Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog.  Boy, have I been BUSY!  I realize that everyone is anxious to hear news about Vuzamanzi Primary School and my experience here. 

First of all, the children are amazing.  Every day the gift of their smiles lights up my spirit and heart.  The poverty and hardships the families, students, and community face are many, however, their positive attitudes and their passion for learning is astounding. 

So what have I been doing......lots of demonstration lessons, team teaching with a wonderful teacher,  Miss Joy Nqolobe, who helps translate English to Xhosa, the native language of the students here, prepping for lessons, helping teachers with reading across the curriculum, teaching reading strategies, developing session plans for mediated reading experiences, and paperwork.  I have been enjoying myself immensely and will have many stories to share with you later.  Unfortunately, I do not have Internet access at school so I can only post to the blog after I have completed all my homework and prepping for lessons after school.  At night, I am busy preparing files that teachers can use to learn about the demonstration lessons taught in other classrooms.  So far I have taught in grades 2-7.  Unfortunately, I have not been in grade 1 classrooms ,my forte, since these students only have lessons 10 % of the time in English and 90 % of the time in Khosa. 

To give you a picture of what the school looks like, the physical school building is old and need of repairs.  Teachers and learners work in their coats and scarfs (students if they have them) in buildings with no heat.  It is wintertime in South Africa with temperatures 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cold winds are blowing and lots of rain.  Before I left  home, I thought great, I won't miss the heat.  But now, I yearn for some.  I can not complain, since the students live in shacks, that are very small with no indoor heat, plumbing or sanitation.  Imagine waking up every day very cold and wet from the rains.  The children at school wear uniforms and their parents do a great job making sure they are neat and presentable.  Since they have no heat, they all seem to be suffering from runny noses.  Boy, I wish someone could air drop a shipment of tissues, warm clothes, food, and money to help them with their situation.  Yet, as I stated before, they are so eager to learn.  They value their education and know that they need it to get ahead in life.  I am learning so much from them. 

The teachers should be commended as well.  They continue to show students love while imparting knowledge to them as they shiver in classrooms with broken windows, door that don't shut and with little supplies.  Another thing I would like air dropped to me is all my school supplies from home.  Every day I lay awake thinking what can I do next to help the children and teachers here.  I feel like I am in a trauma center trying to place band aids over large gaping wounds.  Oh, on a good note, I have a new boyfriend.  Don't tell Mr. Fran (that is what the children call him).  One of the third grade boys told me after I did a demonstration lesson in his classroom that I am the cutest. 

So what about Mr. Fran, he has been taking lots of pictures to share with you.  Unfortunately, we are experiencing problems uploading these pictures to the blog site.  I think we will have to wait until we return to do this.  The Internet here is not as fast and we experience many problems using it.  He has been such a valuable asset to this project from computer work to updating documents, uploading pictures and documents into teacher's directories, and even photocopying as needed.  Tomorrow he will assist in organizing the ISBN numbers of books that the school is planning to purchase with their grant money for their new reading curriculum.  Additionally, he has been a good male role model for students since many come from homes with only a mother.

Today, I was even observed by an administrator from the Department of Education.  I can't wait to tell Mr. Reid, my principal at home, how much she enjoyed my lesson and the strategies I was using with the third grade classroom.

Goodbye for now.  Laura and Fran