Our teachers are going places

Academia Academia
Blythe Nangombe

Mr Antonio Sangunji, a teacher from Academia Secondary School, was one of the two people chosen as representatives for Namibia, to attend European Geosciences Union General Assembly in the London, United Kingdom.

The non-profit European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe's premier union of geoscientists. It has a General Assembly that attracts over 11,800 scientists each year, a diverse portfolio of open access journals, a number of thematic meetings, and outreach and education activities. It also honours scientists with a number of awards and medals.

This events provides for discussions and presentations of science projects from various people from around the globe.

Mr Sangunji had to submit in a science project which was then chosen as one of the best in Windhoek together with Mrs Amanda Groenwald. Together they flew to London and were able to attend the discussions by various scientists. Mr Sangunji said that he was very fortunate to be chosen and it was a wonderful opportunity for him.

To be able to attend these scientific discussions in person, helps him bring it back to his students at Academia and being able share his experience there and inspire them as well. As a teacher, Mr Sangunji himself believes that champion teachers are made, not born. He also wants to remind his students that hard work pays off. This is why he puts in a lot of time with his students to best prepare them for the exams.

As a dedicated teacher, he makes learners go through and work through question papers together and that they answer various question papers repeatedly.

Throughout his lessons he continues to motivate them and make them write summaries. He goes the extra mile by offering extra classes on Wednesday and Saturdays.

In the extra classes they work on certain papers and watch YouTube videos, since majority of the learners remember visual education better then spoken education.

His advice to teachers is motivation because many of the learners do not believe in themselves and their abilities. This helps to empower them to do well, in order to become whatever their hearts desires through hard work and prayers. He reminds them that, “With God all things are possible” (Mathew 19:26).

By providing the learners with question papers from previous years to help them practice, they gain knowledge on how the questions should be answered and teachers should make sure they write tests after every topic, in order to test their knowledge and see whether they truly understand what was taught during the lessons. Teachers should bring them examples to the classrooms.

Examples like university students, previous years grade 12 learners, those who exceled and the failures too, to come and talk to the learners, to encourage more and boost their spirits.