Thursday, January 22, 2009

A Wonderful Time in Johannesburg

We had a wonderful time in Johannesburg. We stayed with Cynthia Hugo, the Director of the Read Foundation. She has magnificent gardens and a beautiful home, and we were treated royally. We spent one day visiting schools in Soweto and then worked with teachers for the following two days. These teachers all work with Read and they were leaders in their schools. We had wonderful, full days writing and talking about writing practice. A number of them said that they'd like to come to next summer's SAWP Writing Institute, and I told them that if they can get the plane tickets, they are welcome.

Johannesburg is a vital busy city with lots of traffic jams. I loved the practice of morning tea during our working days. The food was wonderful. We have only a few days left and then it's time to return home. Working in South Africa had been a life changing experience!

4 comments:

Rachel Gray-Castro said...

What a great experience to have, Roxanne. Congratulations on the chance to spread your knowledge internationally. Have a safe trip home!
~Rachel

Literacygirl said...

Hi Dr. Henkin!
You were the professor of one of the first graduate classes I took at NLU a looong time ago. It was Beginning Reading and I loved how you always started the class with a picture book read-aloud. I also enjoyed all of the spelling inventories we did. For some reason I find them fascinating. Anyway, thanks for all you do to contribute to the world of literacy. NLU lost an incredible soul when you left!

Dr. Roxanne Henkin said...

What wonderful comments! Literacy girl, who are you? I'd love to keep in contact! Roxanne

Unknown said...

Roxanne,
thank you for sharing your time in South Africa with us and doing so much to make a difference in the lives of us real teachers!

Laurie Coleman