Reception

In Wales, we are used to having a Reception class at school, for children aged 4 – 5, but in Lesotho, Reception classes are new. Schools only began to have a Reception class last year, so I spent some time with the class at St. Peter’s to find out how they’re getting on.

 

There are lots of things you’ll find familiar in the class: songs to help the children learn, learning letter sounds and words, learning through play and exploring. These children are finding out what they can make from multilink.

                                        Have a look at the classroom. Does it look like your Reception classroom? Why/why not?

 

Brooms

Schools in Lesotho don’t have cleaners like schools in Wales. The children have to sweep their own classrooms at the end of the day. They do this with a broom made from moseha reeds.

Some children made their own brooms to sweep their classroom with. First they got some moseha reeds from the mountainside above the school. Then they split the reeds into piles – one pile for each broom.

Next they took a long piece of wool and began to wind the wool around the reeds, about a hand width from the end. Some children wove the wool in and out of the reeds to make a pattern on the broom.

 

Finally they fastened the end of the wool and the broom was complete. When the reeds have dried out they will turn brown and the broom will be ready to use.

St. Peter’s

My school for the next few months is called St. Peter’s. It’s a Catholic primary school in Mokhotlong town. This is the sign welcoming you to our school – our students are known as the anacondas.

Our school has a reception class (a new thing in Lesotho) so they can come to school from 4 years old. After that the children go into classes 1 – 7.  Children can begin school at any age and they have to pass a test at the end of each year before they go up to the next, so there can be many different ages in each class. For example, in class 7, the students are aged 
between 12 and 18.

The school is very popular, so many children come here. This means that classes are very big, usually about 90. One of my classes is Class 6 which has 97 children in – here they are!

I’m back!

Hello,

For anyone who didn’t read this blog last year, my name’s Claire Bradford and I’m a teacher from Cardiff. I’m in Lesotho for five months on a placement sponsored by the Welsh Assembly Government, to promote links between Lesotho and Wales, and to assist with ESDGC development. The blog and linked photo albums are intended as a learning resource for pupils and teachers.

Last year I taught in the capital of Lesotho, Maseru. This time I’m in the mountain town of Mokhotlong. You can see where it is on the map here.

From this week until the end of May, I’ll be teaching in a school called Saint Peter’s Primary School, but also visiting other primary and secondary schools in the area, so will post up stories, reports, information and photos about the schools and daily life. I’ll also be making short videos to use as teaching resources, but uploading them to a separate website when I return in June as the internet connection here can be unreliable. If you would like any videos before then, just post a comment and I can upload specific ones. 

If you would like to ask me, my students or colleagues any questions about Mokhotlong or Lesotho, please feel free to post a comment.

School’s Out!

 Because Lesotho is in the southern Hemisphere (below the equator) they have winter from June to September, and summer from December to March – the opposite of the UK.

 

So Hoohlo Primary has broken up for the winter holidays. Like every school in Lesotho, they finished this week and will start back at school on 1^st August. The children were very busy on the last couple of days cleaning and tidying the school. Even the gardening equipment was put away clean and shiny.

This week was also my last week teaching in Lesotho. The children and staff at the school have made me feel very welcome since I arrived in January, and gave me a wonderful farewell party. There were dances, songs and drama, as well as short speeches from different people in the school community.

As I’m not in school anymore, this will be my last blog post. I will still put up photos in the albums of the children, school and places in Lesotho. If teachers need any specific photos, I’m in Lesotho for another week, so please just post a comment asking for them and I can take them.

Thanks for reading and sala hantle – hwyl - bye!