are often not respected the way they ought to be so it feels good to be greeted and treated with great respect.

The students are so polished at the school too. All students wear uniforms. Girls must have their hair pulled up and can wear only black, white or red headbands. Boys were socks up their calves and collared shirts. It is so British!

My next goal is to get a picture with the class so you can see how cute they look in their uniforms!

Ooops here is the link....

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2654563&id=4944810&ref=mf