EHE News
Books come to life on South African tour
MEd student Kaylin Williams of Mansfield, Ohio, will remember what she experienced in South Africa when she begins teaching in an elementary school.
Students taking a class in children's literature had a rare chance to compare book learning with real life, thanks to a close view of South Africa.
"It was amazing to go and see a part of the world and a culture so different than our own," said John Foust ('07, '09 MA) of Mansfield. While a graduate student in teaching and learning in the College of Education and Human Ecology, he was among eight Ohio State and three Ashland University students on a South African study tour. They prepared for the trip by taking a Teaching and Learning course in South African children's literature.
The goal was to give students a cross-cultural perspective through both reading and experiences and to explore the differences in education practices between South Africa and the United States, said Barbara Lehman, professor of teaching and learning. She was the tour's co-resident director with her husband, Daniel Lehman, professor of English at Ashland University.
In visits to four schools, Foust found that teachers "cared about what they were teaching, they cared about their students. The principals cared about their schools and their faculty. They believed in the neighborhood feel of the school, and people felt welcome and safe there."
Kaylin Williams, also of Mansfield, said a stop at Capricorn Primary School was an "eye-opening experience."
The school opened in January 2008 on the edge of Vrygrond, an informal settlement near Cape Town with over 1 million residents. "The children had not been going to school because they had to walk long distances in the cold and rain, and transportation in South Africa is not free or cheap," Williams said. The new school lacked enough desks, books and even pencils and paper. But its founders and 23 teachers are determined to help the 385 students develop technological skills. They set up a small computer facility and each of the 12 classrooms has a white board.
The Ohio State and Ashland students had read literature about living in the settlements but "seeing them in person was heart wrenching," Williams said. It was apparent, she added, that there are two classes, the very rich and the very poor.
Williams, who will graduate with a MEd degree winter quarter 2009, said, "Originally I was astonished at how similar the histories of the two countries were. However, I was surprised to think that the oppression we began to overcome in the United States during the mid-20th century with the Civil Rights Movement was still very much a part of today's South Africa. After all, apartheid only ended in 1994."
Observatory Junior School Principal Celeste Naidoo, far left, explained the school's progressive multilingual program to study tour participants from Ohio State and Ashland University. The school near Cape Town, South Africa, serves 580 children. Professor Barbara Lehman of Ohio State, far right, was the tour's co-resident director with her husband, Professor Daniel Lehman of Ashland University.
She saw other similarities and differences. "It was obvious that the South Africans watch the United States very closely. In many ways I was honored at how they model our behaviors." For instance, the South African education department has developed a system that includes a program like kindergarten, and a required graduation test.
In contrast to the U.S., the nation's 11 languages require a different attitude toward bilingual instruction. "It was enlightening to see how they respect one another and their cultures enough to adapt learning to fit the needs of the children," Williams said. In fact, it is mandatory for every school to offer three languages.
"The students were so moved by what they saw that they made two donations," Lehman said. The first was to Biblionef, which prints books in all 11 national languages used in South Africa. The donation went to buy books to help fill bare shelves in the Capricorn Primary library. The second chance to give came at Observatory Junior School, where study tour participants bought children's artwork. The proceeds directly benefited the school's programs.
Williams and Foust urge students and educators to take advantage of international study opportunities.
"If the opportunity to go abroad is available, take the opportunity to experience it. You truly do not understand how big the world really is until you go somewhere where everything is completely different," Foust said.
Williams added, "You will return with memories that will last a lifetime. I feel more blessed and know what is important after seeing what my life could have been like."
Barbara Lehman is the 2009 recipient of the Arbuthnot Award from the International Reading Association. She was a Fulbright lecturer and researcher at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2004-2005. Daniel Lehman also was a Fulbright Scholar that year at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town.
© 2009 The Ohio State University - College of Education and Human Ecology. All Rights Reserved.
If you have trouble accessing this page and need to request an alternate format, contact the webmaster.