Tuesday 22 November 2011 was a day to remember—the end of journey and the beginning of a new adventure. The community hall at Mfuleni Early Learning centre buzzed with excitement, the atmosphere of anticipation was palpable as 7 amazing Mfuleni teachers gathered.
But the journey started many months ago. SASDI in collaboration with UCT enjoyed the opportunity of having 3 young American students come and spend 6 months doing a course called “Experiencing Entrepreneurship”. These students, Eric Taft, Brent Shively, and Jeff Prost-Greene were given the task of investigating the needs of the Mfuleni ECD teachers in order to outline what an outreach development programme might look like. Although there were a variety of requests, the one that was repeated throughout was the desire to have a chance to improve their English. Eric recalls the moment, “English-learning was suggested to us one night after a community presentation by a group of desperate teachers. They told us that if they weren’t able to learn how to teach English, their school were going to fail.” Further research by the team showed that many parents in the community were actively seeking access to early learning programmes taught in English because of the benefit to their children on reaching school age. Some even commented that although they preferred to keep their fee money in the Mfuleni community they had no choice but to send their children elsewhere.
Certain of the need, the students spent time looking for organisations who were interested in teaching English in townships. After much investigation they met with ‘The Knowledge Workshop” who provide English language and teacher training as well as TEFL training. Through a collaborative process SASDI partnered with The Knowledge Workshop to run a pilot course for foundation phase teachers in the community.
13 teachers expressed interest and underwent the screening test. Those selected had to commit to attending for 12 weeks of tuition on a weekly basis and to contributing their portion of the course fee which SASDI subsidised. 7 teachers completed the pilot course aimed at improving their reading, writing, grammar and spoken English.
At the certificate ceremony it was clear that great relationships had formed between the students and the Knowledge Workshop team. A transformation had happened and the results were amazing, with some teachers improving by up to 30%! Marian, of The Knowledge Workshop commented that “The improvement shown by these teachers has been profound, and is not merely limited to an improvement in language ability. The teachers have shown a tremendous increase in self-confidence, demonstrated by their willingness to initiate conversation and engage exclusively in English with their colleagues and facilitators.”
During the prize giving, the top student Remona Booi recalled a special moment, “ When I was doing my English homework, I would ask my Grade 5 child—do I put a was or a were in this sentence and we were able to solve it together!”
It was a wonderful day for the teachers of Mfuleni but it was a special day for our students in America too. Eric said, “Ali, I started crying when I read this. Thank you so much for following through with the work we put into these projects. It means more to me than I can say.” UCT, SASDI and The Knowledge workshop have made a difference in the lives of potential ambassadors for South Africa, teachers in Mfuleni and potentially thousands of young children who may now have the opportunity to learn a new language giving them a starting chance.
A day for celebration indeed!
Remona also expressed the desire on the part of all of the teachers to continue next year with the advanced TEFL course, and commented that “it will be wonderful for us to be able to teach other people in our community”. SASDI is now aiming to raise the funds to make it happen—if you would like to help you can donate directly here or contact Ali on 0824911171.