Some Answers from 8A

Dear 9D and Mr Scott

Yesterday we had a powerpoint presentation with 8A (I will be sending this to you soon, depending on the size of the file and whether the internet can cope with it). I am also hoping to put some photos up on the blog later on but will also send copies to Mr Scott.

In 8A and 8B there are approximately 45 students in each class. The age range is from 13 years old to 16 years old. Students repeat a school year if they fail their end of year exams.

We concentrated your questions and here are the answers so far.

1. You asked what classes the students took.

Here at Percy Mdala we call them 'Learning Areas' and these are the learning areas we follow:

English, Maths, Xhosa Technology, Social Sciences, Economic and Management Science, Arts and Culture, Life Orientation, Geography, Natural Science, Life Orientation.

In Life Orientation we learn:

Life skills
Learn about relationships and how to be assertive. We learn human rights, budgeting, and how to behave. We learn how to take good decisions and how to take responsibility for ourselves. We also learn about HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy.

In fact HIV/AIDS is included in almost all our learning areas in some form.

Social Sciences is the same as History and EMS is a combination of accounting, business economics and economics.

2. What is your timetable like?

We have 6 periods, or lessons, per day and they last around 50 minutes each.

The first class starts after registration at 8.10am and we have morning assembly on Mondays and Fridays first thing. We have Assembly outside and on Fridays we all sing in Xhosa.

Our timetable runs on an eight day cycle and our classes finish at 2pm.

We have no morning break. We have 4 lessons striaght and then a lunch break. We get approximately 40 minutes for lunch.

Sport only happen after lessons and is not part of the timetable. We play sport between 2pm and 2.45pm. Sport is not compulsory.

The sports we play are:

Netball – just girls
Soccer – boys
Rugby - boys
Table tennis – girls and boys
Cricket - boys
Golf – girls and boys

3. Do you have MSN?

Only one student in our class has a computer at home and he does not have access to it. So, we do not have MSN. ONly 12 of us (out of 45 students) have Cell Phones. We call the Cell Phones here not Mobile phones and when send a message we say we are sms-ing, not texting.

We are not allowed to use our cell phones in school (but some of us do anyway and then we have them confiscated by the teachers). We don’t get our phones back until our parents come and fetch them from the teachers.

4. How much do you know about Belfast?

Not much yet as we can’t get on to the website and see the BBC/Percy Mdala site.
We are waiting to see your presentations. Perhaps next lesson.

Note to 9D from Claire: The students are not familiar with Ireland or Northern Ireland or "The Troubles', as we call them.

One of your questions was 'Is your school like ours?' The students could not answer this because they have yet to see the website and your presentations.

I am going to post this now but hope to add pictures later on.

Please could 9D respond and send us some more questions. I am seeing both 8A and 8B tomorrow (Friday 20th).

I look forward to some more posts - it seems to have gone a little quiet!

All the best
Claire

No Good News on the Internet front

Dear All

As you can guess from the title we are still internet connection free at Percy Mdala. This is quite frustrating but I know that all is being done that is possible. An expert is coming this afternoon and we are hoping that he can throw some light on the problem.

I am dying to get started with the PM students but first I need to show them the website. They haven't even seen it yet. Some have never been on the internet and some didn't know what the internet was. We will be working with 8B and 8A. Their ages range widely as the students stay in a year if they fail their end of year exams. I have already talked to them about the project and they are very enthusiastic. They especially want to use the Digital cameras! So far they have come up with a list of questions for St Dominic's and they have a very clear idea of what they want to do their projects on.

The Questions: How many teachers are there at St Dom's? How do the students behave at school? Do you wear a uniform and if not why not? (remember they haven't seen the website yet). How many classes/periods do you have a day and when does school begin and finish? What is the Principal's name? If it is an all girl's school then does that mean that you only learn 'girl stuff'? Is there teenage pregnancy in the school and if so what structures are in place at the school to deal with it? Does St Dom's being a girls school make a difference to teenage pregnancy?

You can see that there are some serious questions here.

The Projects: The class want to address the following topics and this is the order they picked them in when I went around the class.
HIV/AIDS
Poverty
Crime
Teenage Pregnancy
Their School
Drugs
Sport
Drama
Chid Abuse
Music
African Dancing
Their culture (the xhosa culture)
Work that is being done in their community.

A serious list and one which should make us all pause for thought.

The answers from Percy Mdala will come soon. Just be patient.

Now, for some other news.

I was going to tell you about the Orphanage that Traveller’s volunteers visit each week. The youngest baby was only 8 months old. The oldest child about 15 years. Some are ‘proper’ orphans, ie no-one to take care of them but others are there for a while while their parents sort themselves out. In other words if their parents have drug or alcohol problems or are very sick from HIV/AIDS. The staff there are great but you do feel for the kids. The little ones just mob you and outstretch their arms wanting to be picked up and cuddled. I did some cuddling (yes me) and stayed there either cuddling or playing with kids for 2 and half hours. It was great but you do feel you are doing very little. The clothes they wear are not in that great condition. You would think all the rich foks in the area could do a better job…… One boy wanted my Converse trainers and couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t give them to him (they wouldn’t have fitted him anyway!).

I haven’t been to the soup kitchen yet, it is run by a man who used to be on the streets and trys to provide a decent meal a day for those kids who are on the streets. Apparently the kids just want to play again and have some human contact. So many problems, but people are trying to make a difference in their own communities.

Two of my house mates have come down with sore throats so I hope this misses me out – a bout of tonsilitis would be a bore. I am sure we pick up stuff from the kids at the orphanage because a lot of them have runny noses - seemingly all the time.

We had a TB warning at the school last week as there is a resistant strain on the increase. Some of the students at school have it but are under treatment. We were told to keep the doors and windows of the classrooms open as the virus is airborne. I am hoping that TB was one of the shots that I got before I came over!
The cockroaches are becoming bigger and bolder. I opened a drawer on Friday evening and there was a large one in there waving his horrid antannae at me and then scuttled. I roared and Mel, who was doing the washing up at the time, nearly had a seizure!! It took 5 grown adults to deal with the ‘crisis’. At one point we accidentally decapitated it while trying to get it out of the kitchen drawer and, grossly, it legs just kept on going. For the next 10 minutes!!! Eventually Orla was nominated to smash it to bits in the back yard. Later on I went back into the kitchen and there was an even bigger one on the floor. I had had enough excitement for one day so just went to bed…….

Sorry for such a long post but I hope it was interesting. No pictures as I just don't have time to wrestle with the computer here and pay loads more rand!!

Keep well all and count your blessings....