WINNER
Shehnaz Saloojee
Zinniaville Secondary School
North West
Shehnaz Saloojee believes teaching is not a profession but a calling from God.
She says a teacher should always focus on giving the best possible education to children.
“When I leave this world I want to be remembered as someone who taught my learners how to read and write, not for the clothes I wore, the car I drove or the house I lived in,” she says. A grade six and seven English teacher, Saloojee has been part of the teaching profession for 26 years, which makes her a valuable member of staff.
Her view is that children should be equipped with the latest skills to prepare them for today’s technologically-challenging world.
For her part, she has launched a website through which she updates parents about their children’s performance, posts the latest educational information and also promotes interaction among learners and colleagues.
The school caters to learners from mostly poor households and the majority of them cannot speak English.
Saloojee ensures that her lessons are activity-driven, and uses relevant teaching aids and visuals. She also introduced peer-tutoring and paired reading groups to promote a culture of reading among learners.
“I find involving learners in real-life and practical classroom activities very effective as well,” she says.
Selfless and caring by nature, Saloojee has spread her love by adopting one of her learners.
SECOND PLACE
Refilwe Mokgothu
Dimakatso Primary School
Gauteng
Refilwe Mokgothu grew up in a family of teachers. She teaches English, numeracy, literacy, life sciences and Sepedi in the foundation phase.
She holds an undergraduate and an honours degree from Vista and the University of the North-West respectively. “I think the single biggest factor that made me choose teaching was my love of children.
I love to see them blossom like flowers; to see them achieve their goals in life.
I believe education opens doors and minds and through it you can accomplish whatever goals you set yourself,” says Mokgothu. She uses games and teaching aids as teaching instruments.
She believes they assist learners in acquiring reading and writing skills more easily.
“When I teach English I like to use a lot of colour codes to teach sentence construction and also stimulate the learners’ interest. This also enables me to identify their strengths and weaknesses,” says Mokgothu.
She is a co-ordinator of the Bana Pele (Children First) project, dedicated to addressing problems faced by needy children. She has also successfully adapted a Link Community Project”, a learner exchange programme modelled on the United States and United Kingdom initiatives.
THIRD PLACE
Aletta Du Toit
Hexvalley High School
Western Cape
This grade 1 teacher with 25 years teaching experience is head of department for the foundation phase of this school, which retained the moniker “high school” even after it merged with a local primary and pre-primary school.
She is also a remedial education specialist and became a teacher because of her love of working with young minds.
“I just love working with the young ones simply because they are such a nice bunch. I admire their innocence, honesty and the fact that they do not hold grudges,” she says.
She is a sports enthusiast and uses exercise as a vital classroom teaching tool. Du Toit says learners respond well to lessons when they are involved in physical activities.
She also encourages her learners to confide in her and trust her.
“Learners who trust their teacher do well in class and also enjoy their schooling.” Lack of special needs facilities is a serious challenge at the school, because many over-age learners with special needs enrol.
This means Du Toit has to create extra time to teach them the basics before they can participate at the right academic level.
Du Toit founded the Brave Hearts Home project to address the plight of orphan leaners and those from needy households.