Dear Golden Future Volunteers,
I hope you've all been doing well and getting into the swing of the last term!
This is a brief reminder of our Saturday tutoring sessions.
We are getting about 100 children from Matthew Goniwe High School for the last few weeks, and although we've managed to cope, we'd be grateful for a lot more help - which would be a lot more beneficial for the learners.
In particular we are needing a few more Accounting tutors, and help with Grade 8 and 9 math (or dealing with the grade 8s and 9s in general - they are a more unruly bunch than the older grades...).
If you can come through on Saturdays, help would be most appreciated.
If you know of anyone who might also be interested in volunteer sessions of this kind, please do bring/send them along :)
Our venues are now in HOERIE Quaggo again, 3A, 3B and 6A.
Time: from 10:00 to 12:00 and hot dogs afterwards (we do go over time quite often, but you are definitely not obliged to stay! - Saturdays are precious and we are already grateful for your 2 hours!).
Looking forward to seeing you on Sat!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Welcome back!
Dear all Golden Future Volunteers,
Welcome back!
I hope you have all had a good break, and any trauma of the last semester forgotten!
High schools have been open for about a month now, and the learners are missing us, so, due to demand, Golden Future would to get tutoring again, starting on 06-August-2011, The last session should be on 22 October, when lectures end, unless there is more demand from learners and some tutors choose to continue past that date.
Please indicate on this googledoc which days you will be able to attend:
http://tiny.cc/4udkk
Sabelo and I visited Usasazo Secondary School last Thursday to give the teachers the information that we will be staring on 6 Aug. They know we love them, and posters are up at the school, so i'm expecting at least 20 kids to begin with again.
Venue is at ARTS 215 and ARTS 2, I haven't seen the venues yet but trust they are tut rooms that will suffice.
Time is 10:00-12:00, and hot dogs will be at the ready for the hungry.
We will be planning a social for all tutors and students at the end of the year, and will need to hold an AGM in the next two months. These details will be hashed out at the next committee meeting, and I'll let you know the details once we have them set.
In the mean time, do think about applying for committee positions if you'd like to be even more involved with GF, and help us improve on what we do :)
See you on Saturday!
Welcome back!
I hope you have all had a good break, and any trauma of the last semester forgotten!
High schools have been open for about a month now, and the learners are missing us, so, due to demand, Golden Future would to get tutoring again, starting on 06-August-2011, The last session should be on 22 October, when lectures end, unless there is more demand from learners and some tutors choose to continue past that date.
Please indicate on this googledoc which days you will be able to attend:
http://tiny.cc/4udkk
Sabelo and I visited Usasazo Secondary School last Thursday to give the teachers the information that we will be staring on 6 Aug. They know we love them, and posters are up at the school, so i'm expecting at least 20 kids to begin with again.
Venue is at ARTS 215 and ARTS 2, I haven't seen the venues yet but trust they are tut rooms that will suffice.
Time is 10:00-12:00, and hot dogs will be at the ready for the hungry.
We will be planning a social for all tutors and students at the end of the year, and will need to hold an AGM in the next two months. These details will be hashed out at the next committee meeting, and I'll let you know the details once we have them set.
In the mean time, do think about applying for committee positions if you'd like to be even more involved with GF, and help us improve on what we do :)
See you on Saturday!
Friday, April 30, 2010
The evolution of the Golden Future Project
Golden Future Project transforms their computer skills, career development and life skills curricula into a combination of computer literacy, mathematics and science tutoring. This takes effect on 13th April 2010. The change was made after a thorough evaluation of the project which highlighted the needs of the children and some logistical Issues.
The first seeds of the Golden future project South Africa were planted three years ago at a Golden Key International Honour Society Conference in the USA, “through the vision of Gary Kalaci, a student of business and law at the University Of Windsor. Recognizing the enormous and prevalent needs of the people in Cape Town, Kalaci collaborated with both the University of Windsor students and students from the University of Cape Town to launch this groundbreaking initiative.” The project then progressed to the initial research phase which involved finding a suitable school that was not already showered with NGO’s or one that already had similar projects running. In the quest for one such school they stumbled across Usasazo Secondary School, situated in the heart of Khayalitsha with a population of approximately 1200 students.
By 2008, the first group of Canadian Volunteers came over for ten days to teach their health and life skills curriculum. Meanwhile Golden Future Project-South Africa was still desperately trying to get all the necessary paper-work, like writing up a constitution, sponsorship letters, creating bank accounts and applying for NGO and UCT-society status. Recruiting new volunteers proved difficult on a non-existent budget and very few platforms to advertise on.
Then by 2009 they'd begun writing a full computer curriculum, according to GFP-SA Chairperson, Jennifer Hsieh, " we started off doing computer literacy because we were told the students didn't have access to learn it unless they took CAT." and by the -second semester, GFP -SA successfully implemented their first module. The project was received warmly both by staff and students with the principal even requesting that GFP run the program for the teachers as well. This year because of multiple robberies at the school, the computer room was no longer open on Saturdays for them to use. They then switched to the career development module but after two sessions, some of the kids felt despondent, Hsieh said, “they were interested in what we had to say about available opportunities at universities, yes. However they were a lot more concerned about the fact that they weren't able to pass in order to get in."
Upon thorough evaluation of the project, this included speaking to the kids and a look at their matric 2009 statistics. It became clear, that “we can tell them: if they do well at school, that they can do whatever they want - but only IF they do well at school. What if they aren't doing well at school?
Marks are Not the begin all and end all of life, AT ALL. However it is a grounding. It is a show of one's ability to do what's required, whether or not they enjoy it.
It is an indication of whether one can grasp concepts taught to you. But they need help. They asked for this help…"
So they decided to transform their curriculum once more and as of 13th April Golden future is continuing the revised computer literacy module, this module is aimed at teaching basic computer skills but with a particular emphasis on career orientation, and tutoring math, science, biology, accounting, etc
As for the Canadian Chapter, 20 of the Canadian volunteers will arrive in South Africa on 26th April, and soon after begin their intensive week long education modules, that's core aim is inspiring young minds, and in the process equipping them with community involvement, career development, health and life skills.
by Robyn Fisher
The first seeds of the Golden future project South Africa were planted three years ago at a Golden Key International Honour Society Conference in the USA, “through the vision of Gary Kalaci, a student of business and law at the University Of Windsor. Recognizing the enormous and prevalent needs of the people in Cape Town, Kalaci collaborated with both the University of Windsor students and students from the University of Cape Town to launch this groundbreaking initiative.” The project then progressed to the initial research phase which involved finding a suitable school that was not already showered with NGO’s or one that already had similar projects running. In the quest for one such school they stumbled across Usasazo Secondary School, situated in the heart of Khayalitsha with a population of approximately 1200 students.
By 2008, the first group of Canadian Volunteers came over for ten days to teach their health and life skills curriculum. Meanwhile Golden Future Project-South Africa was still desperately trying to get all the necessary paper-work, like writing up a constitution, sponsorship letters, creating bank accounts and applying for NGO and UCT-society status. Recruiting new volunteers proved difficult on a non-existent budget and very few platforms to advertise on.
Then by 2009 they'd begun writing a full computer curriculum, according to GFP-SA Chairperson, Jennifer Hsieh, " we started off doing computer literacy because we were told the students didn't have access to learn it unless they took CAT." and by the -second semester, GFP -SA successfully implemented their first module. The project was received warmly both by staff and students with the principal even requesting that GFP run the program for the teachers as well. This year because of multiple robberies at the school, the computer room was no longer open on Saturdays for them to use. They then switched to the career development module but after two sessions, some of the kids felt despondent, Hsieh said, “they were interested in what we had to say about available opportunities at universities, yes. However they were a lot more concerned about the fact that they weren't able to pass in order to get in."
Upon thorough evaluation of the project, this included speaking to the kids and a look at their matric 2009 statistics. It became clear, that “we can tell them: if they do well at school, that they can do whatever they want - but only IF they do well at school. What if they aren't doing well at school?
Marks are Not the begin all and end all of life, AT ALL. However it is a grounding. It is a show of one's ability to do what's required, whether or not they enjoy it.
It is an indication of whether one can grasp concepts taught to you. But they need help. They asked for this help…"
So they decided to transform their curriculum once more and as of 13th April Golden future is continuing the revised computer literacy module, this module is aimed at teaching basic computer skills but with a particular emphasis on career orientation, and tutoring math, science, biology, accounting, etc
As for the Canadian Chapter, 20 of the Canadian volunteers will arrive in South Africa on 26th April, and soon after begin their intensive week long education modules, that's core aim is inspiring young minds, and in the process equipping them with community involvement, career development, health and life skills.
by Robyn Fisher
Monday, February 22, 2010
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