First Week of School

During my staying in South Africa, I am volunteering at a Catholic school.  The school is located in Johannesburg.  It is called Holy Family College.  Located on the campus are grades R (kindergarten) - 12th grade.  I am helping in the grade R-grade 5 classrooms.  The school is a rather small school.  The class sizes are similar to that at St. John's in Jordan.  The students do not actually live in the city; they live in surrounding townships.  The parents must find means of transportation for the students.  The school does not offer busing for the students.  For most of the students, English is their second language.  Most of the students would speak Zulu or a different African language at home.

The school day begins at 8:00 am, but some students begin arriving as early as 6:30 in the morning.  The academic school day ends around 1:15 pm. The subjects taught at school are similar to those taught in America and all of the subjects are taught in English.  The only difference is in grade 4, the students begin to learn Afrikaans.  Afrikaans is one of the three national languages in South Africa.  (English and Zulu are the other two national languages.)  After the end of the academic school day, there is an hour of what is called extra-murals.  During this time, the students have an opportunity to receive extra assistance in math or reading, make crafts/play board games, or participate in a variety of sports.

Their school year began last week (January 14th).  It was a typical first week of school experience; much organizing of supplies, going over procedures/rules, and reviewing concepts taught from the previous year.  During the first week, I had an opportunity to assist in grade 3, grade R, and grade 5.  The following are pictures I took in each grade.

Grade R (kindergarten) pictures:

Grade 3 pictures:

 

Grade 5 pictures:

 






St. John's students, if you have specific questions about the school experience here in South Africa; either ask your teacher to email me questions and I will try and answer them the best I can, or post a question in the comments section of this blog and I will respond back.  I will continue to post a variety of pictures and information about my volunteer experience at Holy Family College.