A day in my life
You have to be a teacher to appreciate that teaching is really a calling -- a profession driven by passion and selflessness. As a teacher one is called on to tackle problems that others might simply shrug off.
I am principal of Hlau-Hlau Primary Sch...
We are an LSEN school -- learners with special educational needs. The year started smoothly. The usual management strategies were established and other classroom procedures were put in place -- rules were democratically decided on, contracts were sig...
It was 2002 and I was teaching in the foundation phase. One interesting thing I love about being a foundation phase teacher is that your learners tend to imitate just about everything you do. The way you dress, how you style your hair, the way you wa...
As all teachers know, most often you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for years. I was reminded of this at the end of last year.
For the past 12 years I have been privileged to teach at Eunice High Scho...
One morning I was handed a folded note -- a testimony -- with a loving message from a learner, Sannabu Ngubane.
I regularly get messages from learners. Many express their gratitude and thanks to me for going beyond the call of duty for them.
But, o...
I have taught at St Joseph's Home in Gugulethu, Cape Town, for 19 years. St Joseph's is a special home to children who have had heart, kidney and liver transplants and those who suffer from cancer, diabetes and HIV/Aids.
Through the years I have met...
I started teaching 20 years ago and during this period I worked at three primary schools. I enjoy teaching little kids and children up to the age of 15. A day in my life I will not forget was in January 1993.
I was teaching what was then called sta...
In my 15 years as an educator I thought I had seen it all. I witnessed the dawn of the new democracy and, more significantly, the introduction of a new curriculum with its new terminologies and concepts such as diversity, integration, inclusivity, mu...
Achange is as good as a holiday, or so the cliché goes. But many people hate change because it means a break in routine and going head-first into the unknown.
A few years ago I decided to make a change that would alter my life. I had trained an...
It was in October last year, at about eight in the morning. Every teacher was in his or her classroom, putting learners through their paces.
I was teaching, energised by the fine spring weather when a learner came to inform me that our principal, ...
When I finished my studies at the University of the Western Cape little did I know that one day I would find myself teaching at a school like Sandwater Primary, a rural school in the Eastern Cape.
My school career was spent at a fairly privileged sc...
It was a Tuesday morning in June 2008 at 7.30am when I arrived at school (for children with special needs) and found the main gate locked.
This was unusual. The car belonging to the chairperson of the school governing body was parked right in front...
Allow me to stray a little bit from the usual format of the A Day in My Life column. I am not writing about a specific moment or day, but am rather looking at different snippets of my own experiences as a teacher.
I do not intend to use this as a pl...
The national policy of adult education and training was introduced in 1996. The key objective of the policy is to create opportunities for the nation - adults in particular - to study. The majority of adults in the country cannot read and write and t...
It was during school re-opening at the beginning of the year when something unexpected happened to our school. My school is based in an economically disadvantaged community where the levels of unemployment, poverty and illiteracy are high.
Because o...
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