At the beginning of February I had an opportunity of visiting three schools in and around Grahamstown as part of the ECD Level 4 qualification. Each student that is enrolled in this course needs to undergo a site observation visit. On the 7th of February I visited Mischka Bouah in Port Alfred Primary. She is a volunteer in a Grade R class with 40 learners in her class. It was very interesting to see how she manages and interacts with learners. I also saw a lot of what she learnt from the course being integrated into her practice. On the 8th. I visited Ziyanda Mkalipi at Little Red Dragon (Lebone Centre) which is a multilingual pre-school. The school have two teachers in one class whereby they make use of different 3 languages (English, Afrikaans & Xhosa) to accommodate all learners. Learners at this school are exposed to a print rich environment and teachers who promote active learning. Emotional Intelligence is incorporated into their programme and they are making use of a talking stick to manage the class during whole class activities. On the 9th I visited Londiwe Mgqwashu at St Andrews Preparatory School which is a well-resourced school with both indoor and outdoor equipment and learners are actively involved in different activities which are developmentally appropriate. These teachers are making a difference in the development of young learners as they are using the holistic approach in teaching.
