Teachers’ Stories: Africa

Teachers’ Stories: Africa


Name

Marisa Fox

School

CBC St John’s, Cape Town

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

“Keep your heads up God gives his hardest battles to His strongest soldiers.
In this time we need to be the light in the world and remember …Lives Jesus in your hearts, forever.”

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We use Google classroom as teaching platform. Teachers make videos, sound clips, quizzes and assignments. We have WhatsApp groups for parents, students and different subjects. Instant communication to all involve that is part of the teaching process is extremely important. We get constant information from our Educational District and subject advisors.

What challenges are there?

  • Problems are that some teachers and students don’t have wifi but only mobile data. Where there is more than one child in a household they must share devices. Internet is also intermittent and speed is sometimes slow.

Where do you see signs of hope?

Students are becoming quite responsible. Especially our final year students. Good communication to parents are strengthening relationships with parents.


Name

Kaitlin King

School

CBC St John’s, Parklands

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

That even though times are uncertain at the moment we need to keep faith that God is in control and will bring us through this.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We have started using Google Classroom and we are keeping in contact with the parents and children via Class Dojo- where they are able to send us videos, photos and voice notes.

What challenges are there?

  • It’s new for everyone so it’s getting use to it and some parents are battling with using extra data and not having a printer.

Where do you see signs of hope?

That all the children are connected so they are covering the work that needs to be done at this time.


Name

Helena Bester

School

CBC St. John’s Parklands, Cape Town

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

We are investing in mankind… let us not allow Covid-19 to take away the opportunity to learn in 2020… the world (especially South Africa) cannot afford to miss one year of Education!

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

I record every lessons and all homework with my aver version camera. I then upload it onto Google classroom.

What challenges are there?

  • Very slow internet. It takes ages to upload lessons.
  • I can only record when the rest of my house is quiet…that means late at night or early on the morning.

Where do you see signs of hope?

My colleagues are very encouraging.


Name

Scott Harris

School

CBC St John’s

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

“See this as an opportunity to become more techno savvy!
Speak to others who have the experience and resources!”

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We use Google Classroom and Whatsapp. I’ve been using Kahoot to set up fun interactive quizzes.

What challenges are there?

  • Giving feedback to everyone.
  • It is very time consuming preparing and evaluating!

Where do you see signs of hope?

Children are learning to be accountable and becoming independent. Our class is on Whatsapp and they are so encouraging and helpful towards each other unlike in the classroom at times! Great teamwork!


Name

Sonja van Staden

School

CBC St John’s, Parklands

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

Hang in there. Do a work schedule for every subject and allocate the days of your week to certain tasks so that you know what you have to do every day for a week in advance. If students ask when are you posting this or that then you can tell them exactly what is going to happen what day. When you are busy designing a lesson, let the questions wait a little. You can allocate time to answering questions later. Just get one thing done at a time. For once…Time is on our side.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

All teachers have created Google classrooms for the subject they are teaching. I found a very handy tool called BOOKWIDGETS. It is compatible with Google classrooms. I can create quizzes and games and Bookwidgets will mark it automatically. The students just click ‘submit’ and their answer sheet and their results is automatically loaded onto Google classrooms. It is awesome. You normally pay to use Bookwidgets but they have made it free of charge during the lockdown.

What challenges are there?

  • Getting ALL the students to submit their work. Re-designing my lessons so that it can be used for online teaching takes a long time. My access to technology. My laptop is old. Not actually seeing the students make it hard to know how they are coping. Just missing the students and that human touch that is actually part of teaching.

Where do you see signs of hope?

I find my work is more structured now and I can do one thing at a time and get it finished before I answer questions from the students. In a normal class situation I am constantly bombarded with questions and sometimes I can’t seem to remember what I was busy with. The parents have been very supporting.


Name

Inaish Chetty

School

CBC – Mount Edmund

Country

South africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

Let us continue to be “beacons of hope” and provide our children and families that we serve in the different communities the support, encouragement and love that we as EREBB schools do as educators.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

“As the remote learning is new to the College, staff have set up Google Classroom and all learners at the College have been given codes to access the various Google Classrooms. Both parent and children have been supportive and trying their best during this lockdown period.

In the Foundation Phase section of the College, we also have WhatsApp groups set up as well as Class Dojo. The Marketing Manager is assisting with postings on all websites and on the D6 Communicator to ensure that all stakeholders are kept in the communication look.

Zoom meetings are taking place amongst management and staff to ensure that there is face to face contact as well.

Teachers are learning to be creative to develop videos to post to the children as well. A host of websites to further support parents and learners are being posted as and when received.

The College Principal and the management are also looking at the support provided by the learner support section to learners experiencing learning and emotional barriers.

A great learning experience for all involved and the CBC – Mount Edmund Community has been supportive and involved while dealing with the Covid 19 and the Global challenges that exist currently.”

What challenges are there?

The access to wifi for all learners and staff. The training of staff on further innovative ways of teaching remotely. The balance for learners at home with the other key facets of schooling, sporting activities, spiritual balance and healthy lifestyles are also area the College is looking into.

Where do you see signs of hope?

The positive parent support to staff, the responses by children to the work given to them provides such hope during this time. The support of the College Board of Governors and the Management and staff and all other key stakeholders provides hope.


Name

Marnus

School

CBC St Johns Parklands College

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

We can overcome any obstacle if we put our minds to it.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

During this difficult time most of us have resorted to online teaching. We are using Google Classroom as our main platform for teaching.

What challenges are there?

  • Biggest challenge is to get all the children into their different classes on Google classroom.

Where do you see signs of hope?

That Google classroom be a valuable asset in the future.


Name

Merica Prinsloo

School

CBC St John’s Parklands

Country

Cape Town, South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

This is not a bad skill to have. I think teaching online can be used tremendously in the future. If we can succeed now, we can succeed always. Knowledge is power!

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

I am currently making short videos about the work (breaking it up into small pieces to make it easier to explain and understand). I then post the videos on the Google Classroom platform and notify the learners on WhatsApp that the work was loaded. The learners can then individually or on the class group or Classroom ask questions if there is something unclear. I give homework about a topic and then release a video of me marking it the next lesson.

What challenges are there?

  • Internet is expensive and slow. All learners doesn’t have access to internet and enough data. It is difficult to explain some concepts (I teach Physical Science) for especially the Grade 12’s and 11’s.

Where do you see signs of hope?

When learners interact with you and tell you that they actually understood the video and homework and that it is going well with it.


Name

Patrick Bolttler

School

CBC St John’s

Country

Cape Town, South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

Stay Safe, stay optimistic, find pleasure in the nature around you; blue skies, a tree, a garden, frogs, birds, your pets. Do your bit to help your neighbours, communities and your students.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We are using Google Classroom, WhatsApp and email.

What challenges are there?

  • There are many constraints, suffice to say we work around and through them.

Where do you see signs of hope?

Mother Earth is healing, families are uniting, we have learnt that we can do with far less than what we have, our nation has come together, there are many saints among us.


Name

Rúan van der Vyver

School

CBC St John’s Parklands

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

Stay strong and just communicate with the kids.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We use Google classroom with daily lessons, assignments and whatsapp chat groups.

What challenges are there?

  • Adapting to the use of online materials and interacting on the new platform.

Where do you see signs of hope?

The kids are still learning and more questions are asked. Kids don’t have to be shy like they are in class.


Name

Ryk Brink

School

CBC St John’s

Country

Cape Town, South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

This to shall pass. Be responsible. Stay positive. Do not lose hope. Stay safe.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We mostly use Google Classroom. Sometimes we upload short Youtube videos if we have to explain concepts. Also class work, followed with a memorandum the next day. Assignments are loaded and answered on Class Room. Assessments are e-mailed to teachers. Oral assessments are submitted on Whatsapp. Teachers, parents and students are all on grade groups on Whatsapp.

What challenges are there?

  • Some students do not have enough data at home – economic challenges.

Where do you see signs of hope?

Everyone bought into the new reality. Great support from parents.


Name

Fran Cuff

School

CBC St John’s

Country

South Africa

What is your message to the global educational community?

Whatever we do in this time, remember that we are doing it to keep our little ones stimulated and enriched. It is challenging for us as parents and teachers but means so much to our learners.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

We have started e-learning. Our school is using Google Classroom and ClassDojo to send activities out. Teachers are sending lesson via video and audio and they are communicating to parents via WhatsApp.

What challenges are there?

  • Internet connection.
  • Parents not having the time to do the work with the children.
  • Parents teaching concepts and methods not applicable for age group.

Where do you see signs of hope?

When we get submissions of the children and see how they are enjoying it and how excited they are to interact with their teacher.


Name

Martha Unyenya

School

St Edmunds Secondary School

Country

Zambia

What is your message to the global educational community?

To share ideas on ways through which learners can be helped especially those from vulnerable communities.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

Currently, we do not have much contact with our learners even for online programs as most of our learners don’t own phones as it is prohibited. Even for those who have phones we do not have their contact numbers.

What challenges are there?

  • Contacting our learners is our major challenge.

Where do you see signs of hope?

Maybe some learners can be helped by having lessons aired through local radio stations. Secondly, the national broadcaster TV.


Name

Amos Kutwa

School

Edmund Rice Secondary School

Country

Sinon, Tanzania

What is your message to the global educational community?

Despite the limitations we seek for ways to stay connected to each other.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

The schools went to an abrupt closure following the government directives on 17th March. It was so impromptu that left no much time to prepare but several teachers gave some take away work to form six students who were expecting to do end of course exam by May. Now it is about five weeks but thank to technology which has made learning to take place although to a limited number of students who are scattered across the vast country. through the government initiative we have educative programs that are channeled through the radio and television. For the few who are connected to WhatsApp there is some progress of how we are in touch with our students.

What challenges are there?

  • Students scattered in far towns in remote places.
  • A good number of our students families not technologically connected.

Where do you see signs of hope?

Despite the panic across the country and world, some parents call in order to have connections with school.


Name

Ismael Juma

School

Edmund Rice Catholic Education Centre

Country

Kenya

What is your message to the global educational community?

Let’s unite and support each other where possible to create a global atmosphere of teaching and learning.

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

Learning seems a bit unstable generally but as a school we’ve had to give out handout homework for our learners to keep them up to date and at the same time as a staff we’ve tried to use WhatsApp to circulate home work in soft copies to parents.

What challenges are there?

One of the major challenges we get more especially using digital platform is that not all the families can access smartphones and even internet to do the homework of children.

Where do you see signs of hope?

Am hopeful since as time moves more of our children are beginning to appreciate the efforts made by teachers and also parents.


Name

Yusiku Imasiku

School

St.Raphael’s Secondary School

Country

Zambia

What is your message to the global educational community?

Learning must continue using various technological means that does not promote any form of human to human interaction. The emphasis must first be on how to stay safe. #Stayhome #learnfromhome

What does learning looks like for your school community at this time?

The following are the remedials put in place. 1. Pupils were given various tasks in form of assignments, take home tests and presentation work (to be presented when schools reopen) 2. Some video presentations on various topics are being posted on facebook especially targeting exam classes. This to supplement on the education channel on national broadcaster that was introduced.

What challenges are there?

Very few students are coming through to drop the given works. However, this is understandable as there is strong emphasis by the ministry of health to #stay home following the rise in new Covid-19 cases recorded in the past few days.

Where do you see signs of hope?

To be honest, none. The number of cases has sky-rocketed from 49 to 61 in the last couple of weeks. There is just a huge sense of trepidation hovering around as there seems to be no decisiveness from government of how to tackle the pandemic.