Heading back to apply the knowledge and skills gained.

I realize today that all the different modules we had and currently are busy with, forms part of the picture, a picture that I sometimes could not clearly visualize because I made it difficult for myself. Sometimes we tend to look for solutions far out of reach while everything we need is within our reach. Teaching and studying at our age can be very challenging but very stimulating if we realize what we gained. I am not the same person within, because I allowed myself space to grow so that I could be of a benefit to the community where I live, work, and play. I choose to dwell primarily on positive matters because I promised myself that I want to bring about positive change within myself at first in order to bring positive changes to my working environment. Remember: If you think you can't, you won't and if you think you can, you will. Thank you very much for everybody who made this journey pleasant for me. I am going to miss all of you. Belinda,you are a very intellegent and honest person and I appreciate everything you said and done. Shahieda I will always remember you for your challenging nature. Nihaad, thank you for always showing your concern, no matter what your own circumstances were. I will always honour and respect you for that. We sometimes get so occupied with our work that we forget to nuture each other, but I place you amongst the great women. You were a mirror to me and what I saw, made me realize how desperately I needed to make a paradigm shift. Thank you for all that motivational SMS's you sent me.You know change is not an easy thing to do, but it is good. Josephine I will always remember you for your progressive thinking. You were always one step ahead of me,  in other words you were a leader in some or other way.You know how to reach out to people and that really makes you a sister for life.I learned so much from everyone and I will try and apply it where ever I go. If I did not thank you for shaping my life yet, watch out for my next posting!

Internet Security Education

I discovered this educational site on Internet security.

Reflecting on our essays and Web evaluation test

Thursday we discussed common errors we made with our essays and the test. I learnt that I should never give my own opinion on the topic although I wrote the essay myself. In my essay I also wrote a question as a heading that was a mistake. I got 79% for my essay because of late submission. That was very irrisponsible of me, but I never thought of getting  marks like that. Sometimes we really underestimate ourselves. My English improved although I still get mixed up with the use of verbs. I must really make use of the grammar tool to get rid of the language errors. I motivated some students to practice their computer skills to make it better, but I must really practice my English. My children speak English at home and I guess I don't set an example for them. I am Afrikaans inclined and love it because I can express myself better. I love to read inspirational books and I even write poems for my daughters( In English). Thirty years of teaching  at a Afrikaans medium school really forced me to read, write, reason, and speak less English. I grew up in an Afrikaans environment and as far as I can remember, the little English I heard was in church and a weekly program that my father used to listen to on the radio. I cannot remember the name of the program but I remember at the end of the program  the man said: "If I don't see you through the week, I'll see you through the window! " Gosh, my father scared the daylights out of me. I covered my face with the sheet or blanket during winter and summer because I was so scared that the" man " will look into my window. I stopped doing that when I was in High school because only then I understood the program better . We used to laugh about that, but today I realize what damage it caused because I completely shut down and never listened properly. My parents also chose the books that we read and at times the books were very boring.  They were conservative and at times over protective. In my practice, I prefer to let the pupils "choose" English books during the half hour reading period and they love it. When I arrive at school in the morning, some pupils run up to me and ask me whether they can read to me. They are so proud of themselves and they have so much more confidence to converse in English. We are meeting with five other schools at St Pauls Primary School tomorrow in the hope to establish a "Soul buddy" club at our school. The pupils of the other schools are mainly English , but my pupils are very confident and are very exited to meet with them. My colleagues at school laugh when I say:" My engelse tande het nog nooit uitgekom nie".  To them it is a joke, but to me it is serious because I know I was deprived of something so important. I was requested to serve on various executives during my life but I was always afraid to speak English. I can still recall the first day when we had to introduce ourselves to the ACE class. When I asked wether I could  introduce myself in Afrikaans, there was a roaring, unanimous boo. I felt humiliated in a way.  I will overcome this problem .

Take time to............

Today we wrote a test on cataloguing. The questions was a bit difficult to interpret. Actually I practiced on my own and formulated different questions, but it wasn't good enough. It automatically made me wonder how the kids at school react on the questions. I ask them direct and higher order thinking questions. Sometimes they just seem not to understand what I ask them. Ms Witbooi gave us scope  as to what we could expect but nobody was good enough at interpreting the questions. I also focused on the scope only and only read through the rest of the work. I must admit that I am a bit dissapointed but at the same time also very much aware that I am studying at a academic institution. I did not expect to get direct questions or definitions. This time I've put great effort into the preparation, but it was all in vain. The only solution to this dissapointment is read.....and......read.......and......... ( You tell me! ) I am waiting anxiously.