Penguin Tutoring Blog

Parents of Matrics are going to need some extra help and guidance over the next few weeks.The Prelims have been postponed by the Gauteng Department of Education due to the ongoing educators strike. Exams were scheduled to start on the 3rd September, but will now take place during the week of 20th September. The papers will be written in the afternoons and catch-up sessions will take place in the mornings.

The Department of Education has been distributing Study Guides to affected schools and parents and learners are urged to download past papers from these websites;
www.thutong.doe.gov.za Click on “Support for Matrics “  or  www.education.gpg.gov.za Click on “Matric exam material ”
The DoE will also put up self explanatory guidelines on how to study, and set up study groups. Lessons will be broadcast through radio and television through the Department of Basic Education.

We at Penguin Tutoring Co are concerned about the strike and its far reaching negative impact on the future of these young people. We have tutors available in all areas to assist you. Log onto our website www.penguintutoring.co.za and ask for help now.

Excitement is mounting as the famed Cape Argus Cycle Tour draws closer. A contingent of Penguins from Johannesburg will be tackling the gruelling race on Sunday March 14th, together with35 000 other cyclists tackling the 109km route around Cape Town.

Traditionally staged on the second Sunday of March, this is the biggest one day sporting event in the country and fast becoming a major international draw card – Lance Armstrong joins the starting line up this year.  Foreign entries topped 2 000,  and increase every year, a boon for business and tourism in the Western Cape.

Charities are also big winners at the Cycle Tour. Over R3-million was donated to the race’s two official charities, the Pedal Power Association and the Rotary Club of Claremont in Cape Town.

Last years’ windy conditions made the race the toughest in 20 years. This year conditions did not look too promising, with a feisty south-easter expected to blow at between 40km and 50km/h. Highs of about 25 C are expected in the city, dropping to about 22 C around Slangkop and 19 C at Cape Point.

Good luck to all the brave souls out there - have fun, wear yellow and support Lance’s Livestrong Campaign.

Penguin Tutoring is the leading provider of specialist academic tutors in the country. Our professional management and extensive tutor database will ensure that your children get everything they need and more out of their extra lessons.

Contrary to popular belief, Penguins can actually fly! Provided of course they have been loaded onto an aircraft, clipped into their seat-belts and given the run down on the safety procedures…..

Fifteen African Penguins flew from uShaka Marine World,  Durban, to their new home at Orlando Sea World in Florida, USA where they will form part of a breeding programme. Sea World has 14 different species of Penguins from around the world, but these are the first African penguins, previously known as Jackass Penguins, because of the braying sound they make.

Experts are alarmed at the decline in the numbers of Penguins in the wild - in 1956 there were 141 000 pairs but this  dwindled to 36 000 by the end of 2006. It is predicted that the conservation status of the African Penguin will soon be elevated to “endangered”. The dramatic decline in numbers is being attributed to the lack of fish, and conservationists are developing a new strategy to prevent their extinction.

Penguin Tutoring Co is aware of their plight and actively supports SANCCOB by adopting rescued birds. To date Percival, Petal, Petunia and Patrick - who is our Facebook guru, have joined our Penguin family. The delightful Wendipiks cards make their way into the homes of our clients and tutors in a further effort to support these special and unique birds.

Recent research has shown that the African Penguin population along the coast of South Africa is 19% higher today than it would have been in the absence of SANCCOB‘S efforts in rehabilitation.

Penguin Tutoring is the leading provider of specialist academic tutors in the country. Our professional management and extensive tutor database will ensure that your children get everything they need and more out of their extra lessons.

Penguin Tutors - Heading for the Beach!

Matric exams are almost over, schools and universities are emptying and 2009 is drawing to a close! Those familiar signs of exam panic on the faces of South African students have been replaced with tans and care free smiles! There can be no mistake now…it’s finally holiday season!

Our tutors have worked exceptionally hard this year, with some incredibly rewarding results. Long term friendships have been forged and the company has grown enormously but most importantly, hundreds of  learners, from Cape Town and The Winelands, to Johannesburg and Pretoria, to Durban and Pietermaritzburg, will be going into the next academic year feeling confident and enthusiastic, all because of the superior work of our tutors!

We would like to say an enormous thank you to every one of our tutors and wish them a fantastic holiday! With all the amazing choices our country has to offer for a good getaway, we can’t know what all of our tutors will be doing. But I think you can guess where most of our Pretoria and Johannesburg tutors will be going…just like these gorgeous African Penguins, they’ll be joining that wonderful summer pilgrimage to the beach!

Happy Summer Holidays!

Penguin Tutoring is the leading provider of inspirational extra lessons in South Africa. Our specialised tutors are carefully screened and trained to provide your child with the highest quality private tuition in the comfort of your own home.

Penguin Tutoring would like to wish every single one of South Africa’s matric candidates the very best of luck as they write their final exams! We are especially holding thumbs for all of our own matrics across the country who benefitted from the knowledge and guidance of our extra lessons. Please don’t forget to let your tutor know how the exam went when it’s over and also how your results improved when you find out how you did!

Some of our best tutors are the ones who know first hand, how important good extra lessons can be, so if you’re heading off to university next year and are thinking about getting a student job, why don’t you consider becoming a Penguin Tutor yourself? Go to www.penguintutoring.co.za/tutors/apply to fill out an application!

Good Luck Class of 2009!

Matric 2009: You're Never Alone with Penguin Tutoring!

A recently released report from the 2nd International African Penguin Conservation Trust revealed that the population of African Penguins has reached a historic low, with only 26000 breeding pairs left here in Southern Africa, which is their only home.

Alarmingly, this decline has been accelerating over the last few years and fall rates have now reached 2.34% per annum.

Not enough studies have been conducted yet to tell researchers exactly why these ghastly declines are being recorded, but they suspect that a regional shortage of the penguins’ food, chiefly anchovies and sardines, is at the bottom if it.

This shortage could be the result of any number of things, the most likely culprits being overfishing, fish stocks moving with changing ocean temperatures due to global warming or a buildup of pollutants in the water over the years. Fur seals are also becoming a bit too enthusiastic in their hunting efforts, suitably cool breeding places are becoming harder to come by and of course, the constant risk of oil spills casts a dark shadow over the survival hopes of all penguins in this area.

Our friends at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust are doing everything they can to encourage breeding and stop these disappearances. One measure the’rey taking is to build and provide suitable nesting sites, which the Penguins seem to enjoy, as their breeding successes have been shown to be higher in these than in their natural nests.

But even with the success of DICT’s love nests, they still acknowledge that the real solution to the problems can only come from research. Only when they better understand the direct causes of the decline will they able to tackle the fishing industry for example, or lobby for a greater conservation area for breeding colonies. So once again, the power lies with knowledge!

You can help the Dyer Island Conservation Trust’s Faces of Need campaign by purchasing a penguin’s nest or making a donation to their all important research. Go to www.dict.org.za for more information.

Alternatively, just keep up with your extra maths and science lessons so that one day you can work directly with conservation researchers fighting for the preservation of the African Penguin and other treasures of Southern Africa’s spectacular wildlife!

Penguin Tutoring strives to provide personalised tutoring and mentorship.  We hand-pick and match a tutor to the exact needs of the family we are assisting. In a South Africa with such a diverse range of cultures, religions, and opinions, we are faced daily with such challenges.  However, in our search for the enhancement of education, sometimes unorthodox measures need be put in place.  So, we salute our tutors who have bridged cultural and racial divides, and found commonality in learning and education.

Even penguins team up and face adversity and challenges: Just read this warming story of penguins in Germany adopting an abandoned egg, pulblished on cbc.ca:

Keepers at Germany’s Bremerhaven zoo couldn’t get two penguin parents to take care of their egg, so they’re trying an experiment — they gave the egg to a gay male penguin couple.

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