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Recap of 2021
Last year (2021) was a year filled with new experiences and a lot of mixed feeling due to COVID 19 and political unrest in Eswatini. It was a tough year and we are so glad we made it through.
The disruptions to education last year have meant that Matjana Preschool, just like other schools in Eswatini, is extending the 2021 school year into 2022. The children that should have graduated in December and moved on to primary school in January, have instead returned to preschool and will stay with us until March. The delay is intended to give all students a chance to complete the learning that they missed in 2021, before moving on to the next grade.
Normally, when we start a year, we would have new faces of 4 and 5 year-olds and elect a new school committee. So it’s a new experience for us to be restarting this year with our last year’s kids who are now six years old. Our school committee will also continue unchanged until April 2022, when the Matjana Preschool class of 2021 starts primary school.
About the only thing new at Matjana Preschool is Khetsiwe Matsebula, our new teacher who started in January 2022. This month we will share with you her first teaching experiences.
Who is Khetsiwe?
Khetsiwe is a brilliant 23 year old woman, a high school graduate and a resident of Ndabeni area. Her name, Khetsiwe, means “the chosen one”. We’re glad she was chosen by the school committee to become our new teacher.
After completing high school, Khetsiwe spent some years looking after her niece and nephews. She love kids and wished to get an opportunity to work with them.
When we asked her on the first day back at school what she was expecting of her new role as a preschool teacher, she said, “I didn’t know what to expect but kept imagining myself standing in front of those cute little faces. I don’t know how many times I practiced ‘teaching’ in front of the mirror during the Christmas holidays”. Khetsiwe had not had any teaching experience but was looking forward to get around her classroom with the kids.
Khetsiwe teaching
Just before schools opened, Teacher Swane (one of our teachers from 2018) took Khetsiwe through a one day orientation where they covered themes and activities done in preschool. “Working with Swane gave me an overview of what I will actually be doing.”
Teacher Londi said it was also a new experience for her to have a new teacher, as the last time we had a new teacher (Qiniso), Swane was still at the school. She said, “I didn’t have an idea of how to go about doing the orientation, I’m so glad teacher Swane came through and helped me with that.”
During the first week of school Khetsiwe wasn’t teaching but it was still something like an orientation. Khetsiwe said, “Yooh, the first week of school was so hectic for me to an extent that I would take a nap as soon as I got home.” She added, “I wasn’t actually teaching but I was more like Teacher Londi’s assistant, attending all the thousand queries and questions asked by the kids. For example, most of the kids would ask me, ‘Teacher, why don’t you give us stickers like teacher Londi?’ This was funny because I didn’t know that I have to award their good work with stickers.”
Teacher Khetsiwe is from the community and her home is about 2 km away from our school. She said, “Most of the kids know me from around the community, some from church.”
When teacher Londi introduced her saying, “her name is Teacher Khetsiwe”, the kids quickly corrected that by saying, “No, she is teacher Bhaa.”
Londi said, “Bhaa is Khetsiwe’s nickname but I didn’t know the kids know her nickname so that is why I stuck to Khetsiwe.” Since then, our kids call her Teacher Bhaa.
The second week of school was Khetsiwe started teaching. “We were on the theme summer- a lesson which had prepared with teacher Londie. I took the kids outside so they can see the beautiful vegetation that we have in summer- the green mealies from the fields in their homestead.
“I think the kids enjoyed the lesson as they started sharing what they eat at home in summer, the activities which they do at home during summer”. She continued, “During phonics time we learned about the S sound and they collected all things around they begins with the [s] sound after I have shown them my Salt, Soup, Sugar, Soap and Stick.
Teacher Londie said, “I was quite impressed with her first lesson as she engaged the kids throughout the activities.” During the teaching process teacher Khetsiwe said she didn’t know if her lesson went well or not until she got the positive feedback from teacher Londie which was also motivating.
Certification
Teacher Khetsiwe will soon be enrolling for a Diploma in ECCD in a college in Manzini- the start of the school year at the college providing the course has also been delayed due to COVID. She said, “I am so excited about the opportunity of going to college which Matjana Preschool has provided me.” She said in the past few years she tried to apply to some colleges, but she didn’t have enough money to pay the fees when she was accepted, so she was never able to attend.
Matjana is so excited that she will soon have a teacher with a ECCD certification. This will blend perfectly well with teacher Londi’s psychosocial support qualifications.