It should come to no one’s surprise that I’ve been volunteering while living here. South Africa’s got all sorts of issues, and I loves me some service, so it was a natural occurrence. My study abroad program offers about five different organizations to volunteer with, and their volunteer program was part of my draw here. Turns out I’m not actually doing one of them. They are all great programs, but I decided that volunteering could be a chance for me to not only reach out to the greater Cape Town community, but another avenue for me to reach UCT students.
I decided to go for the smaller of two tutoring organizations on campus. I was trained, I was registered, and I was ready to go tutor Function English to eighth graders at a township high school at the beginning of the semester.
My first session, back in February, was sheer chaos more than anything else, and I can’t say that much has changed since. In African terms, the student-run organization I go through is organized. In my terms, it can be questionable. Communication and promptness can definitely lack, but in the big (African) picture, they’re pretty on their game. But the real chaos comes from the high school I tutor at.
I head out to the Cape Flats every Wednesday afternoon. There are five Functional English tutors, and we head out with another group of Science and Maths (not Math, but Maths) tutors going to another school. We get there and hang around until the 3:15 bell rings. Let chaos erupt. High schoolers in blue uniforms are in their prime, being typical fourteen year olds.
The five of us wind our way back to our classrooms, hang out for a few minutes while the kids clean up, then file in to organize ourselves. The number of learners that show up each week varies, but does seem to be on the steady decline. We split ourselves into small groups, where I’ve had anywhere from two to six learners, and work on our provided worksheets for the next 45 minutes.
The first day we got there we were told that we were getting the worst of the worst. Each of the five eighth grade class had about 55 students (yes, per classroom, per teacher), and the school had identified the 5-10 learners per class that were struggling most with English. These were the kids we would work with each week, and we would maintain the same group and hopefully see them improve.
Even though I try, I can’t say I’ve kept the same group. It just depends who shows up. I can’t say we have many conversations with these learners, who are either too timid to speak English in front of us or just don’t know how. I like to think I see small improvements. Are they speaking more around me? Do they comprehend more of the worksheets? Are they reading better? But I can’t really answer the questions.
So I do have some serious questions about how much help I actually am for these kids. And yes, I do have some serious qualms about being a middle-class, white American prancing into their classroom once a week to try and teach them the language that one student described as “white man’s language.” I just hope that in some way I have helped their English improve, because they need it to be any sort of successful in South Africa. I also know that this has been quite the learning experience for me, taking me out of my comfort zone into a place I have never experience before.
So I’m not walking out of this high school being Super Girl who saved the day, taught them English, or paved their way into a world of success. However, I have experienced the reality (as much as I can) of the life in a black township, and the struggle of South Africa’s education system. I hope, for the sake of these rambunctious kids, that they are one day, successful, in whosever terms those may be.
And hey, at least I achieved part of my goal with volunteering…made some South African friends. Now, do you think they’d want to do a Chipotle Fellowship?
No comments:
Post a Comment