One Month Down!

Hello Friends!

Sorry it has taken so long for me to update you! A lot has been going on!
I can't believe it has already been a month since I got here! Not much time before my mom is here to travel with me to Cape Town and then we will be headed on our way to West Palm Beach, Florida!

Monday

 November 15

School was back to normal, tea break was normal around 10:15 and the day carried on. The girls started a cooperative learning assignment in which they were organized into groups to discuss a particular sea animal.  It was very interesting because the girls rarely work in groups and interact in such a way during a lesson.  It was really interesting to see which personalities took the lead and which followed along! They discussed their sea animal in their group and what they found out about that animal. Each group became ‘experts’ in their group and then they each presented a small fact about that animal to the class and were able to answer questions from their fellow peers. It was so cute! We are still sharing up in to Thursday of the week since the girls brought in items, created posters and researched so well! After school Sherryl took me home and I quickly changed and ran to the gym.  Here is a picture I snuck on my iPhone at the gym!

Tuesday

November 16

 School was on a normal break but we did have play practice! It is getting down to the wire now! They will be performing for the pre-primaries on Monday! On Thursday, they get to practice fully dressed in their costumes! So exciting! Be patient for pictures! 
After school I participated in a Sport Event which was for girls in grade 3-7 (I believe) who have participated in a sport of some type that year.  It was similar to a field day in the US except more fun! There were a little less than 200 girls who participated! Marvine and Janine organized everything and created an event full of 14 fun activities.  Each activity station had a staff member running it, who had clues to the next activity! It was so cute! They did such a great job. Each team was a mixture of grades 3-7 and they used the clues to find the next station.  I had an envelope of clues that led to the station where there was flour and nylons involved haha.  Seemed fun, the clue to get to my station was something about how  I was on the netball court and something about an American waiting for them! It was so funny, girls at the school who are in senior-primary obviously don’t know me but as soon as I spoke they were all sure they were at the right station! I ran a station with a game I learned at the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids! The game is called builders and bulldozers, and I split the team into two groups: the builders and the bulldozers.  I set out a whole bunch of cones and the goal is for the builders to build as many cones the right way up and the bulldozers to knock them down to be upside-down. Each rotation had 3 minutes to complete the task.  Once the three-minutes were up, I would yell FREEZE! I counted who built or bulldozed the most cones but everyone was a winner since they are on the same team! The team earned their sticker for my station, received the next clue and went on their way! Afterwards there was hot dogs and juice for all the girls! It was so fun! 


Builders and Bulldozers!

 This was a funny one! The girls had to put tights on their head and in the bottom of the tights there was a ball, they had to use that like an elephant's trunk and knock over a 2 liter bottle filled with water! Hilarious!

Wednesday

November 17

Today I helped out in my grade one classroom and as soon as it was break time headed to Marvine’s class in pre-primary to sub for her the rest of the day! Marvine has a student from Michigan! She just moved here recently. It was a pleasure to work with them and they were so cute! They finished up some center work, did a puzzle, played outside while I had recess duty in one of the gardens! The girls made sure I was aware of what was going on and that  I didn’t skip a beat! They also told me, “Miss Godmar, you can swing if you like, teachers can swing too!” So indeed, I swung! 
 After school, I participated in a swimming gala.  I just gave slips to the timers to record scores and ran those scores back to the score table! Not much but helped out where I could! The pool is very nice and the girls swam well! It was fun, and I got to work with Leigh too! :)


School Pool

 I went home and got ready for sushi night with Leigh and Marvine! We had another successful sushi night! No movie tonight, nothing good was out!

Thursday

November 18

Sherryl was sick today! I was trusted with her classroom for the day! My lucky day, first day of dress rehearsal for the play! AHH! It was fine though! Plus seven girls were absent! This sickness is going around! Her classroom is great and two moms came to help get the girls ready for the rehearsal. The day went so well! I was very happy and excited that I am getting some time to work in new environments and be a sub in another country nonetheless! After school I went to the gym and came home in time to Skype with Patrick.  Patrick just got an internship at Colorado Springs Airport for a year! So proud of him! He just graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in Aviation Science and Administration! 

Yay Patrick! 

He is starting in January.  I haven’t spoke to him about it or anything since they flew him out there for the second interview.  Once we were on Skype all of a sudden, internet went down! AH!

In South Africa, you pay for internet by purchasing a certain amount of gigs per month, or having no capacity on it which is quite expensive.  They don’t have bundles like we do, mind you I just got my cable/internet "bundled deal" bill for my empty apartment this month.. a whopping 70 bucks!  But anyways, we must have hit the capacity on the internet and it was down! I feel so bad because I am sure I am the cause, even though I have been very mindful of not downloading (music, iTunes, iPhone apps) like I usually do at home! And keeping my usage to Skype, email, blog and of course Facebook! 

Friday

November 19

Sherryl is still sick today! Oh no! So again I was able to step in her classroom! Today it is picture day for the play! Except, we had 10 girls absent in Sherryl’s classroom! So many girls are sick! I hope they are resting up for the big play next Wednesday evening! Marvine has taken me home the past few days! Thank you! After school I was going to go to a braai (BBQ) with Melody for her friend Adrian. I was feeling really exhausted from the week and wanted to Skype Patrick and my family instead, so I stayed home. I also got to talk to Meg and Amy! :)

Saturday & Sunday

November 20 and 21

Saturday morning I slept in and woke up not feeling so well. Seems like the weeks I have avoided getting sick, I caught the bug! Sherryl couldn’t get me into her family doctor but was able to get me to see her daughter’s father in-law who is a doctor and went to his home.  His eldest son was there who is also a doctor and his girlfriend who is studying to be a doctor.  So I had three doctors throw in their two cents, write me a script and send me on my way! Was very nice and I didn’t have to hassle with an office and paperwork of being in another country! Sherryl and I picked up my meds at the pharmacy and headed home where I went back to bed.  I was supposed to go to a concert for a band called Goldfish with Melody Saturday night and missed out on that. :( This weekend was a blur of illness, I spent so much time in bed sleeping and with the most awful headache the days run together.  Melody made me a little get well bag to remind me of home and Sherryl got me flowers too! I have the best South African family ever! Thank you, you are too sweet!


My beautiful flowers from Sherryl!

Get well - from Mel! 

 So thoughtful! They don't have Starbucks here

Monday

November 22

I woke up this morning for school and still felt awful! My headache won’t leave me! Off to the doctor! Sherryl and I went today because she was not feeling well yet either! This time we were able to get in to her family doctor. He told me to keep up with my meds I have been on, prescribed me another med, gave me a Vitamin B-12 shot and sent me on my way free of charge! I have had some bad luck in the past but have been very fortunate in other ways that make up for it! I came home and went straight to bed. The doctor wants me to be off tomorrow to rest up and build my immune system so that I don’t go back and get worse… Oh man, it is no fun being sick!

Only 8 more teaching days left at Collegiate :( 


Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am celebrating on Friday :)

More updates soon! 

xoxo

Miss Godmar

Elephants!

  November 14, 2010

Yesterday morning I woke up and received a text from Marvine! She asked if 10 am was okay to come get me!

10 am rolled around and I jumped in the car with Marvine, Janine and her boyfriend Iain. Sherryl packed us a lunch and everything to go for Addo Elephant National Park!

Unfortunately, Melody is sick and could not come! I hope she starts to feel better.  I have not had any symptoms yet but the whole family has been through it!

We stopped at the ATM and picked up a few “cool drinks” aka juices, coke and waters.  We began our adventure to Addo. I think it was like an hour drive? It didn’t seem long with all the chat and laughter…I honestly had no concept of time yesterday.

We got to the park and you just drive your own car right through! We rode in Marvine’s Audi Coupe, which perhaps not what you think you’d take to drive through an elephant park, I am just glad nothing happened to it! After we paid at the entrance we stopped at the gift shops and looked around and headed on our way.  I am not sure what we would have done without Iain driving and navigating, he did so well!

There is definitely a reason why they call it Addo ELEPHANT Park! I saw herds and herds of elephants! Eating, walking and having a mud bath!


Addo Elephant National Park

Deep within the shadows of the dense valley bushveld of the Sundays River region of the Eastern Cape lies the Addo Elephant National Park. Here, the evenings are punctuated by the strident howl of the black-backed jackal, and the francolin's call heralds each new dawn. Safe from relentless persecution in the past, the grey leviathans of the bush now roam in peace.

The original Elephant section of the park was proclaimed in 1931, when only eleven elephants remained in the area - today this finely tuned ecosystem is sanctuary to over 450 elephants, Cape buffalo, black rhino, a variety of antelope species, as well as the unique flightless dung beetle, found almost exclusively in Addo. And their Addo has only just begun. with plans to expand the 164 000 ha Addo National Elephant Park into a 360 000 ha mega-park. In addition, plans include the proposed proclamation of a 120 000 ha (296 500 acre) marine reserve that includes islands that are home to the world's largest breeding populations of Cape gannets and second largest breeding population of African penguins.

 Please enjoy the pictures, but it does not show entirely how great of a time I had!! :) 

 Kudu

 Wart hog!

I took so many more photos but it takes sooooo long to upload them it is very time-comsuming! Please seek my facebook page if we are friends for more pictures!

After the elephant park we took a gravel road to a home-made pie and pastry place where we enjoyed some good treats! 

We headed back to PE and Janine invited us to a friend of her's home for a dart competition... Me thinking I am decent at darts, agrees and poor Marvine was stuck with me for a partner! Sorry!! We came in dead last in the competition! While there we enjoyed a braai, which is like a bbq and headed home later in the evening!

It was a great long day full of so many activities, today I spent the day lounging and getting pictures up! Back to school tomorrow! 

Thanks for following!

Miss Godmar

Crunch Time

November 12, 2010

It is definitely crunch time! We are preparing for the end of the year and of course the big PLAY!

On Saturday last week, Melody had to babysit, I went with her to keep her company! The home of the family was really nice and the boys just wanted to eat pizza and watch television.  Easy enough! Mel and I watched along, drank some coffee/tea and looked at magazines into the night.  I ended up falling fast asleep on the couch after Mel got the boys to bed.  The family came home around 1:30. 

Sunday, I joined the gym with Melody.  I purchased a one month membership to Virgin Active Gym (Richard Branson definitely got quite a bit of money out of me for just a month, no wonder he's a billionaire).  It is a very nice gym and I ran (and walked) a 5k while we were there.

On Monday, I took the day to observe my cooperating teacher and get set with the routine of the classroom and the girls.  I still continued my duties of assisting where I can and doing reading and small maths groups. We finished the magazine paper birds! So cute! I got home, did some lesson planning and went off to the gym with Melody.

Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to go with the remedial teacher to a special needs school.  The ELSEN (Exceptional Learners with Special Educational Needs) Academy is a privately ran school for students with special needs ranging from Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Learning Disabilities (LD) and Other Health impaired (OHI) which includes ADHD. The school had approximately 100 students and 25 on staff.  It was very interesting to see how they run their classrooms, however, I feel like most of the students are able to be in the same schools as students with higher abilities but there is not much funding or many special education teachers.  The programs for teacher education are quite different than in the states and teachers can earn their degree and teach special needs in a variety of endorsements or abilities.  Not many teachers are qualified in their “remedial” or special education programs.  It is not readily available to them as it is in our universities.  I took some pictures of the school while I was there.  The school also uses Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) like we do but they are not a legal binding contract like ours is.  They have used versions of the UK and our IEP’s to help form theirs, it is a lot of paperwork but no more than what we have.  Programs offered to those with special needs do seem to be focused and geared towards the child’s best interest, so it was a pleasant experience and overall very informative.  I am hoping to visit more schools as time allows.


After school on Tuesday I helped Leigh and Marvine with ball skills. This was the last ball skills of the year for Grade 1 so I was able to just play some American games...We only had a 45 minute block to do so and my games are easy to catch on to well Americans who are more familiar with them..haha.. It was a bit chaotic but I am hoping the had fun anyways.  We played link tag, builders and bulldozers and a YMCA version of kickball!

ELSEN Academy 
It is an old convent and the school rents about 2/3 of the building.
To the left is the 1/3 not in use as it is run-down and needs some renovation.

Main Entry

Wednesday was my first day having the girls all to myself in the classroom! I planned a variety of activities to keep them motivated and focused while I set-up small groups to work on reading and maths.  I also had them do a lesson on the Water Cycle and they created their own on a big piece of paper with the process typed up that they had to cut and paste. It went well, yet I felt like I can do better! That is why I am here though! I am learning so much! 

After school on Wednesday I went home and did more lesson planning for the following day.  At 6pm, Marvine picked me up and her and I met Leigh (another teacher at Collegiate) at Jon Dory’s a seafood restaurant.  On Wednesday’s they have ½ off sushi! Yum! It was sooooo good! It is freshly prepared in front of you at a small counter that has a conveyor belt of plates going around it! The plates are different colors and that means how much it costs.  I had California Rolls with shrimp and crab.  It was a very inexpensive great meal! Afterwards, we all went to see the movie, Life As We Know It! Wednesday is also a special day at the movies so our tickets were cheap too! I'd say for around $10 USD I had dinner and a movie! WOW! When you purchase your tickets they assign seats in the theatre, which I thought was a clever idea and good system! Worked out nicely.  We also bought snacks at the concessions but the popcorn just wasn't the same as US buttery popcorn, haha the kind that's really bad for you of course! The movie was great! I laughed and cried haha!

Thursday was very similar to Wednesday as I had the girls again so my cooperating teacher could have time to do assessments and reports.  I planned small lessons and activities so I could still have time to do small groups before break and the play practice. After first break the girls practiced the play from 10:30-12:15.  It is a bit chaotic but they did great and I cannot wait to show pictures of them dressed up in their little costumes! It is going to be a great show!  It was a good day! 

After school, I went with Janine and Marvine to the Green Acress Mall to go shopping for an upcoming lesson in Marvine's pre-primary classroom, Fancy Nancy! They purchased all these cute nail polishes, hair ties, headbands, necklaces for their Fancy Nancy theme! Oh the joys of teaching in an all-girl school, it can be as girly as you want! So fun and so cute.  I also bought two new tops while we were out!  After Marvine and Janine dropped me off at the Durrheim's I just caught Sherryl and Melody heading to the grocery like we always do on Thursdays.  (Maybe it's the best day to run errands, huh Mom and Grandma? That's our day at home too!) We got a few groceries and headed home.  I got a box of honey cheerios, they are quite different than ours but still good, I had them for breakfast this morning.  When we got home from the grocery Mel and I ran off to the gym! She went to a spinning class and I ran another 5k and did a small circuit of arms/legs.  Good workout.  We got home and ate dinner, I got my things ready for the next day and sat down with Melody in the lounge.  She just got her Macbook back from being fixed so her and I have matching Macs :)  We painted our nails and watched The Wedding Date, when it was finished I went off to bed!

Today was another day of teaching for me! It is so fun to try new lessons with the girls and get some maths groups going. They are so bright! Another day of play practice and soon the day has ended. 


Tonight I am doing a little shopping with Marvine and Janine and then later this evening heading to a party with Melody! :) 
The weekend is here!

Thanks for following! 

Love,

Miss G

Welcome, November!

November 5, 2010

I haven’t written in a while but a lot has happened since my last posting!

On Sunday, my generous family drove me around PE on a nice sea view tour.  The views are soo beautiful! I saw a lot of the sea and will include pictures.  We stopped at a restaurant called Barnacles for lunch.  It was good food and great views.  There was even a yorkie wandering the restaurant :)

Cape Recife Lighthouse

Yorkie at Barnacles!

View from the Restaurant Barnacles

Pictures from the Sea View Drive

Sand dunes!

After I got home and did some research for my lesson on water birds.  Marvine offered to take me to the gym she goes to! It was so nice and we got a decent work-out in.  I hope to hit the gym more often! After that I was exhausted, I showered and went to bed to get ready for the week ahead!

..........

This week flew by…I can hardly remember it! :)

On Wednesday, I did my first lesson on water birds and introduced some birds to my students (flamingo, seagull, penguin, fish eagle, duck and pelican).  I talked about the birds and then the girls matched the bird name to some facts about birds. Then the girls cut and pasted the bird names and facts into a fun little book where they drew each bird. They turned out so cute! See!

Working Hard!

 Finished books to take home!

 My sample book!

On Wednesday evening, the school had an awards ceremony called Prize Giving. Collegiate knows how to have a ceremony! The decorations and floral arrangements were so nice and afterwards there was great food and drinks in the staff lounge.  Everyone got dressed up and I got ready with Janine and Marvine after we all got our hair washed and straightened at a hair salon.  It was so nice! I hope to go back again and get my hair done! I didn’t take any picture! OOPS!

The hall set-up for Prize Giving

Thursday night, I went with Melody to her friend’s home and had supper club with her and a lot of her friends! On the way there we stopped to get some gas.  You don’t have to get out of your car here! There are workers who will do it for you! How nice if we had this during Michigan winters! :) At her friend Adrian’s home we all built our own burger and just talked, I met a lot of fun people! 

Finishing up our work on birds, today (Friday) we made birds out of paper and they are more for decoration.  We displayed them on the hoops we have hanging in the classroom! They turned out so cute! Lastly, the girls are tearing paper from magazines and pasting them in the shape of a bird to a black piece of paper.  These look almost mosaic and have cool texture! Pictures to come for those! They are not finished!

Birds Displayed on hoops

 My paper bird example

Next weeks theme starts water! Uses, cycles, draught, etc! Should be fun!

After school today, Sherryl had a few students over and their moms who have helped make all the costumes for the upcoming concert! She put on quite the set-up! Sherryl is amazing in the kitchen and made meringue with caramel cream and strawberries, quiche, and delicious cupcakes! The girls got to decorate and frost their own and had a wonderful time! The moms chatted, ate and drank tea/coffee. 

 Tea/Coffee

 Cupcake Frosting Station

Prior to the tea party, Sherryl and I went to Woolworth’s to grab some fresh strawberries…on the way there we saw this man riding his bike! Apparently he is known for having this dog and how he rides on his back as he cruises along :) So cute, had to capture this!

Later this evening, Melody and I are heading to a theatre that will perform a mixture of broadway songs with a cast and band.  It was absolutely wonderful! The theatre removed the stadium seating and had tables set up throughout the whole hall.  There were ten at our table and you could bring your own food and drink and enjoy the show! It was such a great idea and I really enjoyed it! :)

Here is a picture of Melody and I at the show!

Melody's Friends!

xoxo

Miss G