“OBE approach by itself is not effective in teaching reading and writing,” says a Grade 1 educator and the head of the primary school at Hoerskool PJ Olivier, Lezette Vlok. Vlok is retiring in December after 42 years of teaching, 25 of which were at PJ Olivier School.
“OBE approach by itself is not effective in teaching reading and writing,” says a Grade 1 educator and the head of the primary school at Hoerskool PJ Olivier, Lezette Vlok. Vlok is retiring in December after 42 years of teaching, 25 of which were at PJ Olivier School.
Vlok teaches learners how to read and write by combining the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) approach with the old approach.
“The department should go back to the old ways of teaching. Basic aspects such as tables, bonds and phonics must be drilled until learners are able to master them,” she said.
According to Vlok, both the old way of teaching and OBE have advantages and disadvantages. With OBE she maintains that learners are more actively as they work in groups, so learning becomes spontaneous and independent. Learners that benefit the most from OBE are the group leaders and those who are dynamic in the group. But the quiet and reserved learners are often dominated by the other learners and don’t absorb as much.
Rote plus OBE
With OBE, learners learn how to calculate sums as opposed to memorising the times tables by heart. In Vlok’s experience, a combination of both approaches allows a learner to know the basics by heart and also to apply them meaningfully.
PJ Olivier is an Afrikaans medium school but for some of the learners Afrikaans is a second language. Vlok strongly believes that a teacher needs a combination of something new and something old to help the learners to acquire the second language which is their language of learning.
Piet Snyders, the headmaster of PJ Olivier School describes her as the most experienced Grade 1 educator in Grahamstown.
“Her love for children is indescribable. She has a soft spot for children and always goes out of her way to provide for their needs,” says Snyders. She goes to the extent of using her personal resources to ensure that the learners are comfortable. She painted the Grade 1 class out of her own pocket.
Vlok’s legacy
As a clearly passionate teacher, Vlok initiated the introduction of the Grade R class at PJ Olivier in 2001. This lays a foundation so that when learners are promoted to Grade 1 they have already mastered some of the basic skills. She also started an aftercare centre to assist learners whose parents are not literate enough to help them with homework. The centre also helps working parents who are unable to collect their children from school during the day.
“The most fulfilling aspect of my job is when I get learners in my class who cannot read, write or do sums and I teach them and by the end of the year they have mastered those skills.”
Vlok indicates that for her, coming down to the learners’ level and finding that teaching is effortless comes naturally. She said that she was inspired to be a teacher by her mother, who was also a Grade 1 teacher who taught had her when she was a little one. Her love for children motivated her to pursue teaching as a profession. “I am not looking forward to retirement because I still have so much to give. I will miss the children but when you reach a certain age you must go,” she said.
