An Introduction toPeruda-Sensei!

South Africa!

I am from South Africa! That is very, very far away!

My name is Peruda Florit. You can call me Peruda-sensei.

I am twenty nine years old and I have been an English teacher for three and a half years.

I like watching anime, cooking, sewing, playing computer games and spending time with my husband.

I speak English and Afrikaans fluently as well as some Latin and French and I am learning Japanese!

In South Africa we go to school for 12 years. 7 years primary school and 5 years high school. I went to school at Penryn College. This is what a South African school looks like.

After school I went to University for four years. I studied BA Language and Culture at the University of Stellenbosch. It is the best university in south Africa!

When I finished university, I went to London for two years for an adventure! It was a lot of fun!

When I left London I went back to South Africa. I worked at the Dominican convent school in Johannesburg while I studied as a teacher. In South Africa, students wear school uniforms just like in Japan!

The next year I worked at Protec College. This is a special school for very poor students who are very good at maths and science. They are too poor for uniforms but they study hard and have a lot o fun!

Now I live in Japan! I have been here for eight months, and I love it! I love learning about traditional Japan.

This is the South African Flag. South Africa and Japan are very very different! Japan’s flag is simple. This flag is bright and colourful!

Japan has 47 prefectures and South Africa has nine provinces. I come from Mpumalanga. Because it is in the east, Mpumalanga means “The place where the sun rises” just like Japan is “The land of the rising sun”!

South Africa only has 50.59 million people.Japan has 127.8 million people!

In Japan almost everyone is Japanese although there are some Ainu and many Gaijin. South Africa has the following groups.

This is South African money. It is called the Rand. In South Africa there are a few rich people but many many poor people who do not have enough money for food.

Many South Africans live in shacks. They are not safe! They leak and they burn down!

South Africa has 11 different official languages!Everyone learns English at pre-school so we can talk to each other.

South Africa’s national flower is called the Protea.

This is our national bird, the Secretary bird. It looks like it has quill (feather) pens behind its ears, like a secretary in an office.

South African people love to wear bright colours to match our different skin colours!

South Africans’favourite food is meat! We love to barbecue!

South Africa has really good weather all year round. We like to spend time outdoors! Most houses have a veranda (open area with a roof) where we eat, relax and spend time with out friends and family.

•Now it is your turn!

•Make groups of four (4) people. You are going to tell me about Japan. •Make and use posters to plan a 5 minute presentation about some aspect of Japan. •Everybody in the group has to speak.

1.Please use the rest of this lesson to plan. 2.You will have one lesson next week to make the posters. Please bring everything you need. 3.We will have one lesson to allow all the groups to give their presentations.