What do you recommend I teach my students about South Africa?
I'm a teacher and it's that time of the year...culture week! Apart from the obvious (Apartheid, Mandela, Rugby, etc.), what are some other interesting topics I can put on the list for next week? Keep in mind that the students don't speak English very well and hardly ever heard of South Africa. I just made a terrible mistake. I'm sorry orion, but I wanted to give your answer a thumbs-up and mistakenly gave it a thumbs-down. Really sorry, buddy. Great answers like that don't deserve a thumbs-down. Me very stoooooopid!
South Africa - 15 Answers
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1 :
South Africa? AIDS, corruption, war lords, no government, uneducated, poverty, rape, and killing at random. Butt hen we wouldn't want our children to know the truth!
2 :
What about famous places that is unique to SA. We have a whole bunch of great attractions here. You could tell them about Sun City/Lost City which is one of the most famous resorts in the world. You could tell them about Table Mountain and how beautiful it looks when the clouds sweep over it to provide a "tablecloth". You could tell them about the efforts to conserve and appreciate the sharks off the coast of Durban. You could tell them that SA has a great and diversified marine life - and maybe mention that the stealing of abalones (perlemoen) from our waters is wrong! I suppose you could also mention something about the "Big5". Maybe show them some SA money with the Big5 on it. You could also tell them about the worlds longest bungee jump at Bloukraans - I think its somewhere over 200m. Also, I think it's important to show them that SA is filled with large well-established cities and not just huts with lions running through our yards (If you haven't done that already). I think it would be great if you could get some pictures to show the kids when you tell them about SA. They will love to see a place like Lost City in picture form as well as the pictures of great white sharks - what boy could resist having a look at that? If you could, maybe you could get access to google earth for the kids and show them a nice visual view of Cape Town and Joburg. Hope you show them that SA is rocking! Cheers
3 :
You can teach them about the sin of Affrirmative Action. If they are bored with the whole apartheid thing I'm sure they'd appreciate a lesson in reverse racism. Seriously though, since it's culture week why not give them an overview of how cultures (art, music, lifestyle) have changed and evolved the last few decades due to the move from rural to urban environments.
4 :
Tell them everything. Tell them the truth.
5 :
There are a lot of good things happening in SA. Some country bashers will whine about high crime, AIDS, corruption. The real situation can only be discribed us miraculous. It is a demonstration of what happens if people put their differences aside, forgive one another, overcome suspicions and fears of one another and decide to work together to build a country. I do not want to mislead you into thinking this is easy. It is not easy at all and the progress curve is not smooth. It took a long time for business to have confidence in what government was doing. There has been a lot of investment the past three years, especially in construction. And with the 201world cup around the corner. The unity of the people is assured of further cementation. You can visit a lot of sites on SA. Start with the government site. Wish you luck in your preperation
6 :
About apartheid. The different types of people/how they came to s.a Nelson Mandela lifestyle how south Africa was founded Sports
7 :
Don't forget the animals and the sunset there is only one sunset like that.Birds sing when you wake up.The stars shining at night and you then hear the sun bees.The smell of rain.Standing on a mountain it feels like your floting with the clouds.We have many snakes,the widest selection of animals.
8 :
Teach them about how racism is wrong. Teach them about safaris. Teach them about the gold minining we have. Maybe Gold Reef City could interest them.
9 :
teach them about our food! Yum teach them how to play rugby teach them how to say hello in all 11 official languages show them the mountain shaped like a table top and tell them about how you can ride the ostriches in oudsthoorn.. i did, its fun. teach them the names of all the sports teams... banyana banyana - bafana bafana - the bokke - and their meanings. there is so much interesting stuff and you dont even have to go near the political side of things. Oh and dont forget biltong and braai's.
10 :
Well one of South Africa's main attractions would be the Big 5 so why dont you teach them the 5 animals to make the big 5 and why we called it the Big 5. That seems easy and fun for them to learn about.
11 :
Apartheid was a very important time in South Africa's history. Teach about that, you can show the movie "Biko." Warning, this movie has some violent parts in it not appropriate for kids under 13. Also about AIDS and Mandella. Good luck.
12 :
SHould'nt you be going by the school's lesson plans for that question?? You are the teacher. Teach whatever is in your school's history book. It's that simple. TO Timothy D L: Right on, man.
13 :
Hey Porgie..well we just celebrated heritage day yesterday..why not something about the heritage of SA..our history, we have a few world heritage sites, our culture, our music. But make it interesting..and on Sunday 1 Oct we are celebrating "braai"or BBQ day in SA..why don't you do something like that? Explain/teach them about the typical SA BBQ and maybe you can have your own class BBQ? With chicken of course..:o)
14 :
Teach them about how all of africa isnt all poor like the shows they show on TV, and africa isnt just poor black people needing food running around because it is way more to africa than that.
15 :
Read to them Rudyard Kipling's "White Man's Burden".
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