We've tried to create as holistic a basketball program as possible. During the first hour of the program we have something to eat and homework or educational activities. This hour is a time for the learners to work on homework assignments. However, they rarely have homework, so we use this for journaling. Each day we have a topic or question that we discuss then write about. This writing assignment is designed to be good practice for the matric, the English based exams they take at the end of High School. The writing is also intended to be therepeutic for the learners and helps us, the imported Thanda staff, get a slightly better understanding of where our learners are coming from. We began with lighter writing subjects, such as respect and trust and are going to discuss such things as their opinions of current affairs and HIV/AIDS.
The second hour of the program is spent playing basketball. We generally run through a few drills then spend the bulk of the time playing games. The focus of this hour is on having a good time, however we try not to waste the oppurtunity to teach the values sports have to offer such as perseverence and leadership. Whenever possible we tie the journal subject into the basketball time for example, when we wrote on teamwork we did drills that required everyone to work together.
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