Dimitri Syros
Social Studies Teacher
PEN PAL PARTNERSHIP:
Imizamo Yethu School Cape Town, South Africa
A few summers ago I had the opportunity to teach middle school for a summer in the Imizamo Yethu Township of Cape Town, South Africa. My teaching experience in South Africa taught me so much and made me reflect on my teaching experience in Miami-Dade. While my students in Cape Town lived drastically different lives than my students in Miami, I was amazed at how similar they both were despite being a world away. From taste in music, to career aspirations and life goals, students from both backgrounds expressed similar responses when prompted. I immediately wondered what each group could learn from one another and how I could provide them with access to an international community. At the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, I decided to start a Pen Pal Program between students in my Civics classes and student's in my former colleague's grade 8 history class at the Imizamo Yethu School. Most students were paired with another student at a one-to-one ration with a few students writing in pairs with their pen pal because I had slightly more students enrolled in my classes. Using my knowledge of different student's personalities, I tried to match students with counterparts that they might have something in common with. After matching the students with potential pals, I reached out to my administration to ensure that our students could participate in the program. Parents were also notified about their children's perspective participation in the program. Upon receiving confirmation from both school sites, we sent our first batch of letters in the fall.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Pen Pal Proposal
2. Photos
3. Student Testimonials
4. Teacher Reflection
1. Pen Pal Proposal
The first step in providing access to my student was pitching the idea for a pen pal program to administration at my school site. Having already gotten the approval from my old school in South Africa, I wanted to express to my principal the opportunity available to our students at Norland. Many of our students have never left the state of Florida yet alone the country, so I wanted to stress the unique potential that this program could have in expanding our students global perspectives. In the conversations that followed my principal expressed excitement for the prospective benefits of this partnership but was doubtful that he could provide funding to cover the costs of sending letters monthly. I offered to personally cover the cost and responsibility of mailing and receiving the letters in which case he happily obliged.
2. Photos
When sending letters to pen pals in South Africa, students were implored to type their letters. The content of initial letters tended to be informal as students got to know one another. By the mid-point of the year, pen pals began to develop continuity and remembered things about each other's lives. In this letter the student is making connections between a South African philosophy known as Ubuntu and a new system of classroom management practiced in our classroom.
Letters received back from my colleagues classroom in South Africa were typically hand-written because my colleague wanted her students to practice their English handwriting and grammar. One interesting aspect to this pen pal program was that students in South Africa spoke isiXhosa as their first language and had only begun learning English in school. Although grammar was not perfect, students were still able to communicate seamlessly with my students even learning some words in isiXhosa.
Both students in Miami and South Africa shared a lot more in common that my student initially anticipated. From taste in music to movies to television cartoons, our students were able to relate to one another despite being a continent away (as is evident by the Spongebob cartoon on this letter). This was eye-opening to many of my students who formerly viewed Africa as a place of only poverty and suffering instead of a place of common humanity and empowering people.
When sending letters to pen pals in South Africa, students were implored to type their letters. The content of initial letters tended to be informal as students got to know one another. By the mid-point of the year, pen pals began to develop continuity and remembered things about each other's lives. In this letter the student is making connections between a South African philosophy known as Ubuntu and a new system of classroom management practiced in our classroom.
3. Student Testimonials
Testimonial #1
"Having a pen pal has been an awesome experience. Not only is she really nice, but I feel like we're long lost sisters. I feel like we have a lot in common from the kind of music we like (Bryson TIller, yeah!) to loving to dance. at first I wasn't really excited about this letter writing because it sounded like it was going to be a lot of work and I had no idea what my pen pal wold be like. I hate to say it, but before I had no idea that people in South Africa listened to our kind of music and stuff and I didn't know they had electricity. My pen pal was quick to remind me that just because I saw a bunch of stuff about Africa on tv and the news didn't mean it was true. I hope that ---------- and I can stay in touch after this year!"
-R.S.
Testimonial #2
"Writing to my pen pal has been a lot of fun. She has snapchat too so we talk on there sometimes! she likes the filters. I'm thankful that we had a chance to do this. I have learned a lot from my pen pal. I fee bad for every time I used to complain about stuff. I thought it was tough sharing a room with my sister but my pen pal shares with three brothers! I don't know how she does it. It's been crazy talking to her about Apartheid and how all of the races still live separately where shes from. The more I think about it Miami is kind f like that too even though its not the law. I think she would like Miami Gardens a lot. I wonder if I could adjust to over there."
-K.C.
4. Teacher Reflection
A few summers ago I volunteered teaching abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Since that time I kept in touch with many of my students whom are the same age as my students in Miami. Naturally I felt that it would be beneficial to link both groups of students to broaden their cultural horizons and enhance their worldview. In reflecting on the experience I noticed that my students in Miami were incredibly humbled by the circumstances of which many of my South African students lived. Our class did research on the South African apartheid system and juxtaposed it with our study of segregation in America. Many of my students were outraged to see the legacy of apartheid still being lived out in South Africa and were shocked to find out that the legacy of segregation similarly haunts the American South. Through dialogue with their pen pals students expressed common feelings and shared their perspectives. It was amazing as a teacher to oversee a larger conversation with such global implications for the future. In addition to providing access to a unique context and international conversation my class was able to learn from their peers. My class adopted the South African philosophy of “Ubuntu” as a pillar of our classroom culture after engaging with our pen pals. One of the first steps in this process was adopting a classroom chant that was recited at the beginning of each class between teachers and students. The chant that we created was designed to reaffirm the sense of unity and oneness shared with us from our South African peers. The lyrics to the chant are as follows:
Teacher: "Where my scholars at!?"
Students: "Right here, lets ride"
Teacher: "Where my leaders at!?
Students: "Got our eyes on the prize"
Teacher: "Knowledge is a gift..."
Students: "That money can't buy"
Teacher: "When they go low..."
Students: "We go high"
Teacher: "And just like dust..."
Students: "We will rise!"
While I felt that our classroom chant has made a positive impact on the class as a whole I have seen Ubuntu take forms in multiple ways in my classroom. As my students came to find out through their pen pals, the name Imizamo Yethu translates to "our collective struggle." As my students internalized the meaning of this Cape Town Township they realized that it represented Ubuntu. Through working together as a collective and caring for one another's well-being we could triumph over any struggle. I saw this philosophy embodied in my classroom most prominently when one of my student was in a terrible car accident with his father. Tragically the student was in critical condition for a few months and his father was killed instantly in the crash. Amidst the tragedy my class rose to the occasion and approached me with a solution. Students in my class lived out Ubuntu by creating a Go-Fund-Me page for the student and his family and asked me to help them administrate it. By the time that the trial was over, our class raised over $5,000 to help assist in the student's medical and personal needs. I was very impressed with my class and was proud that our pen pal program helped to create real change in the mindsets of my students. The sense of community that we had established through engaging with students from across the world had made all the difference on the home front when we needed it most.
Access Guest Speaker