The American Embassy places Fulbright scholars into various under-resourced schools around the country. Each scholar stays a year to play a role as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA). These ETAs have already got our FunDza books to use at their schools, and I went up to do a day’s training with them to help them teach writing to their learners.
It was interesting – and sometimes depressing – to hear the stories from these different schools of big classes, over-worked and/or under-motivated teachers who were not always present in classrooms. But it was heartening to hear that they had been using the FunDza books, and that their learners loved them.
Together I worked through a set of activities on writing essays that they could use for their learners, so that they and their learners got a better understanding of what essays look like and how to write them. This culminated in a group essay they wrote with the topic of the challenges and joys of being an ETA, which also gave some interesting perspectives on their experiences. (Their learners will obviously use a different topic for their activity!)
Then the ETAs did their own writing, inspired by model texts I provided. The quality of writing was outstanding, and the poignant – and sometimes hilarious – stories of these Americans’ childhood memories of getting into trouble were the highlight of my day. There was a boy who stole a sweet from a shop, and whose mother then made him return it (half-eaten), another boy whose mother suddenly appeared behind him at school and was his very grim shadow for a whole day to ensure that he no longer got up to any mischief (he didn’t) and a girl whose desire (forbidden by her mother) to eat all her collected sweets at once ended in disaster.. It reminded me again how writing our stories is such a powerful tool for cutting through our masks and honestly sharing our memories, hopes, fears – and very individual foibles.
Hopefully the ETAs have gone back to their school with new ideas and insights. I have already heard from one ETA in KZN that he has used the essay workshop very successfully, which is lovely feedback. It is satisfying to think that one day of training can potentially result in hundreds of learners all over the country getting a better idea of how to write an essay.