The Last Day of School

The last day of school holds bittersweet memories for me as a child. Happiness as summer vacation with its freedom was soon on its way, but yet sadness as I said goodbye to a teacher, friends, and a classroom where I learned so much. Multiply that by a trillion and that's how I felt on Friday, our last day of school at Naledi Education Centre. We are still in Gaborone for another week, but Monday and Tuesday are national holidays, as it is President's Day, and the school is closed the rest of the week for a break for the students and the teachers.

Since I was volunteering in the Standard 7 classroom, which is the last standard in primary school (standards are similar to grades in the US), the main focus was on the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) while I was there. The PSLE consists of seven 60 multiple-choice question exams, one over each of the seven subjects. In addition, students write a composition and letter in both English and Setswana. The compositions and letters are to be written on July 28th, so much of my time with the students included explaining how to write a good letter or composition, giving them topics to write about, then marking their work and going over ways to improve their writing skills.

This past Thursday and Friday, a volunteer teacher, Mr. Manele, who went through the teacher education program at UB, came to help in the Standard 7 classroom. He, too, focused on English and Setswana compositions and letters. He was a very good teacher and had a great rapport with the students. His teaching strategies, his questions, and just how he engaged the students was all very similar to what I have been taught in my education classes at K-State! It was great to see such similarities! He taught in both English and Setswana, which is what the students need - a mixture of both languages. Mma Rungwe teaches strictly in Setswana and I only could teach in English, so Mr. Manele was the combination of both languages. The students are more comfortable answering questions in Setswana, but need to hear English in order to learn it better. The students truly appreciated all of his help and I loved being able to observe him as he taught in a language I could understand!

I have so many great memories of volunteering in the Standard 7 classroom. I gained so much valuable experience with teaching. But, more importantly, I gained so many friendships with Mma Rungwe and the students that I will treasure forever. Friday was a bittersweet feeling indeed, as I am very blessed and happy to have been given such an amazing opportunity. Yet, it is very sad and very hard to leave Naledi Education Centre when teaching there gave me much joy.

Standard 7 students, Mma Rungwe (in the blue stocking hat) and me

My favorite poster in my class---Soils! Soils is one of my favorite subjects to learn and to teach! And here in Botswana, students learn all about it in primary school. Cool, huh?

Teaching do's and don'ts about writing compositions

Tumelo and Godfrey, two of my students, acting cool for the camera! They were both a joy to have in class!

Lorato was the first one to talk to me on my first day of school at NEC! She is an adult student and shared many of her life stories with me!


My class showing their excitement after I surprised them with a little gift - a packet with a ruler, pen, pencil, eraser, and sharpener. All things necessary to take the upcoming PSLEs! Good luck, Standard 7!