New kid on the block
With Viloshni having to undergo her latest bout of chemo, I had to cover a couple of her lessons on my own… In other words, teach! It’s a bit like
January 24, 2017
Teaching in South Africa
Highbrow? Hardly…
An encounter with a learner (the charming term they use here for a pupil) during a lesson today: she raises her hand, and I make my way to her through
January 26, 2017
Lentswe lea Bua…
(No staff were injured in the making of this video.) Wandered into the staffroom at breaktime to discover a rehearsal, led by Rosa Motha, the DCS choirmistress, in full swing; it was
February 1, 2017
Woza Albert!
A theatre trip to the stunning Soweto theatre this afternoon: 37 learners, Val, Viloshni and me. The learners were in full school uniform, something their English counterparts would have reacted
February 9, 2017
Walking in rhythm
Same play as in the previous clip – The Three Sons, but by necessity rather than choice, as only one person from the other scene I intended to rehearse turned
March 3, 2017
Freeze
It’s hard to believe that we are now into the second week of March and the day that Viloshni Naidoo (Head of Performing Arts) went into hospital for her planned operation. Our
March 6, 2017
Think!
Today was Thinking Day, a cross curricular off-timetable exercise for the whole school, with the learners in mixed – age and gender – groups and given a lot of challenging
March 13, 2017
The Da Vinci code
One of the huge bonuses of living and working at DCS is that we are regularly exposed to their wonderful choir. This afternoon we had the privilege of accompanying them
March 14, 2017
Lessons as usual – warming-up
It occurs to me that one area of school life that I have not covered at all in this blog is the one that, since Viloshni went into hospital, takes
March 28, 2017
Lessons as usual – Antigone
Practical drama work in South Africa follows the same pattern as in England, pretty much a 50/50 split between scripted and improvised/devised work. The video shows an example of the
March 30, 2017
Sophiatown
The Grade 10 and 11 learners’ trip to see the Market Theatre’s production of Sophiatown was not without its organisational problems, with the school reluctant to shell out the money
April 3, 2017
Lessons as usual – shadow puppets
Before the option arises of choosing subjects, the Grade 9 learners have on their timetables something called Art & Culture, a number of short practical projects. As Viloshni’s replacement it
April 5, 2017