Article Name:
I Taught Shakespeare in Botswana |
Author:
Hilary Mantel |
Date Published:
June 2, 2012 |
In this article, author Hilary Mantel shares with us a broad idea of her experience teaching Southern African children in Botswana in her life. She starts off with some personal experience of earlier in her life, telling how adults always told her that, "Those who can, do; Those who can't, teach." Then she explains how she came into her teaching position. An English teacher from India was supposed to come in to teach in the secondary school. He never came, so Mantel taught his classes for a year. During that year she discovered that the standard behavior in students in school is common even in African schools. She experienced the racial prejudice of the western and southern Africans. Then, after a year, she quit. Mantel tells us how teaching was the hardest job she's ever had, and how she will always remember her students.
I feel as though Mantel got a good feel for some cultural aspect of life in Botswana. She got to experience some of the racial tension among Africans. Yet I feel as though she should have tried to diffuse some of the tension if at all possible. Granted, sometimes there's nothing one can do. However, if you never try, you will never know.
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This article relates to the educational, diverse, and violent parts of Botswana's culture. It tells of the students in Botswana, some eager to learn, some not. It also tells of the racial prejudice in Botswana. Mantel talks about the southern Africans loathing the western Africans. Lastly, it talks of how teachers bullied and even beat the children in the school. These all tie into the culture of the country.
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