John Santos, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, teaches Biology at High Tech High International in San Diego, CA.
Let me mention the incredible experience that was/is my home-stay.
I was placed with Mapulang [the principal at the LEAP School in Johannesburg]. In the beginning, I was hesitant to leave the flat that we’ve called home for almost a month.
I’d grown comfortable here and found it incredibly convenient to live in my work place. And so, the idea of a home-stay was challenging.
In the end though, I’ve grown so close to Mapulang and her sons (we consider one another brothers) that we’ve elected to occasionally continue our home-stay. I’ll even be staying there tonight after watching my host brother’s soccer match.
Yes, I had to wake up earlier.
Yes, I had less access to my own comforts.
But, I was given access to family…a mother and two brothers who treated me like family.
That is something I had missed.
Thanks for your continued involvement and support. All the best!
John Santos, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, teaches Biology at High Tech High International in San Diego, CA.
All remains well in Joburg.
I’ve had amazing opportunities to teach for almost every math and science teacher at LEAP 3, and even got the chance to teach two classes during our stay at LEAP 1 and 2.
I’m currently collaborating with two science teachers here to try to model planning and project design and implementation.
Last week I had the chance to introduce ‘Collegial Coaching’ to the staff. I’m trying to stay on top of the process and lend advice as teachers observe one another and give practice feedback. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Josh Elder, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, is a 7th and 8th grade teacher of Life Sciences at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School.
This picture is taken from one of the classrooms I teach in here at LEAP. Can you imagine being able to teach and look out of your window and see this view of Table Mountain every day?
Thank you LEAP for opening your doors to me and making us feel at home.
From the very first day you told us we were not visitors, and from that day I have felt like a teacher here. I feel like this is my school, my home, my learners, and my friends and family.
Every day I stand in front of my Grade 10′s I get this feeling that I cannot explain.
I look forward to teaching them and hearing their questions and listening to their logic on why they think an answer is correct or incorrect. The LEAP staff has been so compassionate and trusting to allow me to come into a science department and teach and have a space that I can bounce my ideas and get input and feedback.
I have been allowed to get their ideas and pick their brain to help me grow and become a better teacher.
Mona Ewees, former Teach with Africa fellow and teacher at KIPP Chicago, now works full-time at the LEAP School in Cape Town, South Africa.
Someone asked me yesterday how Teach with Africa and the LEAP School have changed my life.
My response was, “Uhhh…”
It is so hard to describe the transformative journey I have been on since Teach with Africa has come in to my life. I woke up at 4am today still thinking about this question, feeling inspired by what I get to do here every day.
I get to teach beautiful, amazing, intelligent, resourceful, empowered, gentle, dedicated high school learners.
I get to show them who I am and I get to discover who they are.
I get to be a part of something bigger that is happening in this country post-apartheid.
I get to walk with them in their journey towards higher education.
I get to have them walk with me on my journey towards bettering myself as a person and as a professional.
Teach with Africa has offered me unbelievable support. They have allowed me the opportunity to stand on my own two feet. They have offered me a comfort of knowing I am going to be taken care of.
Feeling like I have an entire organization backing me in my decision to move my life here in three suitcases has been priceless.
Deb Snyder, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, has a BS in Global Strategic Management and an MBA from Dominican University of California.
Andisani Tsengiwe is a man with a mission.
Having graduated from the LEAP School two years ago, he is now attending the University of Cape Town and working at LEAP as a student teacher.
He also is a promising upcoming leader in his community of Langa. Here he is, standing on the soccer field, watching his team play. Look at that intensity.
Andisani’s story is a compelling one. He lives in Langa, one of the townships that I choose not to photograph. I felt that photos just couldn’t do it justice. But what Andisani has decided to do is start a blog.
Working with Katie, one of the 2010 Teach With Africa Fellows, he felt empowered enough with his writing to start this blog.
I really commend this young man. His Peace Lovers Football Club is coming together. He now has a blog and photos to post on it. He has a mission and a vision. In other words, he is an NPO in the making.
Take a look, see what this young community leader is doing. I think you will find him as interesting as I do.
Jamie Brandt, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, teaches Environmental Science and Physics at the Branson School in California.
Teaching with Ross is going very well.
We have collaborated and developed new lessons that are hopefully better for the kids, and will be used again here next year. I am bringing some of them back to the U.S. to try in my classes as well.
Josh Elder, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, is a 7th and 8th grade teacher of Life Sciences at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School. Photo by Greg Lumley.
Today marks Day 4 of Living in Langa.
Each morning I wake up at 6:00 AM and get ready for the day. My host family consists of a grandmother, her two daughters, and the two granddaughters. The family is incredible. They are extremely generous and a pleasure to talk to.
It feels as if I am home with my family.
It is easy to see the family values education, with the two youngest granddaughters striving to get an exceptional education. I leave the house around 7:00 AM and walk to where the LEAP bus picks up the learners in the morning.
The bus ride is about 15-20 minutes depending on traffic in the mornings. The first class begins at 8:15. I am teaching in a Grade 9,10,11 class and observing my mentor teacher in her Grade 12 class. I have learned different classroom management styles, and experimented with different ways to teach lessons and conduct labs.
The last class finishes at 5:15 and then we go straight to the bus to take it to Langa. The ride home sometimes is longer due to traffic. I get dropped off at the same bus stop and then go home.
I cannot thank TWA enough for giving us the opportunity to be able to experience living in the township and connecting with our students on a deeper level.
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Steve Le, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, is an English teacher and the co-director of the Service Learning program at Pacific Ridge School, in Carlsbad, CA.
Even though township kids are getting more and more opportunities to attend good secondary schools, like LEAP, where most of their tuition is subsidized, students entering ninth grade often lack English language skills necessary to prepare for the matric exam and to succeed in university.
The four years in high school simply are not enough for many township students. It is imperative that the school system reaches students at the primary and elementary levels, where kids are more likely to develop fluency in multiple languages.
To this end, programs such as Books for Africa and Equal Education seek to bring textbooks, early readers, and teaching resources to township schools.
Josh Elder, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, is a 7th and 8th grade teacher of Life Sciences at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School.
The Teach with Africa program has been incredible.
The teaching fellows that I have worked with so far are some of the most amazing, intelligent, and hard working individuals that I have had the chance to work with. In addition to living in a house together with over 15 people, it has created some great times to develop bonds with each other.
The picture above is the next incredible step in my journey.
In about an hour I will be headed to Langa. Langa is a township outside of Cape Town that a majority of the students I am teaching come from. Langa is one of the townships that was set up during the apartheid era in South Africa, and a place of residence for Black South Africans.
I will be living with a host family there for two weeks. I am extremely [humbled] at the opportunity to live in a community that has experienced so much hardship and struggle.
Steve Le, 2010 Teach with Africa fellow, is an English teacher and the co-director of the Service Learning program at Pacific Ridge School, in Carlsbad, CA.
LEAP’s Learning Center employs immigrants from all over Africa, offering them a chance to develop their English skills and to train for job interviews. Most of these immigrants were engineers, teachers, and scientists in their home country, but without the language skills they cannot get a job in South Africa.
One of the LC’s employees, “Papa” Chris, an energetic and neatly-dressed man, manages a program called Books for Africa, which works with Rotary International and townships surrounding Cape Town to bring books into township schools.
The goal of Books for Africa and its partners is to build a library in each township school, reaching especially K-6 students to develop their English language skills.
