Kurus English would like to thank you all very much for the many helpful conversations and for your willing cooperation with our school in this, our first year of business. We are all very proud of what we have achieved so far and also convinced, from our part, that we will inspire you to further partnerships with Kurus English and it’s unique concept of language, culture and discovery.
We wish you well over the Festive Season with sincere hopes for a peaceful and prosperous 2009.
To: Johannes, Diana, Gavin, Aaliya, Sina, Iain and Jacques
Meus queridos
When Armin told me about the opportunity at Kurus I was curious..
But I was afraid too! Work in a English school? But in the end, I decided to come and take a look and what a glad surprise. Such a beautiful place, so colourful, everyone so nice.. Gavin was so warming and kind..
Then I met Johannes, we had a great talk and here I am finishing my eight weeks internship. Was fast, and also incredible fun, interesting and challenging.
Thank you guys for the help to lose my fear of expressing myself in a foreign language. Thanks your giving me the opportunity to grow.. And I hope my job helps Kurus grow too!!! Good luck in 2009
Come visit me in Brasil and I’ll talke you all to amazing language excursions in the crazy Rio de Janeiro!
Beijos e abraços a todos, com todo carinho.
Rita
p.s. Jacques & Iain (two great tour guides)
Aaliya & Gavin (always my dearest teachers)
Johannes & Diana (the best “bosses”)
Sina, my new sweet friend.
We wish all our Muslim friends a Happy Eid al-Adha!
What is Eid al-Adha? At the end of the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). In 2008, Eid al-Adha will begin on approximately December 8th, and will last for three days.
In general, all our Language Excursions contain elements of South African History. With this in mind, we decided to create a week where we have a look at South Africa’s history in more detail.
We started the week with a visit to the Slave Lodge, the Slave Tree and Church Square. We had a close look at the story on slave routes arriving in South Africa. Where did people come from? How did they get there? What were the living conditions like? This part of history is still very much visible today and is one of the reasons for the rich cultural diversity of Cape Town. We can discover this diversity every day while meeting the people of Cape Town, eating their food and experiencing their traditions.
The second Language Excursion led us to the District Six Museum (www.districtsix.co.za) where we talked to Noor who had been forcibly removed from this culturally rich residential area in the 1960s. In addition, we visited the Holocaust Centre (www.ctholocaust.co.za) to get a perspective on human genocide and to compare Apartheid with anti-Semitism.
In our last Excursion for this week, we decided to “celebrate freedom”! One of the key changes post 1994 is Freedom of Movement. Previously, the trains were segregated, as were the buses, the post offices, etc. For this reason, we took a ride on a train. Before 1994, there was a non-white train entrance and a non-white train section, and a white entrance and a white section. This has changed, but the premise is still there in economics – the non-white entrance has become the 3rd class, cheap ticket, entrance, and the white entrance has become the metro plus, the more expensive and comfortable section. To experience both, we took a ride in 1st and 3rd class.
In the video below you can see one of our teachers Gavin, explaining some similarities between the holocaust and apartheid, in the Holocaust Museum.
This week’s Language Excursions were around the topic “Building Cities”. On Tuesday, we undertook a walking tour of Cape Town with Andrew Boraine, the CEO of the Cape Town Partnership (www.capetownpartnership.co.za). Andrew gave us a fascinating perspective on the city’s history as well as a glimpse of its future.
On Wednesday, we went to UCT (Univerity of Cape Town) and met Professor Edgar Pieterse, former special advisor to the former premier of the Western Cape, Ibrahim Rasool, founder of the Institute for Sustainability (www.sustainabilityinstutute.net) and Director of the Centre for Cities in Africa. Here we had a look at City Futures – with the world’s population increasingly moving to the cities, what are the implications? What does it mean for the future of the cities? What does it mean for Cape Town?
Finally, on Thursday, we visited an informal settlement in Kalkfontein, where we met the former local counsellor of the ANC (African National Congresss, ruling political party in South Africa), Maurice Cornelissen, and had a look at how, from a political level, informal settlemets are being managed. What are some of the strategies for ridding the city of informal settlements? We also met and spoke to various people living in this informal settlement.
The video below shows the city walking tour with Andrew explaining about the changing city.
