Christian David Primary-Lavender Hill Grade 7
Youth Community Project
On Saturday, 12 September 2009 the youth from Christian David Primary School came together to paint three homes in their community. The youth showed up at the school early in the morning and walked to the shacks which they had organized to paint, carrying the paint and supplies which had been donated by some of the local paint stores. They had fun and worked hard all day. The kids did a great job painting and showed that the youth can really make a positive difference in their community.
Lavender Hill Activities
3 June 2009
Christian David Primary School: Introduction
The first session with the Learners at Christian David’s Primary school grade 7 went very well. We began the session playing a game to get to know each other better. We threw a ball around the classroom and the participant who caught the ball shared their name and something about themselves. They would then throw the ball to another student. The activity was fun and worked as a good ice-breaker. Next we introduced the project in more detail and shared sample portfolios from the Unites States participants. The youth loved to see the pictures of the American youth, and were very surprised to see that many of them were black. When we held up a picture of one of the Milwaukee students, they questioned if the child was American. We explained the diversity of races and ethnicities present in America. For many of the participants, we were the first Americans they had ever met, and our blond hair and white skin reaffirmed their white-dominated image of Americans, which they have been fed through the media. Through the sharing of the cover of the US portfolios, they have already learned to view the experience of US youth in a new way. Although their first language is Afrikaans, they seemed to understand and receive our English well. We passed a sample of the cover pages from the US portfolios around the room and the youth were asked to start their cover page of their portfolios. Each table was given markers and paper. We played music as the youth enjoyed working on their project. The last ½ hour we fed the children juice, rolls, and apples. The environment was fun and comfortable for the youth, and they expressed their excitement for our future meetings.
8 June 2009
Christian Davis Primary School Session 2: About Me
The session started with passing out food of apples and chips for learners so that they could concentrate on the project without being hungry. They received their photo to paste on the cover page of their portfolio. The USA Youth portfolios About Me pages were shared with the learners. The learners spent the remainder of the session creating their own page which included their name, age, school, where they are from, favorite activity, and something special. They were very engaged in the project and created creative pages about themselves.
10 June 2009
Christian David Primary School: My Culture/Holiday
The youth were very enthusiastic about the projects today. When we entered the room they all started cheering with excitement. Their portfolios were distributed. We started the session by sharing cultural traditions and holidays from the USA. We explained holidays which are not celebrated in South Africa, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving. They enjoyed hearing about the scary costumes and trick-or-treat traditions which the American youth celebrate. The US youth created pages about their favorite holidays, and what traditions they have or that day. Many shared about their birthday. We shared these with the youth in Lavender Hill. The youth were given supplies of paper and markers to design their own page about a favorite holiday they celebrate. Music was played and juice and fruit distributed. The facilitators walked around the room engaging with the youth about their holidays, answering questions about USA traditions, and viewing the portfolio progress.
My pictures
We started the session by distributing rice crispy treats for the youth. They had never had them before and absolutely loved the taste. We then explained the photography project and showed them basic photography skills. Each learner received a camera and we walked around the room making sure that they understood how to use the disposable camera, such as working the flash button and making sure that their fingers were not in front of the lens. They were so thrilled to have the cameras and were very careful with them. Each participant wrote their name on the camera so they would not mix them up. We explained the various aspects of the community we wanted them to capture on the camera, such as their school, church, family, and friends. The children went outside for about 10 minutes to practice with the cameras and take pictures around the school.
Since yesterday was Youth Day, we discussed the power that young people have had in South Africa’s history and what the day meant to them. The students all created pages about youth day for their portfolios.
Christian David Primary School: Introduction
The first session with the Learners at Christian David’s Primary school grade 7 went very well. We began the session playing a game to get to know each other better. We threw a ball around the classroom and the participant who caught the ball shared their name and something about themselves. They would then throw the ball to another student. The activity was fun and worked as a good ice-breaker. Next we introduced the project in more detail and shared sample portfolios from the Unites States participants. The youth loved to see the pictures of the American youth, and were very surprised to see that many of them were black. When we held up a picture of one of the Milwaukee students, they questioned if the child was American. We explained the diversity of races and ethnicities present in America. For many of the participants, we were the first Americans they had ever met, and our blond hair and white skin reaffirmed their white-dominated image of Americans, which they have been fed through the media. Through the sharing of the cover of the US portfolios, they have already learned to view the experience of US youth in a new way. Although their first language is Afrikaans, they seemed to understand and receive our English well. We passed a sample of the cover pages from the US portfolios around the room and the youth were asked to start their cover page of their portfolios. Each table was given markers and paper. We played music as the youth enjoyed working on their project. The last ½ hour we fed the children juice, rolls, and apples. The environment was fun and comfortable for the youth, and they expressed their excitement for our future meetings.
8 June 2009
Christian Davis Primary School Session 2: About Me
The session started with passing out food of apples and chips for learners so that they could concentrate on the project without being hungry. They received their photo to paste on the cover page of their portfolio. The USA Youth portfolios About Me pages were shared with the learners. The learners spent the remainder of the session creating their own page which included their name, age, school, where they are from, favorite activity, and something special. They were very engaged in the project and created creative pages about themselves.
10 June 2009
Christian David Primary School: My Culture/Holiday
The youth were very enthusiastic about the projects today. When we entered the room they all started cheering with excitement. Their portfolios were distributed. We started the session by sharing cultural traditions and holidays from the USA. We explained holidays which are not celebrated in South Africa, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving. They enjoyed hearing about the scary costumes and trick-or-treat traditions which the American youth celebrate. The US youth created pages about their favorite holidays, and what traditions they have or that day. Many shared about their birthday. We shared these with the youth in Lavender Hill. The youth were given supplies of paper and markers to design their own page about a favorite holiday they celebrate. Music was played and juice and fruit distributed. The facilitators walked around the room engaging with the youth about their holidays, answering questions about USA traditions, and viewing the portfolio progress.
My pictures
We started the session by distributing rice crispy treats for the youth. They had never had them before and absolutely loved the taste. We then explained the photography project and showed them basic photography skills. Each learner received a camera and we walked around the room making sure that they understood how to use the disposable camera, such as working the flash button and making sure that their fingers were not in front of the lens. They were so thrilled to have the cameras and were very careful with them. Each participant wrote their name on the camera so they would not mix them up. We explained the various aspects of the community we wanted them to capture on the camera, such as their school, church, family, and friends. The children went outside for about 10 minutes to practice with the cameras and take pictures around the school.
Since yesterday was Youth Day, we discussed the power that young people have had in South Africa’s history and what the day meant to them. The students all created pages about youth day for their portfolios.
