LESANNE BROOKE reviews Life Skills and HIV/Aids Education: A Manual and Resource Guide for Intermediate Phase School Teachers (Heinemann and Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa, R99,95), Let’s Talk about Life: An Educational Book to End the Aids Crisis by Wesley M Collard and Daniel J Ncayiyana (South African Medical Press, R50) and Looking Forward to Adulthood: Journey to a New Beginning Book 1 for Learners by Sheila du Plessis (Maskew, Miller Longman, R45,60)
IF you buy only one book on life skills and HIV/Aids education, then Life Skills and HIV/Aids Education: A Manual and Resource Guide for Intermediate Phase School Teachers should be it. It offers a balanced approach and gives weekly lessons for each year of the Intermediate Phase.
Each chapter is introduced with a section called Information For You — The Teacher. These sections put the topic in context. The first chapter, for example, provides a solid base for the year’s lessons by dealing with self-esteem. The teacher’s information gives bullet points about the causes of low self-esteem in a non-judgmental and practical way. Second-language English speakers may have to reread the occasional sentence, but the notes are mostly clear.
The book recognises that many people will find the topics difficult to teach, and offers supportive insight. The introduction acknowledges that issues like gender equality, homosexuality and termination of pregnancy are controversial for all of us, but explains that it is the learners’ right to receive information. As a teacher, you need to provide this information no matter what your beliefs are.
There is a range of Learner Sheets including information diagrams, tip boxes, role-plays, creative artwork, discussion and questions. Role-plays, relevent and teen-centered, deal with a variety of issues from abuse and drugs to communication with parents.
The HIV/Aids section is first contextualised by lessons on understanding ourselves, our relationships and our community. There is a detailed section on our bodies. The HIV/Aids information is presented without drama. Learners receive practical information on transmission, behaviour towards someone who is HIV-positive, universal precautions and the benefits of safe sex. There are sections on caring for someone ill at home and coping with the death of a loved one. These topics are and will be highly relevant to an increasing number of learners. The book provides health, hygiene and first aid information. These aspects contribute a holistic approach to HIV/Aids information.
This is an excellent book that any teacher can use. By the end of the year, learners will have learned about themselves and others in a systematic, safe way. Everything in this book is practical, useful and effective. It provides a good, basic resource that can complement other sexuality and HIV/Aids materials, or stand alone as a complete curriculum module.
Let’s Talk about Life is written as a self-help book for children aged 11 and up, but it reads more like a reference book for teachers. The intention of the authors is to provide life-saving information about sexuality in a scientific framework. My concern is that the target group will get lost in detail and miss the facts.
Let’s Talk about Life (great title!) would need to be reworked to become a book for teenagers. The tone is academic and the book text-dense. There is a need for simple, bite-sized pieces of information, sub-headings and large, clear graphics.
If you use this book as a reference, you may want to clarify some of the information. Some will prefer to avoid the description of exactly what a sexual abuser does. Many times, in an attempt at explanation, the reader is led into detail that moves away from the fact that it is trying to teach.
The authors have attempted to avoid racial and gender stereotypes. But the involved style of writing means that stereotypes are often unintentionally reinforced. For example: in explaining male sexual desire, they use an analogy of a pride of lions, seemingly justifying dominant and promiscuous behaviour: ”He wants lots of females. Compare the human male to the lion male. The head of the pride has all the lionesses. He mates with them all.” This will not promote Aids-safe behaviour, even though the point is clarified further on in the paragraph.
Teenagers also need to understand that avoiding Aids does not happen in a vacuum. It is linked with our attitude, knowledge and behaviour.
The presentation of Looking Forward to Adulthood: Journey to a New Beginning is bright and accessible. The text is divided into easy-to-read sections. The artwork is happy-style, although it suggests that the book is aimed mostly at white readers.
Once you read the text, a stern parental voice surfaces through the friendly tone: ”you must”, ”you need to”, ”you will”, ”under no circumstances”.
I am concerned about the description of condoms. Beginning with an explanation about how the government had to change the term ”safe sex” to ”safer sex” because people were still getting Aids when using condoms, the book proceeds to negate the fragile, yet growing trust in condoms by explaining how easily condoms tear, how they leave factories slightly perforated and how they fall off the penis. This is not consistent with current educational approaches towards HIV/Aids education!
The chapter on Aids is written in plain language and presented in a clear way. It gives an excellent basic overview of current thinking. HIV statistics are made more real with a diagram and a simple explanation.
The chapter on homosexuality bothered me. While trying to be open, by the third paragraph the writer is referring to numerous homosexuals who have changed their ”attitudes” to lead ”normal heterosexual lives”. For teenagers coming to terms with a homosexual identity, the writer suggests a possible decision not to be sexually active.
The chapter called ”Myths and Misinterpretations” deals with some of the myths around sex and pregnancy. These are listed in bullet points under the title and followed by a paragraph explaining that the points are not to be believed. I always get nervous when myths are laid out as positive statements. Testing shows that young people often read the positive points as facts and skim over the explanatory paragraphs.
The other myths covered are the lines used to persuade someone to have sex. These are listed with suggestions for answers. I cannot imagine using the line ”I’d rather stay a child than do something that takes so much responsibility” if someone were pressuring me to have sex. Chances are most teenagers will still want the other person to be impressed with how cool they are, even if they are saying no to sex.
I think this book is useful for schools with a religious or moral agenda. I don’t think the book will reach most teenagers without instilling feelings of guilt for having indulged in one of the mentioned ”vices” (”be careful not to fantasise about having sex with someone. This can cause frustration and confusion”).
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, August 3, 2000.
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