There was great excitement on Friday morning, 27 October when cars and mini busses started to arrive at The Shed outside Stellenbosch, bringing Class 5 children from many Waldorf Schools in the Western Cape together, for their Language Sharing experience. The host this year was Stellenbosch Waldorf School.
The smiles and greetings of colleagues and children warmed the space and when everyone had arrived an isiXhosa song was sung by all. The children were invited into groups to play games and meet children from the other schools. The mood was buoyant with a little shyness giving way to sharing about what they enjoyed about their school, and what their favourite main lessons were.
And then it was snack time, and breathing out, before the performances began.
Imhoff Waldorf School was up first, followed by Constantia and then Michael Oak, Gaia Waldorf School, then Stellenbosch and Zenzeleni closed the programme with wonderful songs. Then everyone sang Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica experiencing the beautiful range of languages in one expression.
The children shone with enthusiasm and pride for all their sharing and contributions of isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English second language presentations. And the teachers and parents delighted in hearing and seeing their enjoyment of the morning.
All too soon farewells had to be made with reminders that they will meet next year again at Stellenbosch Waldorf School, for the Greek Olympics. Thank you to everyone who created this special morning.