One Country — South Africa

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is light and flat, and when you tip it something whispers — cloth sliding on cardboard. Whole class chants:

Shake it — a soft dry whisper, no rattle at all. Sniff it — nothing. Peek in for a long time and let your face go enormous. Then take hold of two corners and pull it out slowly, wide open, so it fills the space in front of you.

Everybody waves an imaginary flag above their head: “Flag!”

4 min Teach · Flag

The flag stays open in your two hands the whole way through. Say it twice; the second time they do the actions with you:

Then the map. Last week's green Africa piece goes on the floor in the middle of the circle, and your finger travels all the way down it, slowly, to the very bottom point. Stop there. “Right down here, at the bottom — that is South Africa. That is MY country.” Now the photograph goes round the circle: a small boy, in that country, a long time ago.

Littles wave and say “Flag!” Bigs owe you the frame: “This is South Africa.” “The flag has six colours.”

Teacher fails: count the colours again, out loud, confidently — and stop at four. “One, two, three… FOUR! Four colours.” Look delighted with yourself. Wait.

Chinese moment: pin the 旗 card at the top of the week's paper strip — 国旗. Then count the six colours again, in Chinese, touching each one: 一 · 二 · 三 · 四 · 五 · 六. The row of 汉字 grows by one card every morning this week.

3 min Song · Sawubona, South Africa! — chorus + Monday verse

The one song of the week — same chorus at every circle, one new verse each morning, the whole thing on Friday. Chords and the full sheet are on the Song tab. Whoever is holding the real flag stands in the middle and waves it for everybody.

3 min Game · Six colours

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” The six paper squares are face down in the middle. The flag hangs open where everybody can see it.

Six rounds, six colours. Littles point and say the colour word; Bigs come back with the thing they found and tell you: “I found green. It is a leaf.”

Do black and white last and leave them out on the mat — they are tomorrow's whole lesson, and the children will spot the join themselves.

1 min Close

Everybody standing, one hand waving an imaginary flag. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Not So Fast, Songololo (Niki Daly) — a small boy and his grandmother go shopping in a South African city, and he gets new red shoes. It is a real street in a real country and the pictures do all the work.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is heavy on one side, and when you tip it something firm thumps from end to end. Chant, then tip it twice — thump … thump — and stop dead.

Take out the cloth first, and keep pulling: it goes on and on and on, far longer than the box could possibly hold, until it is lying right across the circle.

Both hands draw stripes down their bodies: “Zebra!”

4 min Teach · Zebra

The zebra stands in your open palm the whole way through. Say it twice; the second time everybody does it with you:

Then the true thing, said plainly and once: no two zebras in the whole world have the same stripes. Exactly like the lines on a fingertip; exactly like the faces sitting in this circle. Hold two children's hands up side by side while you say it.

Littles stripe their bodies and say “Zebra!” Bigs owe you a sentence: “The zebra is black and white.” “The zebra lives in South Africa.”

Teacher fails: drape the striped cloth round your shoulders, crouch down and announce, with total confidence, that you are a TIGER. Roar. Hold it. Wait for the correction.

Chinese moment: the 马 card joins 旗 on the strip — 斑马, which is literally stripe-horse, and they will love that. Then the two colours, pointing at the cloth: 黑 · 白.

3 min Song · Sawubona, South Africa! — chorus + Tuesday verse

Sing “ZA-ZA-ZA” three times louder each time it comes round. It is the noisiest half-second of the week and it is what they will hum in the corridor.

3 min Game · One long zebra

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody lines up nose to tail, each child's hands on the shoulders in front. You are the head. That is one zebra, and it is very long.

Walk the whole room. Then turn round so the child at the back becomes the head and do it again — the tail leads, and it is a different animal entirely.

Nobody is left holding nobody. If a child does not want to be touched they walk beside the line as the zebra's foal and nothing is said about it.

1 min Close

Everybody standing, both hands ready to stripe. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? How the Zebra Got Its Stripes — a traditional African tale, in any picture-book edition you can find. Let them do the zebra's kick and the baboon's shriek every time it comes round.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is heavy and it clonks — wood on wood. Chant, then shake it once, hard, and let everybody hear it.

Reach in and pull out one block. Then another. Then a whole handful, dropped in a heap on the mat. Last of all, the photograph — held up flat against your chest, face hidden, for one long beat before you turn it round.

Flat hands held out level, like a tabletop: “Mountain!”

4 min Teach · Mountain

Everybody stands up for this one. Say it twice; the second time they do every action with you:

Then build. Two mountains out of the blocks, side by side: one pointy, one flat on top. Point at each in turn and let the class vote with their bodies — pointy hands over the head, or flat hands out level — for which one is Table Mountain. Then lay the white cloth over the flat one, slowly, so it hangs down the sides: that is the real cloud that sits on it, and in South Africa people call it the tablecloth.

Littles hold flat hands and say “Mountain!” Bigs owe you the frame: “The mountain is flat on top.” “Table Mountain is in South Africa.”

Teacher fails: build a beautiful pointy mountain, announce it is Table Mountain, and try to lay the cloth on the point. It slides off. Try again. It slides off again. Keep going until somebody takes the cloth off you.

Chinese moment: the 山 card joins 旗 · 马 — 高山, and this one is 桌山: table-mountain, the same word in both languages. Draw 山 in the air with one finger, big, all together: it is a mountain with three peaks — and then flatten the middle one with your hand.

3 min Song · Sawubona, South Africa! — chorus + Wednesday verse

The freeze on “STOP” is the whole verse. Hold the silence for three full seconds before you go back into the chorus — count it in your head, it is always longer than it feels.

3 min Game · Flat top / pointy top

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” No blocks now — the bodies are the mountains.

Faster and faster, and then a trick: call “Table Mountain!” and see who goes flat. Littles copy whoever is nearest, which is exactly how they learn it. Last round, a Big calls the shapes and you play in the circle with everybody else.

Two shapes only, over and over. The listening is the lesson: they are matching a whole body to one English word, which is what they must do to hear the difference between any two words.

1 min Close

Everybody standing, flat hands ready. Whisper → normal → shout:

Got 3 spare minutes? Jamela's Dress (Niki Daly) — a South African girl, a length of beautiful cloth, and one very big mistake. It is set in the same country as the mountain, and the cloth ties straight back to yesterday's stripes.

2 min Magic Box hook

Today the box is nearly empty and it makes a tiny, hard, seed-like rattle — you have to hold it right up to your ear to hear it. Chant, then hold it to your ear and go completely still.

Hold it to one child's ear. Then another's. Then lift out the bracelet on one finger and turn it slowly so the light runs round the beads.

A big two-handed wave: “Sawubona!”

4 min Teach · Hello · Sawubona

Nothing in your hands for this one. Say it twice; the second time they wave it with you:

Then the round, and this is the work: you go to every child in turn, look at them, and say “Sawubona, <name>!” They answer “Yebo, sawubona!” — yes, I see you too. Say the true thing once, plainly: this is Zulu, one of the twelve languages of South Africa, and it does not really mean “hello” at all — it means “I see you.” In this room we already speak two languages. Now we have three.

Littles wave and say “Sawubona!” Bigs owe you the frame: “Sawubona means hello.” “Sawubona, teacher!”

Teacher fails: greet the shelf with an enormous “SAWUBONA!”, then the door, then the whale on the wall. Shake the door's handle warmly. Wait for them to point you at an actual person.

Chinese moment: the 好 card joins 旗 · 马 · 山 — 你好. Then the three greetings in one breath, round the whole circle: 你好 · hello · sawubona. Three languages, one circle, ten seconds.

3 min Song · Sawubona, South Africa! — chorus + Thursday verse

Let this verse get quieter and slower until the last “slow” is barely a breath and only the hands are still moving — then straight back into the big chorus. The drop is the best moment in the song.

3 min Game · Pass the bracelet

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody in a circle, knees touching. The bracelet goes round hand to hand, two hands to give and two hands to take.

Round the whole circle. Littles just name the colour and wave; Bigs use the name: “Sawubona, Amy!” Nobody wears it and nobody keeps it — it is a thing that travels.

Go slowly enough that every single child is greeted by their own name, out loud, in front of everybody. That is the real lesson of the day and it takes exactly as long as it takes.

1 min Close

Everybody on their feet, both hands up ready to wave. Whisper → normal → shout:

Before home time: tomorrow everybody greets everybody, three times over, in three languages. Walk the circle once today in silence and practise just the looking — eyes up, find the face, then wave. It makes Friday twice as good.

Got 3 spare minutes? Handa's Surprise (Eileen Browne) — a girl carries a basket of fruit to her friend and one animal after another helps themselves. Let them shout the animal's name before you turn the page.

2 min Magic Box hook

The box comes out bulging and will not quite shut.

Pull each thing out and hold it up in complete silence. They will supply the word before you can.

The flag → “Flag!”  The zebra → “Zebra!”  The blocks and the photo → “Mountain!”  The bracelet → “Sawubona!”

Last of all, right at the bottom, a small bundle of photographs. Lift them out and hold up the first one. “SOUTH AFRICA!”

4 min Teach · South Africa, then the whole week

Everybody stands. We tell the whole week with our bodies, twice — slow, then fast:

Then the photographs, one at a time, slowly, and told as plainly as you can: this is the town I come from — Newcastle, in KwaZulu-Natal. This is the house. This is the road I walked to school on. This is my family. Let them hold the pictures. A real photograph of a real person's real house does more in ten seconds than any poster on any wall.

Littles do the five gestures and shout the five words. Bigs owe you a whole sentence each: “This is South Africa.” “The zebra is black and white.” “Sawubona means hello.”

Teacher fails: on “this is my home”, point confidently at the classroom window and name this city. Look certain. Then look at the photograph, then out of the window, then at the photograph again. Let them sort you out.

Chinese moment: the 南 card completes the row — 旗 · 马 · 山 · 好 · 南, the whole week on the strip, and 南 is the one that matters: 南非, south-Africa, the country at the bottom. Then 春分: it fell on Sunday, and on 春分 the day and the night are exactly the same length. Stand the raw egg on its end on a flat table — 春分立蛋 — and let them take turns until somebody does it.

3 min Song · Sawubona, South Africa! — Friday verse, then the WHOLE song

The finale: chorus → Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday → chorus, standing in one circle with the drum going under it and the flag travelling from hand to hand. They learned five verses one morning at a time without ever noticing, and this run-through is the review of the whole week.

3 min Game · Sawubona round

“One, two, three — eyes on me!” Everybody stands in the circle facing a partner. This is the whole week, performed.

Round and round until every child has greeted every child. Bigs use the name every time: “Sawubona, Amy!” Littles wave and say one of the three — any one of them — and that is a full win.

Say the names out loud with them as they go. Twenty children hearing their own name twenty times, in three languages, in one circle, is the best ten minutes of language work you will do all term.

1 min Close + awards

Every child gets a “You are a STAR!” award to take home. Then, standing in the circle with the drum, all five gestures:

Got 3 spare minutes? Africa, Amazing Africa (Atinuke) — one spread per country, big pictures, short lines. Find South Africa at the very bottom and read only that page. Next week we come back to where we are standing: spring, and everything waking up.

The four chords

Tempo: walking pace, warm and swinging, with a big rest before “Six bright colours” so the last line lands on its own. The one new shape this week is Am — one finger, second fret, top string, and it is the easiest shape on the instrument after C. It appears once per chorus, on the mountain line, and the verses do not use it at all.

Chorus — sing it every single day

Sing the chorus twice each time. The actions are the whole point — a two-year-old who waves, stripes their body and holds one flat hand over their head has understood the week, whether or not a single word comes out.

One verse a day — every verse is just C and G7

The build: each day sing chorus → today's verse → chorus. By Friday they know five verses without ever “learning” the song — and Friday's finale, sung standing in one circle with the drum underneath it, doubles as the review of the whole week. Friday's verse is also the week's z sound, three times over: zebra, zig-zag, zoo.

If you're brand new to ukulele

Practice this loop for five minutes tonight: C (4 strums) → F (4 strums) → C → G7 → C. That is the whole verse, and the chorus adds one shape only — Am, one finger on the top string at the second fret, which is the same finger you already use for F, just moved. C is one finger, Am is one finger, F is two, G7 is three; learn them in that order. If your fingers get stuck, put the uke down, give one child the drum and do the finger-play instead: the class will not notice, and the wave and the stripes carry the meaning either way.