Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Simon’s Town School, a public school just a few blocks from my home here in South Africa. The first thing I noticed about the Grade 4 class was the number of children in it- thirty-three! The classroom was packed! I’m used to having a class of twenty-four students at Cottage Lane, so this number of bodies in one room seemed overwhelming.

Mrs. Beyers and her Grade 4s review rounding numbers in math.

Mrs. Beyers and her learners (they’re not called “students” here in South Africa), were very welcoming. I was able to shadow the students for the day. That is, I followed them everywhere they went. They traveled a lot!

Recess!

School began at 8:00, and ended at 14:00. South Africans use what we Americans would call “military time,” so as not to confuse morning and afternoon when telling the time. Can you figure out what time 14:00 would be? They had one morning break for twenty minutes, and an afternoon lunch break for thirty minutes. Do you wish your school had two breaks like that?

Front office at Simon’s Town School.

They spent most of the day with Mrs. Beyers, but they also had subjects with three other teachers, each in a different classroom. Sometimes they had to go up the stairs. The school is three stories high. Sometimes, they had to walk outside and to a different building. Lucky for them that the weather is very mild here (not too hot and not too cold). The children told me that they liked traveling from room to room, as they liked having a chance to walk around a bit.

In the afternoon, the learners asked me questions about the United States. They wanted to know if it’s safe to live there because they hear about crime in America on the news. They also wanted to know what snow felt like. They had never felt it. One child thought it would be soft and warm. They were envious when they heard that Cottage Lane students didn’t have to wear uniforms to school!

In this Grade 4 class, there are thirty black children and only three white children, because there are many more black people than white people living in South Africa. Only 7% of the population is white. That’s a very small number. There’s also a small percentage of people from India and Asia. The black people, of course, lived here first, just as the Native American Indians were the first people to inhabit what is now the United States. People from Holland began settling here in the 1600’s, followed by people from England. (For more on the history of South Africa, click here.)

One of the Grade 4’s wanted to know about the ethnic background of the children at Cottage Lane. He was very interested to learn that we have children from many different backgrounds. I told him how much I enjoy hearing about the family traditions of my students from around the world (especially at holiday times  ).

I read Click Clack Moo to the Grade 4s.

I was delighted to have the chance to read to them, and, of course, I asked them to infer as we went along. They caught on quickly! (If you don’t know how to infer while reading, ask your teacher.)

They told me they enjoyed having me with them for the day. For some, I was the first American they had ever talked to! And as for me, it was a real pleasure, and an educational experience, to spend time at Simon’s Town School.

Learning about the food groups.

Answering questions in math class.

Best friends forever!