UK teachers give local school a boost
Ntombentsha Msutu
MBONISELO Primary School teachers and pupils recently bid farewell to the student teachers from Sheffield Hallam University, in the UK.
The student teachers were placed at the school through a Calabash Trust initiative for a month.
A total of 23 teachers from the university were allocated to various schools in Port Elizabeth.
Felicity Evans, a student teacher placed at Mboniselo in Motherwell, said even though the visit was a short one, they had a good time.
"I had a lovely time here. The teachers made us feel very welcome – they even helped us to communicate with the pupils as there was a language barrier. But as time went by, we were able to overcome this.
"We taught most of the grade 4 and 5s. We taught them maths and social science. We also had an activity day where we got the pupils involved as much as possible. I am very sad to be leaving this school as we really had a good time. If I have enough money in the future, I would definitely come back," Evans said.
The school's principal, Thembalethu Hopa, said they were very privileged to have had the UK student teachers as part of the staff for a month.
"We are much more effective now as a school. If we had an opportunity to keep them here, we would've.
"We are very thankful to their university for teaching them a profession in education. We have learnt a lot from them and we hope they have also learnt something from us," he said.
"We are also thankful for the resources they brought to our school, like the data projectors. I'm really proud of my school now and I think they will be great teachers one day," Hopa said.
One of the teachers at the school, Kietumetse Hazel Nomavuka, said the students reminded them of why they had chosen their careers in the first place.
"From day one when they started working at the school, we were very happy.
"They reminded us of back in the days when we were still students and why we chose to become teachers," she said.
"We sometimes lose hope as teachers, because of the changes that take place, but they restored our hope again," Nomavuka said.