Back to South Africa
About the author: Alyssa Goya is a Stanford master’s student in International Comparative Education and recipient of an FSI Research Grant, which she used in support of her travel to conduct research in South Africa.
“Ma’am!” Dozens of learners swarm my car screaming as I pull into the schoolyard, finally home. Nearly one year ago I completed my Peace Corps service in South Africa where I worked in a rural primary school teaching English First Additional Language and Life Skills classes in grades 4–7. During my service it was my students who drove me to better my fluency in Setswana, to join them for netball games in the afternoon, and to consider how I could contribute to providing them the quality education they deserved. Now, one year, 24 hours of flying, and a bumpy 5 hour drive later I’m arriving home in my village and greeted by the very students who continue to push me in my research.
My research derives directly from my experiences in the classroom in South Africa. I felt frustrated on behalf of my students after realizing that they struggled to converse in English beyond the basic greetings. Considering that students are expected to pursue all of their content subjects in English starting in grade four, this is a serious language gap. As such, I sought to explore how African home language learners in South Africa develop confidence in their content subject areas (maths, social sciences, etc.) while studying in a language that is essentially foreign to them.
Through an FSI grant, I was able to return to South Africa and conduct 16 semi-structured interviews with my learners. That I taught these children for two years allowed them to feel comfortable engaging with me, and for most, their shyness evaporated within the first few questions. We spoke naturally, with my kids eager to update me on their lives, one telling me they had skipped a grade, others sharing about their successes in sports or their struggles at home.
Over the course of a week my students and I reconnected and, as many times before they became my teachers. They explained their desires to become doctors, teachers, and university students and how crucial English fluency was to achieving that goal. They also communicated the difficulties they encounter as they study in English, articulating that it would take them nearly twice as long to write a paragraph in English as in Setswana or saying that they couldn’t understand their teachers if they did not translate the material into Setswana.
Mostly, returning to South Africa grounded me. The ease of slipping into afternoons relaxing in the shade or watching soapies with my host family astounded me. When load shedding commenced we moved outside and fried magwinya. Despite the shift in my role in the community, I was still welcomed and greeted as if no time had passed. I was asked when I would be back and I was reminded that this place would always be my home.
