I have so much to tell you!
First of all, every day I learn a little more about be a better teacher, and here more than anywhere else. I suppose the main reason is that I don't work in a school, so I can't rely on the teacher to do the less fun part of the job: getting the children to work quietly.
What we do is fun and interactive, so it's not too difficult to get them interested, but getting them to work seriously and calmly is another matter entirely! So I've come up with some fun little ideas to calm them down when I need to, like saying, " Try to catch the stars! " (with both hands) or appointing group leaders whose role is to earn the team little paper stars if they behave well. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. I guess the human mind only adapts when it's really necessary, and I had reached the point where we weren't going to be able to work if I didn't adapt. I also have some great volunteers who help me in class, which is fantastic!
I also realized that by making things fun rather than punishing them (obviously), I became closer to my students. Now they come up to me for hugs, stroke my hair, and want to have their picture taken with me. I love it!
The work here is very interesting. One of the things I like about giving children the freedom to write their own stories is that they tend to include things they find difficult to understand. In Australia, the children wanted to talk in one of the stories about the fact that "the Australian flag was burned by Aboriginals during the national holiday," and here the children said that "Noluntu loves Senzo, but Senzo loves Jason. Senzo is a boy and Jason is a boy." It's really fascinating to see how children perceive such complex subjects.
Today's session was canceled due to violent protests in Khayelitsha, the township where I work. It seems that people are burning buses and trains there. It's sad that children have to grow up in such a such violent environment. Let's hope things return to normal quickly!