Transition Day

We went to mass at St. Mary Cathedral. To our surprise, the mass was in many local dialect languages. Today's procession also included a flag celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of Africa Day. 

 

The mass was great! It had traditional music and songs were sung in Shona. We were very lucky to have the words translated for us on the mounted television. We left the church feeling blessed to see the culture and religion of South Africa. It was a great feeling gathering around Catholics from different regions. It's another glimpse to what unities us to South Africa. 

After church we had lunch and went to the V&A Waterfront. We shopped for the projectors for St. Mary's Primary School. 

We came back to the hostel and began to discuss our first day of teaching. We are so excited to begin working with the teachers and students. We have so many questions about the school. What are their teaching styles? What behavior management techniques are used? What services are available for students with special needs? Are centers a part of the classroom environment?

Most importantly, what can we take from this experience? What will we learn and use for our future classrooms? What will we learn of ourselves? How can we grow as teachers?

We have prepared the books we will be giving each of the teachers. We cannot wait to be in the classrooms! 

We are also very fortunate enough to have Sister John Marie with us to guide us! Here she is managing the group. 

Let's be honest, what would we do without Sister? As we say, she has really been a champ and done so much for us on the trip! We are lucky to have her!