Teach with Africa

Dear TWA team, fellows and related friends,

The month of November has been an extreme one in the LEAP camp as we are planning and preparing for further growth and expansion in the year 2009. Not only has this process of increasing our student numbers by 25% and, obviously, a staff contingent to go with that, we have also had to explore and find alternative accommodation for the Johannesburg campus and we are in the process of consolidating and further sub-dividing our existing facilities in Cape Town so that we can accommodate the growth in Cape Town as well. All of this is very exciting but also placing some pressure on staff and on students as we continue to take the ideas of LEAP to appropriate scale.

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Hi Everyone: My name is Jack O’Neill and I live in Massachusetts. I have been working for the past seven years as a Clinical Social Worker in a large (700 students) Adult Learning Center in the City of Brockton, Massachusetts. The Adult Learning Center works with a primarily immigrant population, teaching English as a second language and preparing students for a high school equivalency diploma. Prior to the ALC, I worked for the US Government in the Veterans Administration where I was the Service Chief for a large Social Work Department (70+ Social Workers) and later as an administrator of a very large health clinic(Mental and Physical) for war veterans in Downtown Boston. I am married (almost 40 years) and I have two grown children and two grandchildren. I was a classmate of Margie Schlenoff (Founder of Teach With Africa) at Columbia University in New York, many years ago. I am very much looking forward to traveling to South Africa and working with students in the LEAP program this summer. It was very nice to read the entries of the students in this Forum, and it gave me a better understanding of the program. I’d be interested in hearing from anyone else who would like to reply.

Hi, my name is Asanda Sigigaba. I was doing grade 12 at LEAP this year and I want to become a teacher. My personal journey experiences has led me to this career so that is why I feel its worth to be shared with other young people. The reason why I want to be a teacher is because I want to work with young people simply because I enjoy working with them and I know I have a lot to give and learn from them. I would also like to share my personal experiences as a young girl growing up in rural areas and township.  I think becoming a teacher will help me to learn more about myself and other people and I believe that’s how one personally grows. My aim as a teacher is to teach students more about life than just academics because I really believe that it’s important to know it not saying academics are less important or anything. I honestly think that this country needs more young people like me to become teachers who can try to understand students, help and really care for them.

I’m Zintle, a student from LEAP. I just finished grade 12 this year. I was given a task on your website, the website is effective in a way that it shows people like me who want to do teaching a clear view of what needs to be done. I like the way you combined the two flags. I think Teach with Africa will bring a huge change to the world.

My aim to become a teacher is to share the knowledge I have with other children from different commuties and by doing so, I will be sharing with the world. I like the fact that I will be doing it in my own school. I never thought of becoming a teacher but when I heard that there’s a great need of good teachers in S.A. I thought I should consider doing it. Some of my teachers were a great motivation in my decision making. Making this decision took quite a while. The other thing that I want to do is share the ideas I have on finding new ways of teaching and making teaching a more interesting and succesful career.

Hope we stay in contact.

I would firstly like to introduce myself. My name is Zonke. I’m a grade 12 student at LEAP who is intending on studying teaching next year. Today Mr. Gilmour introduced me to your project and I had the chance to look at your website. I must say that it has made me excited about my choice of career and has really made me realise how much change I will be contributing to my country education wise.

At first I didn’t want to be a teacher as I thought it was not the kind of job for me due to the strikes that were happening and the kind of teachers that are in the townships. It was a process of looking at myself and looking at what I really want to achieve in terms of personal achievements and careers. I realised that the problem with South African education, can change through me taking a step. I would have an impact in changing the methodology of teaching and improve the marks of black students especially in the township schools. As I will be starting my first year of teaching next year, I will also coach the debating society that I was in here at LEAP. In the future I would like to open my own school where I will specialise in debating and public speaking for students in the townships.

I would really like to get more involved in your project and keep the connection going between us please reply so as to keep the connection going.

zonke mpotulo (grade 12 student)