Afritalian experiences

My last week at Pearson happened to include two "Open Days" which are somewhat like open houses for the school. The open days were Tuesday and Wednesday evening and us American student teachers were part of the "marketing" part of Open night. I may have already explained that Pearson is a private school meaning that the students pay fees to attend which keep the school running. The government does give Pearson money but that money isn't even enough to pay the schools phone bill for one month so Pearson runs on student fees. There are several of these private schools in the area and they compete with one another for students. Schools have "Open Nights" where parents and future students come check out the school, facilities, staff, and watch a presentation directed by vice principal Mr. Bubb. The presentation markets Pearson's athletics, students, clubs, achievements, and history. The band plays music and each aspect of Pearson is advertised into an entertaining show. There are even students scripted to throw rugby ball on the field, throw a netball around on the courts, and swim around in the water polo pool so when parents arrive at Pearson they get a feeling of what it would look like for their child to go here. Mr. Bubb asked us American student teachers and two Brit student teachers to put together a small two lines about Pearson as a whole and say it at the open night. We each had to say our names, what university we go to, and what we teach then I was nominated to present the two sentences about Pearson. I wrote up the two descriptive sentences, the other girls approved it and I began to memorize! Tuesday night came and we walked up to Pearson at 6pm in our black slacks and dressy white tops ready to speak.. or so I thought. I passed basic public speaking in college, had my lines memorized and felt ready to say my lines on stage. We walked out just like we practiced, I said my name, school, and subject just like the other girls then it came back to my turn to talk. I said my first two words... ... and ... nothing else came out of my mouth. I became silent and completely forgot my lines standing there on center stage in front of a couple hundred parents and future students. Hardly remembering what I was thinking I put my hand to my mouth out of nerves and before I knew it the entire crowd began laughing. I immediately thought oh my gosh Mr. Bubb is going to KILL me, the crowd began to clap, I took a deep breath and suddenly my lines came back to me. I finished my lines and stumbled off stage. It was the most humiliating moment of my life, I used to struggle coming up with a most embarrassing moment but now I definitely have one. We speed walked home, laughing off my embarrassment and I feared seeing Mr. Bubb at school the next day.

The next day at school Mr. Bubb saw me in the hallway and just as I tried to avoid eye contact he called out my name, I looked up smiled and apologized for ruining his Open night presentation. He ran over to me and gave me a huge hug thanking me and told me he was fine with me messing up, it made everyone laugh and he said "it just shows you're a human". Whew! We had to present again tonight and I ended up asking Katharine to say the two lines because I did not want to embarrass myself again. That presentation went a lot smoother thank goodness.

Inside the package Joe sent

Joey and my family had sent my a care package the week of Valentines day and it finally arrived my last week in South Africa! The package was full of my favorites from home including Vitamin water zero, Skyline Chili, Flamin hot cheetos, hot sauce, montgomery inn barbeque sauce, Thin Mints girl scout cookies, and Valentines day candy. I had told the teachers at Pearson about Skyline Chili and how delicious it is except it was extremely hard to explain because they have nothing like it at all. Joe mailed three cans of it, two huge bags of oyster crackers from Skyline, and a huge bag of Skyline hot sauce packets.

All of my favorites from home

Dishing up 5-ways for everyone!

Everyone loving their Skyline 5-ways

Wednesday night after our presentation at open night we invited our neighbors and some friends we have made in South Africa over and I made Skyline Chili 5-ways for everyone! Skyline Chili was my first job ever when I was sixteen years old and I worked there for four years until I got both of my younger sisters jobs there and couldn't work with my sisters any longer so needless to say I definitely know how to prepare and dish up some 5-ways. I served up 5-ways to twelve people and showed them how to use oyester crackers and add one packet of hot sauce if they needed a kick! Everyone LOVED it! I had two of our guy friends who are from South Africa come back into the kitchen and ask for seconds. It was a great night to spend time with friends we have made here in South Africa and share something from my hometown like they have been doing for us for the past seven weeks.

My 8E5's

Claudia, one of the teacher's I taught under

My naughty class.. the 8E3's

My naughtiest students: Dave and Daniel

My naughty 8E3's

The next couple days at school were harder than I thought. My students knew it was my last day and didn't want me to go. My classes wrote me all kinds of notes saying I was a great teacher and they enjoyed having me and are going to miss me. I teach five different classes of grade 8's and a couple grade 9 classes. On my last class with them the classes wrote me messages on the chalkboard so when I came in to teach I had sweet messages written all over the board for me. One of my classes surprised me with a party when I walked into the room giving me all kinds of South African sweets and drinks I hadn't had before. Some of my students brought me gifts and my favorite class of grade 8's signed a picture I printed of them and gave me hand carved wooden bookends carved into elephants. Mr. Jansen (the main teacher who did my evaluating and observations) pulled me out during lunch to say goodbye to my students on Friday and my students ended up making me cry. They all gave me a group hug and wished me farewell.

My favorite class: my 8E2's

Friday was Deary Day at Pearson (the day Mr. Deary founded the school years ago) so classes were shortened and the end of the day consisted of a long assembly in the hall celebrating the day Pearson was founded. The band played, there were guest speakers, and it ended with a funny song that Mr. Bubb wrote himself sung to the tune of Those were the days.

During lunch Friday the head principal called me up in front of the staff in the staff room and thanked me for my teachings and help at Pearson and gave me a gift. He also told me that since I was such a good speaker he wanted me to give a small speech right then and there.. I giggled and reminded them they didn't want me speaking ever again. I thanked all the teachers for being so friendly and told them I would miss Pearson dearly. Then the principal went in for a kiss on the lips (it's a cultural thing) which was extremely awkward. Shannon (the Brit) knew it was coming and grabbed my iPad to take a picture of the awkwardness.

Friday was a sad day for me at Pearson, I had to say goodbye to new friends I enjoyed seeing everyday and I made lots of memories with.

Alizma and I

Alizma is a student teacher from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and she will be at Pearson for the rest of the year. Alizma and I are both Science teacher nerds and love every minute of it, except shes a lot smarter! We both taught most of our classes in Mr. Jansen's classroom. Alizma is such a sweet, generous, and funny girl! Always willing to take our silly jokes and teasing of her fears and dish the jokes right back at us! I loved working with her, sharing stories, and teasing her for her drinkable yogurt in a box. She will make a great teacher and I wish her the best!

Mr. Jansen and I

Mr. Jansen was the teacher I worked with the most, what an amazing teacher and such a pleasure to sit in and watch his classes. He has the ability to teach students as if they are carrying on a conversation, hold their interests and relate it to students lives! I hope to teach like him someday!

Mr. Bubb and I

hugging Mr. Bubb goodbye

Mr. Bubb is one of the deputy principals and was my favorite staff member here. Anytime I passed him in the hall he always said hello dear with his big ol smile! He was the first staff member I met at Pearson and has had me laughing ever since. Shannon and I joked around about writing something Mr. Bubb does everyday that made us laugh in our journals so that if we ever needed a pick me up we could just read something that Mr. Bubb did to make us laugh. He's such a silly and kind man, a face I will definitely miss seeing every day.

Shannon (my favorite Brit) and I

Cebo is one of my favorite students. He used to tease me for saying his name so incorrectly and it took me at least two weeks of having him in class to FINALLY say it right. Then when I finally started saying it right he says "but mam I like the way you say it with your American accent," and I replied DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO LEARN TO SAY YOUR NAME!?

Cebo and I

Shannon is the "Brit" I am always talking about. She has been my partner in crime during my trip! She is 19 years young and here on a "gap year" meaning that she is taking a year off in between high school and college to travel which brought her here to volunteer in South Africa. Shannon is a spontaneous, hilarious, and sweetheart who is always full of energy ready to try something new! Shannon and I became trouble together when I started attempting to speak in/copy her British accent and she began copying my American accent. We then tried fooling new people by switching accents when we would go out in public. Shannon and I were always a ball of goofy fun together and I will miss her dearly.

Thursday I had some free periods due to grade 9 testing so I walked around Pearson with Shannon (the Brit) and got pictures all around Pearson so I could post them here on my blog for everyone to see how beautiful Pearson is! So here is the grand tour of Pearson High School:


My walk to Pearson every morning

Walking past the fitness building to school

Where I walk in everyday!

The front entrance to Pearson

All of the official uniforms of Pearson

All of the Prefects at Pearson

Prefects are Matrics (Seniors) that are voted into Head Boy, Head Girl, and Deputy positions by the rest of the schools. All underclassman want to become a Prefect when they are matrics. You are only eligible to be voted into a Prefect position if you have no record of bad behavior, maintain good grades, and are involved in clubs. The Prefects pretty much run Pearson, they are always in the hallways guiding traffic and making sure students aren't horseplaying in the hallways. They sit in the asileways during assemblys keeping all the other students under control and well behaved.