Download the newsletter in pdf Vol-18-Ed-2.pdf
It has been a while that Matjana had not had a qualified teacher. Those who have been reading our newsletter know that Khetsiwe started her early childhood studies in 2022. Part of requirement for the course is to do a six-week teaching practice at a preschool and four weeks teaching practice at a primary school for children with different learning abilities. Khetsiwe did her teaching practice in the past weeks and will be sharing her experiences of teaching in other schools more especially in the other preschool.
“What a lovely experience”
Khetsiwe had a great time doing a teaching practise at a both the local English medium preschool, and in the government school for exceptional children. She decided to do the teaching practise at another local preschool because at Matjana there was no qualified teacher to mentor her. Khetsiwe said, “As much as I would have loved to do the practice at Matjana, I was worried that I would not have someone to ask early childhood related questions and just to be with someone who has been to the same college I am in.”
Khetsiwe said there were differences between the preschool where she was doing teaching practice and Matjana. Matjana is cheaper than the other preschool. Being at Matjana sometimes makes you forget that parents from other preschools pay for their children to go preschool. Some kids would not come to preschool when their parents do not have money for school fees.
“At the local preschool children carry their lunch boxes while at Matjana they cook for them at school. The teachers check the lunch boxes as they must have fruits every day which is something that Khetsiwe does not think would work at Matjana. “Some times of year there is a lot of fruit in the community and at other times there is none. Our kids can’t always bring fruit. At time when we have not had food at our preschool and ask parents to send lunchboxes, kids would be absent because parents do not have food to give them and would opt to keep the kids at home.
“Being able to provide food for the kids at school is one privilege that we have at Matjana that most school (preschools in the country do not have. Doing the teaching practice at another preschool has made me realise how lucky are we to be at Matjana getting all the financial support from Friends of Matjana.
“Another thing that stood out for me is that in that preschool when teachers write letters to parents reminding them to pay fees, kids owing fees will not come to school the following day until the child comes with money. That caused teachers not to get their pay on time-have to wait for parents to pay the fees before getting her salary,” said Khetsiwe.
“I have experienced of teaching more than 40 kids (aged 4 and 5) in one class, something I have never experienced in Matjana. We have three fulltime teachers, which makes it possible for kids to come to attend school even when one teacher is not able to come to school for various reasons like attending college or being sick.”
Khetsiwe said her biggest challenge teaching in that preschool was that during the teaching practice she would sometimes walk a distance of about 6 km to and from the school (when there was no transport) something she couldn’t cope with. She said, “I then decided to stay at a relative’s home who is closed to the preschool. I am used to walking for about 15—20 mins from home to Matjana so having to walk for more than 2 hours was very challenging and I would sometimes arrive late at the school.
She added to say, “At least I was staying in town when I was doing the practice at the school for exceptional children as it is in Manzini where there is enough transport.”
The kids and teachers of both schools were very nice and supportive and thank you for allowing me to spent weeks at your schools. “I have learnt a lot of good things in your schools which we will also implement at Matjana. At the school for exceptional children, I learnt extra patience.
“You need to forget about the time allocated for completing the grade syllabus and just focus on helping the kids learn different skills.” Khetsiwe added on to say she had also learnt that kids can be allocated to classes according to their abilities instead of age (which is what we are doing at Matjana.
Teachers Nok’phila and Precious who were at preschool the whole time when Khetsiwe was away said, “It is good to have Khetsiwe back, As the Headteacher we were needing her for a few things here at school.” The teachers said even though the teaching and learning at school went smooth and they managed to do some admin work while Khetsiwe was away.
Khetsiwe is about to finish her course. She said, “I feel like finishing the Early Childhood Care Development and Education has taken longer than it was supposed to and I cant wait to finish”.Khetsiwe started this course in 2022 and in the initial plan, she was supposed to finish (graduate) in April. That has not happened because they have added some courses which weren’t there before. But Khetsiwe’s graduation is now just around the corner.
Back for second term
We are happy to say that we are back for the second term and that following the closure after the outbreak of pink eye, all the teachers and kids are well and healthy.