Kick-off

Jonathan went to school in both Kenya and England. What do you think this was like?
Think about possible differences for a minute, then listen to Jonathan.

Er … so I started school when I was about six. Erm … I remember it taking a bit of getting used to being in the classroom, erm, but once I got into swing of things I remember really enjoying school … Erm ... you get to play rugby, cricket, and all the sports you get to be involved in. I wasn’t too keen on the academic side of things. Erm ... Erm, so my mum actually taught at the school I went to, so I’d usually get in quite early with her and she had to obviously get ready for the day and prepare her lessons. Erm … Lessons would go on until about three thirty and then we’d have an hour of Games or Athletics at the end of the day, and then leave school about four thirty, quarter to five to be home. Erm …

School uniform … Oh yeah, that was … one of the worst things about school I think was having to wear a school uniform. Er, but thankfully at break time you could get changed into your PE kit, which was much easier to run around in, get hot and sweaty in … erm … Until … we had a new headmaster who enforced school uniform throughout the day, which was very offensive … and I remember that taking a bit of time getting used to.

Yeah, I think, definitely favourite subjects in primary school would have been PE – it’s much easier to be running around than sat at a desk. I remember enjoying Geography. We had a brilliant Geography teacher and every so often he’d slam his fist on the table and shout “Earthquake” and everyone would have to dive under the tables and pretend they were sheltering from an earthquake. So I enjoyed lessons like that, when it was a bit … erm … a bit of fun. I think a lot of it depended on the teacher as well, whether I liked the teacher [laughter].

So, when I moved to England at the age of twelve, there was a bit of a culture shock … erm … To begin with it was quite nice that I didn’t have to go to school and I was home schooled … or “home schooled” which was about three hours of … erm … work a day, and then doing what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. And then I started high school at a … erm, quite a large high school in the town that I was living in, which was a big shock and a bit of a change from the tiny primary school I’d been a part of. Erm … so getting used to that and getting used to … English people was a bit of a, … bit of a shock to the system.

I think, I suppose the biggest difference would have been the difference in the amount of sports that I was able to do. So whereas in school in Kenya s-, sport had been a massive part of school life and everyone was involved in Games after school, suddenly that was cut down to a lesson of PE a week.

Crossroads

School in Kenya and England

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