Lessons Learned, Vol. IV (School Edition)

So for the past week, I taught World Geography to 12th graders at Zisukhanyo High in the Samora Machel township of Cape Town. Most of these valuable lessons are from this experience.

Lesson 19
The slight differences between South African and Southern American English pronunciations can lead to some very embarrassing moments. When speaking to my students, I told them "take your sheet and put it under your desk". Their amazingly shocked faces said it all.

Lesson 20
Despite our language and cultural differences, a teenage girl will still lose her mind the moment she hears a Chris Brown song. I've seen it with my own eyes!

Lesson 21
African students have concerns about how African Americans identify themselves. After once class, this student came up to me and said "So what are you, an African or an American". I told him that I was both. I'm American because I'm a naturalized U.S. citizen. I am African because my ancestors were brought to the U.S. from Africa. I am an African American, and I proudly embrace both aspects. He accepted my answer.

Lesson 22
I can enjoy many of my favorite 4th of July traditions while in Cape Town. We're going out for ribs tonight, and Ryan knows how to make fireworks. I do miss my family on a day like this, but the SAEP family will work for this summer.

Lesson 23
The Cold War looks a lot different when seen through South African eyes. I was taught that the Cold War was a battle against the evil forces of communism, with their oppressive policies and bland architecture. South African students, however, are taught that the Cold War was a battle between two rich countries that engaged in a 40-year spat that cost millions of people in other countries their freedom and sovereignty. Haughton Mifflin's textbook didn't say anything about that!

The last one isn't school-related, but the lesson is just as valuable...

Lesson 24
A certain portion of the South African population is crazy. For a couple hundred rand, a person will put on a wetsuit, get into a cage, and get lowered into the ocean. Then people will throw chum around them, and they enjoy the thrill of having a shark swim up and bite the cage. I wish somebody WOULD ask me to do some crazy mess like that...