Education South Africa Project #21813

Education Programmes for Kids &Teachers, Cape Town

by Children's Helpers Worldwide

Project Report | Apr 15, 2019
Teacher Training improves Education in Cape Town

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

Shamila (far left) with other teachers

Thank you very much for supporting ORT SA CAPE's programmes in South Africa, through CHW's page on GlobalGiving! You are helping to improve the education of children from disadvantaged communities around Cape Town.

CHW's supporters have contributed towards science and robotics workshops for children and also to teacher training sessions run by ORT SA CAPE. The teacher training sessions will benefit a lot of children, as the teachers can implement the new techniques they learn with their current class, and can continue to do this throughout their career, with each new class of children they work with. ORT SA CAPE also arranges follow-up sessions, visiting the teachers in their classrooms and observing lessons.

In 2017 and 2018, ORT SA CAPE ran the first phase of a teacher training programme in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town. The course was for Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners and offered training in the use of LEGO Six Bricks and Play Box as teaching aids in classes of 3 to 6-year-old children. The training was a success and the second phase of the programme is being run from April to July this year. Support visits to the teachers are planned to take place in the second half of the year. The current workshops are focussing on perceptual skills, using LEGO. In total, over 350 teachers will attend these sessions.

Bev from ORT SA CAPE gave more information about the Perceptual Skills training sessions:

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"The importance of perceptual skills can never be emphasised enough, as all learning is based on the ability to perceive the world around you. A child’s cognitive progress depends on the ability to use their senses to understand and navigate the world around them. Perceptual skills are the basis upon which all other skills are acquired.

The Perceptual Skills teacher training course focuses on this important aspect of development as a critical part of building a solid educational foundation in the ECD learner.

Through our extensive work, ORT SA CAPE has found that teachers do not have the much-needed knowledge to ensure the development of perceptual skills through focused, purposeful and tailor- made activities. Therefore, the aim of this workshop was to ensure that perceptual skills are understood and are planned into daily activities by the teachers.

At previous workshops presented by ORT SA CAPE, teachers of the ECD centres throughout the West Coast have been trained in using the LEGO Six Bricks and Play Box as educational tools. This recent workshop however was more advanced and made an in-depth study of developing perceptual skills in the Grade R [Reception] age group.

This workshop was enhanced by the unpacking of scenarios by the teachers. These scenarios each describe a learner struggling with a certain learning area, for example, to identify differences/similarities. Teachers had to recognise the specific perceptual skill that was lacking and then design activities that might help develop this specific skill."

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Karen from ORT SA CAPE told us the reactions of some of the teachers who attended a session:

"Shamila is a novice teacher. At 20 years old, this is her first year in the classroom. She works in a school in Saldanha Bay and has thirty 4- 5 year old children in her class. She loved the training and said 'I’ve learnt a lot today about things I didn’t know, it really helped me to understand the importance of teaching perceptual skills.' She thanked the facilitators for sharing their knowledge and cannot wait for the next training.

Another teacher, who has had 17 years experience, said “even after teaching for many many years, I learnt so much.' "

A massive thank you to CHW's supporters who contribute to this project during GlobalGiving's challenges, and throughout the year. You are helping to improve the education received by many children around the Western Cape. Your kindness and generosity is greatly appreciated.

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Jan 17, 2019
Science and Lego Workshop in Cape Town!

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

Fagan enjoying his visit to the Science Centre

Thank you very much for supporting ORT SA CAPE's educational programmes through our page on GlobalGiving. Your kindness is greatly appreciated. Your help is giving educational opportunities to children from various communities around Cape Town.

Last month, children from Rooikappie Pre-School Centre participated in a Lego and Science Workshop, run by ORT SA CAPE. CHW was introduced to Rooikappie through another of our partner organisations in South Africa, The Future Factory. We were delighted to be able to make this link between Rooikappie and ORT SA CAPE too. This is the fourth time children from Rooikappie have taken part in a workshop at ORT SA CAPE.

We were so sad to hear that just a couple of weeks after this workshop, Mrs Solomons, who had worked with the children at Rooikappie, passed away. Anyone who has visited Rooikappie will remember what a warm and caring lady she was. Mrs Solomons lived her life in a way that made a real difference for children and for the wider community. As well as the report on the workshop, we are also including a tribute to Mrs Solomons, written by Faranaaz, the Principal of Rooikappie.

Thank you to both Rooikappie and ORT SA CAPE for the photos included with this report.

Bev from ORT SA CAPE gave the following summary of the workshop:

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On the 3rd of December 2018, a group of 21 children from Rooikappie Pre-school Centre were invited to participate in a Lego and science workshop at ORT SA CAPE.

The workshop kicked off with some fun using Lego Six Bricks. Six Bricks activities enable the learning of many concepts including colour matching and colour associations while developing critical learning skills. The young participants visibly enjoyed the positive interaction with the ORT SA CAPE facilitators.

The children, with some assistance from their teachers and the facilitators, designed and decorated face masks made from various materials, as well as decorating beans bags. The children were able to take their masks home to show their families and the bean bags will be filled and sewn closed before being sent to their centre.

The children were provided with a snack before going on a tour of the Science Centre, where they attended a fun science show and learned about friction on the friction slides and the power of pneumatics. After a nutritious lunch, the children had the opportunity to relax and play in the Science Centre.

Faranaaz, the Principal of Rooikappie, had the following to say about their outing: "Our visit to ORT SA CAPE was awesome. It was a fun learning experience and the children enjoyed every minute. One child, Fagan, was completely bowled over by the "fireman" (a facilitator dressed in a red overall) and he actually went to hug him after the science show. The girls loved "being builders". Some just loved the special attention from the ORT SA CAPE and Science Centre staff. They all enjoyed the delicious lunch. And me, I liked the inclusivity, the friendliness and the VIP treatment. Thank you!"

Thank you CHW for your continued support!

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Thank you to all who support this project!

We would like to share Faranaaz's tribute to Mrs Solomons, a lady who made a difference to others throughout her life:

"Mrs Solomons never had an easy life. She had to leave school at a very young age to look after her siblings and ever since, she's been taking care of others, especially the abused and the neglected children, the children at risk. This was one of the reasons she applied for a job at Cape Town Child Welfare, where she worked for 10 years. She worked at the creche during the day and at night she volunteered for a project, "Eye on the Child". She removed and placed children in places of safety. She also assisted abused women and placed them in shelters. She was always willing and prepared to help the needy, her family and her friends. Even after her retirement, she still volunteered at the centre. Mrs Solomons was well known and respected in her community. We will miss her."

Links:

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Oct 19, 2018
LEGO Six Bricks Training in Cape Town

By Catherine Franks | Founder of Children's Helpers Worldwide

Participants enjoying the training

We are so grateful to you for supporting science and literacy programmes run by ORT SA CAPE in South Africa! During GlobalGiving's crowdfunding challenge for International Youth Week, 22 amazing people supported these programmes. Thank you to all who contributed and to all who shared this project with friends, family and colleagues!

Bev from ORT SA CAPE has given us the following updates from a recent teacher training:

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The LEGO Six Bricks training, made possible through a donation from Children’s Helpers Worldwide, took place on 10 October 2018.

Thirteen Grade R [Reception Year] to Grade 3 teachers attended from Zonnebloem Boys’ Primary School, Zonnebloem Girls’ Primary and Holy Cross Primary School. The schools are located in the former District Six. District Six was a multi working-class area just off the centre of Cape Town, before being torn apart by the apartheid regime during the sixties and seventies, which included forced removals of non- white residents. In the last 20 years, former residents have started moving back to the area.

The participants arrived at the workshop after a long day in the classroom, and it was encouraging that as soon as the workshop started they became vibrant and participatory. The workshop was practical and therefore the participants were encouraged to have fun with the LEGO bricks so that they knew what to do when they went back to school.

The teachers were excited to find out that so many skills including improving concentration, improving memory, fine motor, perceptual, gross motor, body awareness, colours, laterality, amongst others, can be taught and developed using Six Bricks. The Grade R teachers were particularly happy to find out that Six Bricks activities can make teaching fun in their classrooms.

The teachers were very happy to be receiving resources for their classrooms. They left the training feeling enthusiastic about implementing what they had learned. They are also looking forward to supports visits from ORT SA CAPE.

Below is feedback from one of the schools:

"On behalf of Holy Cross Primary. Thank you very much for the workshop yesterday. Indeed, a learning experience for all the participants. Please convey our appreciation and gratitude to our facilitator Theresa for her vibrancy and her passion for training teachers and her knowledge about the young child. God bless.’’ -- Carlene

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By supporting teacher training like this, your contributions will help to improve the quality of education received by children in many classrooms! A massive thank you for your support for ORT SA CAPE's important work and for improving education for disadvantaged children in Cape Town.

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