A Teacher's Memories of Learning to Read at Home and School in Rural South Africa: Implications for Practice

Teachers’ experiences of their schooling can influence their own practice as teachers. This paper describes my memories of learning to read at home and at school as a child in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in the 1970s. I used the personal history method to narrate my childhood's joyous and painful experiences. I also used memory drawing to evoke the memories of my past experiences. The memory drawings accompanied by written recounts induced saddening stories of the past. They present the divergence between reading experiences at home as a child and learning experiences at the beginning of schooling. My memories suggest that in primary school, I was never exposed to reading books or writing. The classroom ethos induced fear rather than a love for learning. Engaging in self-study as a Foundation Phase teacher helped me to realise what I could do to better support my learners in the classroom, both by using a scaffolded methodology for teaching reading and by creating a more positive learning environment. This process has empowered me to own my professional development, continually reflect on my teaching practices, and seek ongoing improvement. I believe that teachers can cultivate a more responsive, adaptive practice by engaging in continual self-reflection and actively seeking improvement.