On Friday the 15 of April the first years of Sondela Academy had a show off day for their parents. to say the least it was great fun all around. The general idea was to make the parents understand the advantage of having their children study here instead of at a collage or university.
The role play ( a concept we become quite familiar with at Sondela) consisted of several sections. It described what the guest goes through from the instant they phone for a reservation right up to the phone call they receive to ask how they felt about their stay on Sondela.
Gerbie (One of the academy managers) and myself were the guests, two sisters wanting to get away from their families for a break. I made the call to Sondela this was picked up by the switchboard operator , we were put through to Reservations which was the first year Bronwyn. She helped us to chose accommodation and establish the date we wanted to come. We then proceeded to the ' main gate ' where Johan one of the more enthusiastic met and welcomed us. He also gave us 'directions' to the 'reception area and explained the green slip that we had to get stamped and pay. At reception Pieter welcomed us and took us to reception with the promise of a pancake when we were done there.
Janine played the role of our receptionist helping us with information and giving us our keys. One of the highlights happened here where she explained how to use the alarm fir the house. when you press this button it will go "bloop bloop" .Needles to say each time we entered or went out of our chalet we were sure to go "bloop bloop". After reception and pancakes we went to book the activities we were interested in for the next day.
Once we were at our chalet two students came to tell us about the varios things in the house and what we can use and how we will pay for things like firewood and wine. They also said we must enjoy our stay and ask if we need anything.
After pretending to sleep the next 'day' came and we went to do a game drive and walk.
Here four of the students each did a short piece on an animal or other point of interest. While on the drive we came across students fixing the fence giving them the opportunity to explain a little bit about what goes on in the conservation section of the studies. This all done we went on a trip to the 'wild life center' where once again the first years could showcase a little bit of what they had learned. They had The two Little Lesser Bush babies with them Oscar and Dexter as well as
the Banded mongoose Mienke. They told us what they eat and why they are at the WLC.
From the WLC we were taken back to the Farm Yard where we went to eat at the Restaurant. We were served by Adrian and our food (Two salads) was made by Francois.
Having eaten the food we went back to the Chalet and slept. The following morning two students came to greet us at the house to check what we had used and what was broken or damaged. They gave us a slip and explained that it should be given in to reception when we went to hand in our keys. They also reminded us how important it is to remember to get our green slip stamped as we can not go out the gate without it.
Then it was the end of our holiday and we went home. 'A week' later they phoned us and asked how we liked our stay and inquired if we felt anything could be changed or made better.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Meet the Secon years...
On Wednesday the 13 of April we had a function together with the managers. The purpose of the function was to see where we are and what we are doing right now in terms of our learning and the learning of the first years. Because we are such a large and integrated part of their educating the managers like knowing how we feel about matters.
We only found out that we had to plan the function on Tuesday so it was a rush to get everything organized. I am (as an afterthought) proud of us for good crisis management because setting up a function a day before it must happen for 40 people is an accomplishment. This just proved to us once more how much the Junior Management course has helped us.
We only found out that we had to plan the function on Tuesday so it was a rush to get everything organized. I am (as an afterthought) proud of us for good crisis management because setting up a function a day before it must happen for 40 people is an accomplishment. This just proved to us once more how much the Junior Management course has helped us.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Putting up an entire new fence
Fun? I don't think so. But as usual there was lots to learn from this process. To start off with i was new at second year resource guardianship as i had been helping at the site guiding for the first month of this study year. Not that I'm complaining it just took some getting used to.
Across the road from Sondela(Over the highway) there is another piece of Sondela referred to as the Jag kamp(Hunting camp) this because it had been used for exactly that before they started the no hunting policy. It was in this camp that some buck probably Impala were fighting and this broke the fence.
Before we simply fix a fence we first assess if putting up a new section won't be a better option. As was with this fence due to the fact that it was rusted beyond recognition.
Wear and tear on wire happens for many reasons but i have found two common denominators-in the first place the 'bind draad' binding wire we use to attach the wire to the droppers and y-standards is of a poorer quality than the steel wire we use for the actual fencing. This means that this wire rusts more easily causing the better wire to corrode there where it is tied to the droppers.
The second reason is that fire can cause damage to the galvanizing on the steel wire and thus make it more susceptible to rusting with this awesome African weather.
Getting back to the point after finding it so rusted we wrote a report and a suggestion and gave this to Sig the head of conservation. He gave the go ahead and we started the following day.
All the wire had to be replaced and so also the 'stut pale' these we had to cement into the ground because they are the support for the whole fence. The cement has to stand for ten days before using the poles for support as they need to dry properly before the time. So instead of wasting ten days we used the already cemented pole that are there and tied the wire to them with the idea of attaching the wire to the new poles at a later stage. There is also a gate in this section that needed to be fixed so we took it off and sent it to the workshop to get fixed.
It was important for us to put up this fence with our First year students because it covered several of the U/S (Unit standards) that they need in order to receive their Qualification for Resource Guardianship level 2.
Across the road from Sondela(Over the highway) there is another piece of Sondela referred to as the Jag kamp(Hunting camp) this because it had been used for exactly that before they started the no hunting policy. It was in this camp that some buck probably Impala were fighting and this broke the fence.
Before we simply fix a fence we first assess if putting up a new section won't be a better option. As was with this fence due to the fact that it was rusted beyond recognition.
Wear and tear on wire happens for many reasons but i have found two common denominators-in the first place the 'bind draad' binding wire we use to attach the wire to the droppers and y-standards is of a poorer quality than the steel wire we use for the actual fencing. This means that this wire rusts more easily causing the better wire to corrode there where it is tied to the droppers.
The second reason is that fire can cause damage to the galvanizing on the steel wire and thus make it more susceptible to rusting with this awesome African weather.
Getting back to the point after finding it so rusted we wrote a report and a suggestion and gave this to Sig the head of conservation. He gave the go ahead and we started the following day.
All the wire had to be replaced and so also the 'stut pale' these we had to cement into the ground because they are the support for the whole fence. The cement has to stand for ten days before using the poles for support as they need to dry properly before the time. So instead of wasting ten days we used the already cemented pole that are there and tied the wire to them with the idea of attaching the wire to the new poles at a later stage. There is also a gate in this section that needed to be fixed so we took it off and sent it to the workshop to get fixed.
It was important for us to put up this fence with our First year students because it covered several of the U/S (Unit standards) that they need in order to receive their Qualification for Resource Guardianship level 2.
Assessor Course
In order to prepare us for the first year students we were given the opportunity to do three courses in the beginning of the year the first one was the assessor course.
This consisted of learning
Gerbie one of the academy staff was our coach and facilitator. We were also taught what to do if a student was found not yet competent again and again. It was actually quite easy for us because we had been assessed so often in our first year so we could do lots of comparisons.
Now it is only to get as much practice as possible.
This consisted of learning
- how to do the actual assessment
- What the different types of assessment methods are
- What kind of laws are applicable to the assessor
- Where to get assessment material
- who is responsible for supplying the material
- How to establish the learners needs and how to handle challenges, barriers and special needs
Gerbie one of the academy staff was our coach and facilitator. We were also taught what to do if a student was found not yet competent again and again. It was actually quite easy for us because we had been assessed so often in our first year so we could do lots of comparisons.
Now it is only to get as much practice as possible.
Game capture 2011
Second year game capture was a completely new experience. Because this time in stead of helping to do everything, we had to guide the first years about everything. I was not part of the Boma construction but i took part in the game capturing itself.
We had the opportunity to tell the 1st years about our experience and guide them in safety and the SOP's' (Standard Operating Procedures) of Sondela in terms of the how to of capturing.
We had to make sure that the students are divided into manageable groups i.e a balance between fit and not so fit and strong and not so strong.
This time we caught Zebra(Equus quagga burchellii) and Gemsbok (Oryx gazelle) that we did not last year.
We had the opportunity to tell the 1st years about our experience and guide them in safety and the SOP's' (Standard Operating Procedures) of Sondela in terms of the how to of capturing.
We had to make sure that the students are divided into manageable groups i.e a balance between fit and not so fit and strong and not so strong.
This time we caught Zebra(Equus quagga burchellii) and Gemsbok (Oryx gazelle) that we did not last year.
Facilitating Site Guide
For the first month as a second yea i had the opportunity to assist in the training of the first set of site guides. To say the least i learnt a lot;
- among other things i learnt patience...just because something is obvious to me doesn't meant that it is so clear to other people especially students that are in the veld for the first time in their lives,
- I learnt that most people learn by doing (kinesthetic learning) and therefore taking the students out into the bush accomplishes lots more than sitting in a class with them.
- Giving constant positive feedback gives them confidence and this in turn gives them the boost to want to learn more.
- The most difficult stumbling block or barrier to overcome is a student who does not want to learn. As soon as you have them at the point where they want to learn more for themselves you have won three quarters of the battle.
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