As Betsy recently described, when our Educators Abroad have been visiting schools, they have often been sereneded by the students there. 

Coni and the rest of the first crew recorded a few songs that students sang to them.  Click the links below to hear a sampling of the songs of South African school children.

School Song #1

School Song #2 

I would like to thank Mark, Coni and Discovery for giving me the opportunity to learn and discover South Africa. I had the most amazing time and I will never forget this experience and the people that I have met. For those of you that are interested I took 1471 pictures and I have a lot to share with educators and students. Two of my most memorable experiences were the school visits and game reserve. You can find my experiences at the school in an earlier blog.

The game reserve is located in Pilanesberg National Park. This park was once a volcano and is now the host of the second largest Alkaline Volcanic Ring in the world next to the one located in Russia. The park is an immense caldera that has a diameter of 17 miles. The mountains are named after former great Chief Pilane of the Bakgatla clan of the Tswana who once ruled the area. It is said that the tribe still lives in the surrounding area.

It was great to see four out of the Big Five. We took some great stills and video of many animals. The animals that we saw included: African Elephant, White Rhinoceros, Blue Wildebeast, Zebra, Tsessebe, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, Red Hartebeest, Reedbuck, Kudu, Mountain Reedbuck, Springbok, Impala, Steenbok, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Back-backed Jackal, Brown Hyena, African Wild Dog, Scrub Hare, Honey Badger, Warthog, Vervet Monkey, African Darter, White-breasted Cormorant, Egyptian Goose, White-faced Duck, Helmeted Guineafowl, Natal Francolin, Crested Francolin, Swainson’s Spurfowl, Steppe Buzzard, Grey Go-away Bird, European Bee-eater, Crimson-breasted Shrike, Cape Glossy Starling, Kurrichane Thrush, Speckled Pigeon, Laughing Dove, Cape Turtle-Dove, Black Spotted Owl and Quail.

Here is a bit for the science teachers. This incredible shield volcano erupted around 1300 million years ago. It also forms the core of what is a regionally extensive period of alkaline magmatism known as the Pilanesberg Alkaline Province. The dominant feature of the complex is the concentric cone sheets formed by resurgent magma that intruded along conic fractures created during the caldera collapse. Associated with the central volcanic structure are extensive radiating dyke swarms. The unusual rock types, mainly several varieties of foyaites and syenite, are deficient in silica and high in sodium and potassium. They also have high concentrations of elements such as F, Zr, Nb, Be, Th and U as well as rare earth elements.

I hope that you enjoyed following us along our journey and I can’t wait to share what I learned with everyone that I know and the Discovery Educator Network.

Adam

After returning home, I have had some time to reflect upon my experiences in South Africa.  My favorite memories are from the school visits.  In Soweto, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a class of 6th graders.  The average class has at least 50+ students per teacher.  I was a bit anxious about managing a class this large but quickly realized that the students were very well behaved and interested in listening to an American with a funny accent.

The students were eager to learn about my family, the names of my children, my favorite food, my hometown, my favorite sport and my favorite subject in school.  The more we shared our “favorites”, the more I realized how similar these children were to our kids in the states.  Kids everywhere love pizza and soccer.

I was most surprised to learn that many of the children spoke at least 4 languages and there are 11 “official” languages in South Africa.  Since I knew Spanish, the kids were interested in learning a few new words (hello, goodbye and thank you).

As I said goodbye, I got goose bumps when the students all jumped up and shouted “Adios Coni”. 

PS.  I hope everyone is enjoying this website, our goal was to share our South Africa experiences with all the educators in the Discovery Education Community. 

Everyone should start their day being serenaded by 1,000 students:) 

(NOTE:  Check out our first podcast - a quick, compilation of some of the songs the students sang for us as well as our "official welcome" by both Gugu, a 7th grade student, and the assistant principal of the school.)

Thanks for all of your comments about schools in Soweto; we were impressed with the wide range of perspectives on Soweto schools -- hopefully we can confirm some of your thoughts and dispel some myths based on what we saw today.

The school itself is well maintained; they have few supplies, no computers or heat, but each room is well decorated with the things teachers would expect to see in a classroom; procedure charts, learning standards, and exemplary student work.  There are not many textbooks and few of the luxuries such as paint, markers and construction paper.

The first thing you notice about the students at Isu'Lihle is how happy everyone is. We were greeted everywhere with gracious welcomes and throughout the day, students smiled politely and laughed and waved hello.   We began the day with a morning assembly in which all 1000 students of Isu' Lihle enthusiastically sang some traditional African songs and we were greeted 'officially' by school representatives.  We then had the opportunity to observe a number of classes;  in each class, the students were engaged, enthusiastic, and very supportive of each other.  

The second thing you notice is how self-possessed all of the students are. Dressed in pressed uniforms, the students walked calmly and purposely from class to class, greeting each other along the way. 

It's after you realize how happy and confident all of the students you are that the dire circumstances of their lives hits you.  In many areas of Soweto, the HIV/AIDS infection rate has reached 60%, leaving a large percentage of the children of Soweto orphaned and a shocking number living with the responsibility of raising their younger siblings alone.  Poverty is a fact of life and crime is rampant. 

Despite this, the students of Isu' Lihle had absolutely no anger in them.  There was no fighting. There were no apparent discipline issues.  Students were collaborative rather than combative - each taking pride in each others learning successes.  Everyone participated and the students were completely engaged.  With every reason to be full of rage at the cards they'd been dealt, there was not a hint of it in these children.  I attribute this positive hopeful attitude to a lifetime of reinforcement of the importance of education and the positive example set by the teachers and the community. There is an unwaveringly positive attitude at Isu'Lihle  -- and it was great to spend the day there.  

It's clear the DCGEP has had an enormous impact on the school, providing content that gives students a view to a world that they've never seen.  The students we met today have the intelligence and capacity to make an impact on the future of South Africa -- DCGEP is providing these students with the resources they need to envision and realize a life for themselves beyond the walls of their township.

I think our experience at Isu'Lihle can be summed up by a quote from the assistant principal as he spoke to students in this morning's assembly -- "In Africa, we sing!  Despite our circumstances, we sing.  In times of happiness, in times of sadness, we sing.  In peace and in war, we sing." 

Tomorrow morning, we'll spend the day at Isu'Lihle Senior Primary School in Soweto (the same school that Coni, Mark and the sweepstakes winners visited last week).  This will be our first opportunity to see first hand the results of the DCGEP's work in South Africa, so we're all very excited.

Over dinner tonight, we were discussing how Americans view South Africa.  Our consensus was that many Americans know very little about South Africa.  Since it's not covered in most standard school curriculums beyond a unit on wild animals, we were sad to admit that many Americans have a very limited view of the history and current events of the country.  Nelson Mandela is of course a highly recognized figure, and the abolishment of Apartheid is something that we're all familiar with - but I confess to having known very little about South African history and culture prior to preparing for our trip and I think that tends to be the case more often then not.

Over the course of this week, we'd like to provide Discovery employees and all of the teachers, partners, and friends reading this blog with our perspectives of how the Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership has impacted the lives of the people we meet.  Through that, we hope to shed some light on the culture and people of this country that we are just starting to get to know.

To get the conversation moving, I'd love it if you'd post comments on South Africa and a brief assessment of what you THINK the schools in Soweto might be like and the challenges they may face.   We'll check in after our first school visit and provide our view of the realities. 

Hope this finds everyone well - Day 2 has been great! We're well rested and very excited for our visit tomorrow!

Stay tuned!