Academic Competition Results

We rejoice that every centre sent many fans

The teams were lined up randomly (by a toss of the die)

There were trophies and medals for the first three places

The Competition was a huge success! Everyone came very well prepared and each centre should be very proud of their performances. There were slightly over 100 people in attendance. Questions were asked in the areas of Geography, Computers, Science, Africa, Animals, Maths, Bible, Spelling, and Vocabulary. Out of 50 questions that were asked, only 8 were answered incorrectly! The most difficult area for the learners was Maths, where 4 out of 5 questions were answered incorrectly.

The final results were as follows:
1st place - Sun City with 30 points
2nd place - Manaleni with 26 points
3rd place - Vezebuhle with 24 points
4th place - Thembalethu with 13 points
5th place - Phumula with 7 points

Sun City OVC Centre - The winning team with their trophy and medals

As you can see, it was a very close race for the top three positions. In fact, Manaleni was in first place with 36 points until the very last question of the competition. They had a Maths question worth 10 points and they got the answer wrong, thereby losing 10 points and moving them from first to second place.

Many of the learners and staff commented on how good this was in encouraging learning at the centres and asked if this could be done again next year. Of course, I will be in the US next year, but Thelma would be very capable of organizing this event (I could assist her via email).

Please continue to pray that the learners will enjoy learning. School learning is not always valued as it should be. The teachers need encouragement to continue to make learning fun. (See previous postings for context).

I want to keep this brief so I won't go into any more detail, but if you have any questions, please ask!

Blessings,
Nancy

Books, Books, Books (and other stuff)

Hello All,
As a follow up to the teacher training report, I thought we'd give you a taste of a couple of reports that Nancy wrote concerning the follow-up trips. First, one teacher from each centre went to Johannesburg to a big warehouse with free (yes, free!) books. This is a service offered by the Rotary Club (Rotary Books for the World) to NGOs in Southern Africa. This was a fantastic visit. We had a great time and left with close to 150 books. The teachers chose very wisely. Most of the books were in the area of Maths and Sciences (books that would be VERY expensive), but they also chose books of poetry, dictionaries, books to help them teach English, and much more.

No - this is not Bert's study (although he wouldn't mind if it was filled with this many books). There are many books for the teachers to choose from. It was tough for them to decide.






You can tell from the big smile on Portia's face that she is having a good time. Portia is the OVC manager at the Thembalethu Centre.






Shopping Trip
The next trip to report on is the shopping trip for the teachers. You'll recall from the previous posting that each center that accumulated enough points during the teacher training received R500 each to purchase books and supplies for their center. The center with the most points received an extra R300. Vezubuhle was the winning center. The money for this shopping trip came from part of a donation from Renee Coppes, a recent MCDC volunteer.

We spent most of the day shopping, visiting 4 different stores in Pretoria. The teachers came well prepared with lists of things their centres needed. The teachers made excellent choices, ranging from stationery supplies (rulers, chalk, pencil sharpeners, etc) to books (dictionaries, atlases, English Handbooks, etc.). I was especially impressed that many of their choices for materials reflected the things they learned during the Teacher Training Workshops and are now putting into practice.

The teachers are very clever! There were several things that they wanted to get, but could not afford with their spending money. They put forth excellent arguments and convinced me to purchase these things for MERC so they could all use them!

God showered us with many blessings! There was a particular book that I had used during Teacher Training that all of the teachers wanted to buy. We found only 2 copies of it as we were shopping. The price of the book was R50, but when the two teachers who got the books first went to pay for it, they found it was on sale for only R5! I promised the other teachers I would look for it later since Bert and I are often in bookstores, and they each gave me R50, in case I found it and it was not on sale. I did find 2 copies of the book at another store the next day, and after telling the story to the manager of the store, she gave them to me for free!

Another blessing was that in one store several of the teachers found an excellent phonics program for teaching English. It has many components and is quite expensive, but I was pleased that they were so interested in it. I told them that I had seen it for the first time the previous day and I thought it looked great too, but could not be sure about the quality of the program without listening to the CDs first. The manager heard us talking and offered to play portions of the CDs for us! The teachers feel it will be very helpful at the centres. The manager offered to organize a workshop for us put on by a representative of the company. Talking it over, we decided that I would attend the workshop with Portia (Themb) and Victoria (SC). After completing the workshop, if we decide that the program is useful, I will use additional money that has been donated by Renee to buy the program for MERC. Portia and Victoria would then teach the material to the other teachers at all of the centres. As time goes on, as additional money is donated, perhaps we could buy the program for each centre.

In order to have enough strength to finish the shopping day, we made a stop at KFC for lunch.









Here is the group of teachers at the end of the long day. It's hard to see the big smiles.






We are so grateful to the Rotary Clubs, the donor for the money for the supplies, and to God who allows us to work with such a fine bunch of teachers.

Teacher Training at MCDC

Below are excerpts from Nancy's report on her work training teachers last year. Also included are some photos of the training in action. We're posting this report to provide some context for the Academic Competition that we asked you to pray for.


Teacher Training concluded on 13 November. Below follows a brief report. I will be phoning Anna soon to schedule a meeting with her, Nomsa, and Sibongile to discuss several matters that arose as a result of the training. These matters include a trip to Joburg with 2 teachers from each centre to choose free books for their centre, the possibility of an Academic Competition between the centres being held in March, and a shopping trip in Pretoria for educational materials earned by 4 of the centres. {See subsequent postings for reports on these activities. We know we are keeping you in suspense about the Academic Competition but just to let you know - we think it was a success and are very happy with the way it went. The scoreboard and photos will follow}


Teacher Training Final Report

Teacher Training was held at the Phumula Centre over a period of 10 days (4 hours / day) during the months of August - November 2008. The highest attendance on any given day was 17, the lowest was 12, and the average attendance was 14. In addition to teachers and some OVC managers, we were also blessed by the attendance of Thelma Ngobeni, Nomsa (4 times) and Sibongile (2 times).

Most of the teachers at the centres, though they have a great love for children, are not equipped with the skills to teach. The goal of the workshops was to provide them with the tools and the confidence to do their jobs effectively. The theme of the training was, “This Is Learning. Isn’t It Fun?!” The teachers came away from the training equipped to teach the children using games and a variety of fun activities.

The workshops were a combination of theory and practical application. Topics included: Teachers are FUNdamental, The FUNdamentals of Reading to Children – Why, What, and How, The Power of a Teacher’s Words, Teaching FUNdamental Bible Lessons, Developing a Programme for your Centre is FUNdamental, Teaching the FUNdamentals of English, Understanding the FUNdamentals of Discipline – What, Why, How, Helping Children With Homework is FUNdamental, FUNdamental Principles of How Children Learn, and The FUNdamentals of the Unit Study Method of Teaching.

Teachers were given notebooks that had outlines for each training session and well as additional related materials. At the end of each month, they were also given a set of my notes that they can use for revision.

During the workshops the teachers had many opportunities to teach in front of the group and receive peer feedback. They also spent much time in small group discussions that enabled them to share ideas and offer each other encouragement.





At the end of each lesson teachers had homework assignments that required them to put into practice at the centres what they had learned. The teachers were faithful in completing their assignments and commented on how beneficial they were.

A competition was held during the training to encourage the teachers to work together as a centre. Each centre was awarded points each time we met for attendance, punctuality, completion of homework, quality of homework, participation, Nancy's observations at the centres, etc. Prizes were awarded each month to those teams who had earned enough points. The big prize they were working towards, however, was a shopping trip in Pretoria to purchase educational materials for their centre. Any centre that had earned 60 or more points during the training will be given R500 for the shopping trip from a donation by Renee Coppes. The centre with the MOST points will receive an additional R300. At the end of the training, Vez. had the most points (93). Themb. (89), Phumula (65), and Sun City (61) all had earned enough for the shopping trip. Only Manaleni (52) did not earn enough points. This was mainly due to attendance.

Teacher response to the training was very positive. Teachers learned a lot and I have observed many of them putting into practice what they have learned. I enjoyed doing the training very much.

My greatest concern is that teacher turnover continues to be a huge problem. Teachers become equipped to do their jobs well, but often leave and we have a new batch of unequipped teachers. I have tried to impress upon the teachers and OVC managers of taking the materials I have given them and using those materials to train new teachers.

My greatest joy was hearing the teachers discussing among themselves the need for them to meet together on a regular basis (even if I can't be there) because it is so helpful to discuss problems they face and offer each other encouragement.