I'm not in South Africa, but I wanted to give you an update on how the kids are doing in the new school. I know some of the Americans that went over to be the teachers so I asked them some questions and thought I would share their responses with you. Overall, the kids are growing so much in their understanding! There are great difficulties at times, but God has seen everyone through! Praise Him!
The new school, called Jehovah Shalom Mission School, started in January 2012. They are now in their third term. Jackie is the teacher of the 13-15 year old students and Abby is the teacher of the 8-12 year old students. The students are utilizing the ACE American Home school program.
"What is the greatest improvement you have seen in the kids?"
Jackie: When I wrote up the reports for Term 2, I almost cried I was so proud at what I saw. They definitely still have struggles but they are working very hard. I had a few of the students start January not knowing how to read (at 12 & 13 years of age), and they are doing so much better now at sounding out words, etc. Most of them did not know how to do simple multiplication but can now count by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6's!
Abby: The greatest improvement I've seen with the kids is in the amount of work they are able to process and complete. At the beginning of the school year 7 of my 8 students couldn't read, process simple addition, and could barely handle any subtraction. Now only 2 of the kids really struggle with reading, most have moved on to not just 4 digit addition and subtraction but also multiplication and I have one starting division in a few weeks. It has helped their confidence a lot that they are able to cope with their work, which in turn helps them to accomplish more!
What has been the greatest difficulty for the kids?
Jackie: I have found that they are not good at asking for help or being vulnerable in general. It makes teaching them challenging when they do not ask for help when they do not understand something. We have been working on that and they are doing better at admitting when they need help instead of just guessing. When they struggle with a new concept (in Math, English, etc.) they tend to get very frustrated and shut down (don't want to work on it at all and don't want my help).
Abby: I think the greatest difficulty for my kids (ages 8-12) has been behavior. Since all of them have been through so much trauma in their young lives, most of them struggle with self-control, anger, resentment, and discipline. They have improved, however it is still a daily struggle for some of them. I am working out a new approach for one of the youngest ones who likes to throw fits, but usually once the kids calm down, we pray together and then we can talk about why they were so angry, or why they shouldn't say mean things, or why school is important etc... Each one is different and I have to rely fully on God to work through me to make a difference!
What do you love most when working with the kids?
Abby: I love everything about working with the kids (even the bad days, because then we get to make the day better together). I mostly enjoy when we can do extra fun activities, such as art, board games or story time. They all are such unique personalities and when you let them just play, they are a hilarious and super fun bunch of kids!
What is still a major need to help support the kids?
Abby: The biggest need we have currently is more teachers. So far for next year we have 3 full time volunteers committed, and we would prefer to have 6-7. We would also need them to commit for a minimum of a year because the short term coming and going is really difficult for the younger kids (they don't understand when people leave and have a hard time coping with it.) With the extra teachers we would be able to have additional, hands on learning classes such as music, an official art class, baking lessons, sewing lessons and other life skills lessons. People is our biggest need right now.
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| Abby with some of her students. |
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| Field Day! |
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| Worship time. |
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| This was in June for Jackie's class...
This means they have gotten 100% on
10 of their tests.
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| First day of school back in January. |
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| Jackie with her class |
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| The desks for the students...they call them "offices" |
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| Merit store shopping...the students earn points throughout the term and then go shopping with those points at the end of the term. They love this time! |
