Tshikevha Christian school - Surrey Christian's sister school

It has been interesting to be in another school in South Africa. At this school there are about 1000 students from kindergarten to grade 12.  There are very large classes of about 40 in each grade, and the classrooms are smaller the at home in Canada. The classes are 30 minutes each, though a lot of them have two of the same back to back, so really they are 1 hour.  Students write a lot here, though they actually use the photocopier here at the school, so there is a little less copying from the board.  Like most students in the world, they don't enjoy this kind of activity, though this is what school is.  I can see why students frequently get in trouble here, as they are not allowed to talk, move out if their desks, or generally do more than copy down.  They are very strict here in their rules about uniform and dress, even hair.   They are not allowed to have corn rolls or any oh her fancy hair dues that may make them stand out from the crowd.  The reason for this is because they want the students all to be equal whether their parents are kings, or struggling to pay tuition. I even witnessed a teacher cutting some girls braided hair because it was too long!  Very different from Canada!
The students are expected to be self motivated, yet they are not given a lot of work to do.  I keep thinking about the information we learned about how school is adapted for girls...so true here.  So many boys are struggling to sit in their chairs, and try and write and read in this environment, it's no wonder that the girls are generally more successful.   Also the classrooms are very loud, another thing that makes it difficult for them to learn.  Today there were five teachers missing from school, so I went to the English classes to "babysit" the students.  They even call it babysitting, so it feels doomed to fail when the person gone gives you about 10 minutes of work for an hour and the students see this as free time.  They don't have subs here, fellow teachers usually watch the students for each other...I would not be very happy with my colleague if they left me with so little for them to do.  Let's just say it was not my favourite day and it made me miss my classes where I know everyone's name and the expectation for the class are set by me.  I did get a bunch of drawings and cards from the grade 4s though.
Though this school has more computer access for staff, I don't think that students have access to them.  Their science lab is also not really used, the science teacher said that it in too hard to be in there with 40 students and there are not really many resources. I haven't seen many classes outside yet, they have what's called life orientation instead of physical education.  Mostly it is book work, with one unit being a sports unit.  This was the most surprising to me, here they have a great field that the students can be on, but they only really use it after school on Thursdays for extra credit, where student can choose an activity they like ( drama, art, pe) to do and do that for an hour.  The physical education teacher in me is sad, as I want all kids to run and jump and play.
It has been good to be at our sister school here, and to build some relationships with some of the teachers as well.  The staff here are very kind and friendly.  There are more checks and balances here for the staff as far as administrator evaluating them and looking through lesson plans.  They were surprised to know that no one checks mine every week.  I am grateful that we are trusted as teachers, and that we are blessed with many resources including each other!