7:40 - 7:50 Registration (pictured left)7:50 - 8:25 Period 1
8:25 - 9:00 Period 2
9:00 - 9:35 Period 3
9:35 - 10:10 Period 4
SHORT BREAK (15 Minutes)
10:25 - 11:00 Period 5
11:00 - 11:35 Period 6
LONG BREAK (25 Minutes)
12:00 - 12:35 Period 7
12:35 - 1:10 Period 8
1:10 - 2:10 House/Class Assemblies
On Thursdays, the students have shortened classes so they can have their respective house, or class, meetings at the end of the day. The schedule is always up in the air, however, because the school operates on an 8 day class rotation. It reminds me of how they schedule "specials" at Gurney or the Intermediate School- there is a rotation of which class you go to and at what time, so you better be organized so you have the right materials! Tomorrow, Friday, they always have their all-school assembly in their hall, which takes place from 11:35-12:35.
I absolutely LOVED today! I think that makes me a bit of a nerd, but we all knew that already :) Mr. Kline and I had the opportunity to rotate from class to class. I went to all the science classes, so I stayed in the science block (located in buildings E and F). The science department reminded me so much of the one at CFHS- I felt right at home! I was very fortunate to be placed in different rooms by the Grade 11 & 12 Life Sciences teacher, Mrs. Hagen, who is Canadian- so I can understand her accent! I observed 5 different teachers who taught biology, chemistry, and physics lessons for grades 10-12. At CHC, they offer Life Sciences and/or Physical Sciences to ALL grade levels, so each year you take a little bit of everything. Mrs. Hagen gave me a copy of the 11 & 12 Life Sciences curriculum and it's a blend of AP Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, and AP Environmental Science. Some areas are more in-depth than what we do, but other topics that we teach are not taught at all here. My day was entertaining- dissecting a sheep lung, solving capacitor problems, watching sodium blow up in water, setting up chemical reactions, and arranging student portfolios.
The grading system here is completely different. The students all must keep their own portfolio for their respective subject. This includes all of their "marks," or grades, for each term. The students here have 3 terms, much like our 2 semesters. Each term they take one or all of the following: written exam, practical, writing component. The exams here help the 11s and 12s prepare for their exams later in the school year. The students have a week period after each term to "write," or take, their exams. The teachers have a TON of grading to do because all forms of their exams are EXTREMELY writing intensive. Some of these exams looked more intense than the ones I took in college- SO MUCH WRITING! It was easy to see why some of the students are so stressed out and how it becomes so difficult to earn high marks, or As, here. One other thing that makes the grading different- nothing is posted online. Students are responsible for tracking their own progress and the parents do not receive marks until the terms are over.
Back to the schedule- today there was a History Day event taking place in the auditorium. CHC brought in speakers to talk about South African and World History and they also had local politicians come in for a debate. Some students found this interesting, others fell asleep during the first half and opted out of the second half :) Many decided to go to all the classes. Maddie correctly answered questions in math class on material the teacher hadn't taught her students yet and Ted, Olivia, and Meaghan decided to take the AP Math exam to see how they measured up compared to the South African students! I was so proud :) At the end of the day during the assembly, we all met in Mrs. Klopper's room to watch a documentary on Sparrow Village. The documentary was filmed by David Ponce, CFHS Class of 2004, who passed away in 2006 after a battle with leukemia. It gave the students insight on exactly what we would be observing tomorrow afternoon.
When school was over, some of the hosts had sports and others had the afternoon off. A lot of the students were heading to the local mall, not even 2 miles down the road. Mrs. Klopper took me and Mr. Kline out in Pretoria. We went to go scout the location for our farewell dinner, Moyo Fountains. Oh my goodness! If you haven't Googled it yet, PLEASE check out this link! It was BEAUTIFUL! We drove past the Groenkloof Nature Preserve on the way there (even saw running antelope!) and Moyo is located right in the midst of it. I took a lot of pictures in the daylight just in case it would be too dark when we arrived next week. Mrs. Klopper took us to 
Duncan Yard for some coffee and a snack and we got to look in all the little shops- it was a fun place with cool architecture! We drove around the universities and other high schools/colleges, past the home of the Bulls (Pretoria's beloved rugby team), and through Waterkloof Ridge- "if you live in Waterkloof, then you've made it!"
One final note- what have your children been eating? Have they talked to you about any of the food yet? One of the teachers at the boarding house made a list for me and Mr. Kline. The main thing he is making us try are the desserts :) So far, we have had:
Melktert (milk tart): cross between custard and cheesecake. I don't think it has any flavor...
Pavlova: basically a bowl made out of meringue and filled with fruit, whipped cream, and honey.
Koeksisters: a crunchy dough-cake that is very sweet. It looks like a twist cinnamon doughnut.
Guava: we've had the juice, but never the actual fruit. It looks like a pear, has the color of a watermelon, but has the consistency of a tomato. It is very tart and very good!
Biltong: this is like beef jerky, but it looks more like sliced skirt steak. It is usually made of ostrich or springbok(!) meat. I did not have it, but the students LOVE it!
Malva pudding (MY personal favorite): cake made with apricot jam topped with warm vanilla custard. It reminds me of the gingerbread at Gamekeeper's :)
That's enough for this evening. Tomorrow we attend classes until 11:35, present at the assembly (I hope they are all working on it tonight!), have lunch at the boarding house, then we head out to Sparrow Village in Roodepoort. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a draining day, but the students are looking forward to their visit.
Have a wonderful Thursday afternoon :)
I absolutely LOVED today! I think that makes me a bit of a nerd, but we all knew that already :) Mr. Kline and I had the opportunity to rotate from class to class. I went to all the science classes, so I stayed in the science block (located in buildings E and F). The science department reminded me so much of the one at CFHS- I felt right at home! I was very fortunate to be placed in different rooms by the Grade 11 & 12 Life Sciences teacher, Mrs. Hagen, who is Canadian- so I can understand her accent! I observed 5 different teachers who taught biology, chemistry, and physics lessons for grades 10-12. At CHC, they offer Life Sciences and/or Physical Sciences to ALL grade levels, so each year you take a little bit of everything. Mrs. Hagen gave me a copy of the 11 & 12 Life Sciences curriculum and it's a blend of AP Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, and AP Environmental Science. Some areas are more in-depth than what we do, but other topics that we teach are not taught at all here. My day was entertaining- dissecting a sheep lung, solving capacitor problems, watching sodium blow up in water, setting up chemical reactions, and arranging student portfolios.The grading system here is completely different. The students all must keep their own portfolio for their respective subject. This includes all of their "marks," or grades, for each term. The students here have 3 terms, much like our 2 semesters. Each term they take one or all of the following: written exam, practical, writing component. The exams here help the 11s and 12s prepare for their exams later in the school year. The students have a week period after each term to "write," or take, their exams. The teachers have a TON of grading to do because all forms of their exams are EXTREMELY writing intensive. Some of these exams looked more intense than the ones I took in college- SO MUCH WRITING! It was easy to see why some of the students are so stressed out and how it becomes so difficult to earn high marks, or As, here. One other thing that makes the grading different- nothing is posted online. Students are responsible for tracking their own progress and the parents do not receive marks until the terms are over.
Back to the schedule- today there was a History Day event taking place in the auditorium. CHC brought in speakers to talk about South African and World History and they also had local politicians come in for a debate. Some students found this interesting, others fell asleep during the first half and opted out of the second half :) Many decided to go to all the classes. Maddie correctly answered questions in math class on material the teacher hadn't taught her students yet and Ted, Olivia, and Meaghan decided to take the AP Math exam to see how they measured up compared to the South African students! I was so proud :) At the end of the day during the assembly, we all met in Mrs. Klopper's room to watch a documentary on Sparrow Village. The documentary was filmed by David Ponce, CFHS Class of 2004, who passed away in 2006 after a battle with leukemia. It gave the students insight on exactly what we would be observing tomorrow afternoon.
When school was over, some of the hosts had sports and others had the afternoon off. A lot of the students were heading to the local mall, not even 2 miles down the road. Mrs. Klopper took me and Mr. Kline out in Pretoria. We went to go scout the location for our farewell dinner, Moyo Fountains. Oh my goodness! If you haven't Googled it yet, PLEASE check out this link! It was BEAUTIFUL! We drove past the Groenkloof Nature Preserve on the way there (even saw running antelope!) and Moyo is located right in the midst of it. I took a lot of pictures in the daylight just in case it would be too dark when we arrived next week. Mrs. Klopper took us to 
Duncan Yard for some coffee and a snack and we got to look in all the little shops- it was a fun place with cool architecture! We drove around the universities and other high schools/colleges, past the home of the Bulls (Pretoria's beloved rugby team), and through Waterkloof Ridge- "if you live in Waterkloof, then you've made it!"One final note- what have your children been eating? Have they talked to you about any of the food yet? One of the teachers at the boarding house made a list for me and Mr. Kline. The main thing he is making us try are the desserts :) So far, we have had:
Melktert (milk tart): cross between custard and cheesecake. I don't think it has any flavor...
Pavlova: basically a bowl made out of meringue and filled with fruit, whipped cream, and honey.
Koeksisters: a crunchy dough-cake that is very sweet. It looks like a twist cinnamon doughnut.
Guava: we've had the juice, but never the actual fruit. It looks like a pear, has the color of a watermelon, but has the consistency of a tomato. It is very tart and very good!
Biltong: this is like beef jerky, but it looks more like sliced skirt steak. It is usually made of ostrich or springbok(!) meat. I did not have it, but the students LOVE it!
Malva pudding (MY personal favorite): cake made with apricot jam topped with warm vanilla custard. It reminds me of the gingerbread at Gamekeeper's :)
That's enough for this evening. Tomorrow we attend classes until 11:35, present at the assembly (I hope they are all working on it tonight!), have lunch at the boarding house, then we head out to Sparrow Village in Roodepoort. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a draining day, but the students are looking forward to their visit.
Have a wonderful Thursday afternoon :)
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