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Celebrating South African Teachers

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 10 Oct 2011   |   

The little girl knew something was wrong. As she came home from school, the sight of police cars around the house alarmed her. The intense voices of her parents arguing frightened her.

The truth would scar her for life. Her father was a paedophile.

Enter a teacher, who took the hand of this young soul and patiently walked her through the trauma, leading her to healing and wholeness. That girl, now a young woman, found the strength to submit her story, in honour of that teacher-healer, for the Great South African Teachers book.

This is not a book about failing schools, troubled children or bad teachers. It is a collection of stories from current and former school children who celebrate the outstanding South African teachers who transformed their lives. From affluent schools and poor, from former-white schools and still-black schools, from the big cities and the small villages, come powerful stories about great educators.

They are great in different ways. There are the subject artists who dazzle young minds with their teaching craft. There are the life performers who help children make the connection between classroom learning and preparation for life. There are the extended parents who care not only for the minds of children but for their hearts as well – these are the “extra-mile” teachers who take on pastoral duties of care beyond their job descriptions. The courageous activist stories tell of teachers who risked their jobs to teach outside the official curriculum during the years of apartheid education. The words and actions of the inspiring mentors have remained with their students long after they left school.

Great teachers have one thing in common: they leave an indelible imprint on the lives of young people.

The book started with a simple invitation in the Sunday Times: “Submit a story about the teacher who made the greatest impact on your life.” Within days, scores of stories flooded in – it seemed people had been waiting a long time for the chance to share their memories of educators who changed their lives. This was an idea whose time had come. The stories came from every province: about young teachers and older teachers; from the World War2 era to recent months; from children still in school to octogenarians; about tough-love teachers and gentle, gracious teachers; about teachers of subjects inside school and teachers of life outside school. The rich mix of class, colour and creed in the stories entranced the review panel and the editorial team.

• Read complete article at Timeslive

National Book Week to Mark a New Culture of Reading in SA

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 08 Sep 2011   |   

January 8 2012, the beginning of the year-long celebrations of the centenary of the ANC, is around the proverbial corner. In spite of what agenda might be brewing in some hideous crucible to attempt to destroy the ANC or besmirch its image, Africa, the diaspora and the rest of the international community are busy with preparations to celebrate the centenary in solidarity with the ANC and South Africa.

What does our National Book Week have to do with the above? It is worth noting that the first secretary-general of the ANC, Solomon T Plaatje, was a major literary figure, a prominent translator and an outstanding publicist, to name just a few of his contributions to the development of our culture. And that is an integral part of our heritage.

But even before the existence of the book, storytellers were the custodians of a people’s collective experience and memory, which informed and influenced their cultural values. In short, even before the book, literature was, and remains, a major repository of a people’s memory and cultural values, one of the most important components of a people’s heritage.

So at what point are we today in relation to literacy and the reading habits required to open “the doors of learning and culture”?

It is not a secret that reading is not anywhere near being one of our favourite national pastimes. For instance, in Soweto, the largest township in the land, there are more spots where people spend many hours and a lot of money drinking than there are libraries where people could spend time developing and recreating themselves to be more productive members of society.

Alcohol abuse is a national problem and concern for those who care about the health of the nation.

The young, and others not so young, are more familiar with, and more readily excited by, trends in fashion and the whims of celebrities than they are with books and writers. They consume more fashion than knowledge and culture, a friend and colleague of mine observes.

One of the shops selling designer clothes at Maponya Mall, in Soweto, is among the more profitable ones in Gauteng, I’m told. Yet (it makes you want to holler from the rooftops), the first shop to shut down at that mall was a bookstore!

• Read Complete Article at Timeslive

Basic Education Minister Expects the Worst Results from SA Children

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 09 Feb 2011   |   

More than six million pupils across the country have started writing the annual national assessment exams – and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is “expecting the worst”.

The tests are intended to assess whether children’s skills, such as literacy and numeracy, and especially analytical skills, are at the appropriate level for their age.

Motshekga, who was at Midrand’s Ebony Park Primary School for the start of the tests, said: “I expect the worst, but we need to know the worst so that we can address the weaknesses [in the education system].”

The assessment exams will show how South Africa’s school children compare internationally, she said.

“Pupils can learn, but they can also forget. This is not only about knowledge, because people forget facts. It is about skills . interpretive and analytical skills . and are these children at the right levels.”

It was expected that about 12million pupils will have to write the assessment exams by June.

Parents will be told how their children performed.

Teachers do not see the exam papers before their pupils write and so cannot prepare them for the questions.

• Read complete article at TimesLive

2011 Cape Town Book Fair Cancelled

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 26 Jan 2011   |   

The Cape Town Book Fair for 2011 has been cancelled, with plans underway to bring the show back in 2012 “in a new and remodeled format,” run in parallel with the IPA Publishers Congress, set for June 12th through June 14th, 2012.

The organisers say that “publishers in South Africa have voiced their support for a bi-annual Fair.”

iAfrica adds that “a letter from Publishers Association of South Africa president Brian Wafawarowa indicated that one of the factors for the event’s postponement was the ‘non-participation of key publishers in last year’s Book Fair.’”

• Read complete article at Booksellers

Puku Attends the UNISA Children's Literature and Storytelling Conference

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 13 Oct 2010   |   

So the UNISA Children’s Literature Conference went of without a hitch again this year. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the first one last year however some of the delegates who had also attended last year said though there were slightly less delegates the commitment and passion could still be felt. They were also happy to see some new faces and a vast selection of Children’s Literature Programmes from all over the world.
Of course Prof Thomas van der Walt was there leading the way of promoting Children’s Literature and chairing numerous sessions. Other speakers include; Palestinian Storyteller Denes Asad, who shared the hardships of keeping Children’s Literature and Storytelling alive for Palestinian children with all the conflict that still prevails, Prof Babila Mutia of Cameroon presented some findings from a reading trial with 50 children on ‘The transforming effect of Storytelling on Children, Jane Kinney Meyers from the USA who is the President of the Lubuto Library Project. Bukola Ladoja from Nigeria spoke of the difficulties they have of trying to ‘ignite the reading fire’ in Nigeria, Cape Town based Nombulelo Baba from the Centre of the Book spoke of children ‘growing up with books’ with the First Words in Print Project. Then of course ‘yours truly’ presented ‘Promoting reading and storytelling in the digital age: the case for an online encyclopaedia on children’s literature and storytelling in Africa’. It was an absolutely wonderful Conference and I really enjoyed meeting such passionate and dedicated indivisuals. Looking forward to the next one.

Preserving Children's Literature at Centre for the Book

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 11 Oct 2010   |   

Those of us who attended the ‘Preserving Children’s Literature’ seminar at Centre for the Book are all still trying to figure out how the Co-ordinator for the First Words in Print Project, Nombulelo Baba did it. She managed to get a fantastic crowd of interested people from different projects together in one room to tackle the children’s literature issues head-on. The event was very well attended with a almost every chair in the room accounted for. Facilitator Sindiwe Magona got things going by appealing to everyone to think of buying a child a book with or even before anything else this Christmas. Speakers included Tanya Barben, Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian at the University of Cape Town, Mhlobo Jadezweni, Author of uTshepo Mde and isiXhosa Literature Lecturer at Stellenbosch University and Children’s book Author Catherine Groenewald author of I Could be Anywhere.
This event was different to the usuals ones on this particular topic firstly because there was a wide range of interested people who attended but also because it was all about solutions and the common thread of working together as a community rather than indivisually. Some great partnerships were formed and it was agreed that there should be more of these kinds of gatherings. We look forward to another session like this again soon.

Book details

• uTshepo Mde: Tall Enough by Mhlobo Jadezweni, illustrated by Hannah Morris
  EAN: 9780620369183
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• I Could be Anywhere: Thandi and Nosipho Series by Catherine Groenewald
  EAN: 9781770098336
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Story Time Controls Bad Behaviour

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 31 Jul 2010   |   

So yesterday my son was really behaving badly and I had tried everything in the book to calm him down, even the reward system which normally works like a charm wasn’t working, so with all hope lost I raised my voice and said ‘if you continue like this your not going to get your bed time story’ and to my surprise he stopped and begged me to ‘pleeeeeease read him a story’. I was surprised and happy all in one. Who would have thought that taking away story time could lead to good behaviour yet threats to take away some toys just a few moments earlier had done nothing? So I share this story with you today feeling very proud of both myself and my son. It also made me realise that my kids actually enjoy books and stories so it’s not something that they feel forced into but they actually want to do it. So lets keep doing what we can to encourage reading and story time for all the kids on this country and most importantly, lets keep it fun!

Children's Author, Nicky Jacobs, and Others Sell Books for Good Cause

by Bontle on 20 Jul 2010   |   

In the spirit of Mandela Day, Cavendish Square and Well Read Books hosted a book sale on behalf of Wola Nani, an HIV/AIDS NGO, from Friday, 16 to Sunday, 18 July. The public did their part by donating an overwhelming number of books and signing up as volunteers. Saskia Falken, Heart FM DJ, and Nicky Jacobs, a children’s author, were among the personalities who sold books for charity for 67 minutes.

Wola Nani, Xhosa for ‘we embrace and develop one another’, was established in 1994 as a non-profit organisation to help bring relief to the communities hardest hit by the HIV crisis.Formed against a background of economic curtailment on welfare spending and a huge increase in the number of HIV and AIDS cases, Wola Nani initiated programmes to help HIV+ people in the local community cope with the emotional and financial strains brought about by HIV and AIDS.

Focusing on the needs of HIV+ women and their children, Wola Nani’s services aim to ease the burden of HIV by enabling people living with the virus to respond positively and attain the skills to develop their own coping strategies.Historically disenfranchised, disempowered and marginalised, women bear the brunt of the national pandemic. They have little voice to articulate their needs or to claim the services on which their survival depends.

• Visit the Wola Nani Website

• Read the complete article at media update

A Visit to The Bookery on Mandela Day

by Bontle on 19 Jul 2010   |   

In the spirit of the Mandela Day celebrations, I went to Equal Education’s Bookery on Sunday to donate some children’s picture books. The Bookery will be opened for most of the day to accept book donations and when I arrived, I found many members of the organisation, accepting and covering books.

For those who wanted to donate but were not in Cape Town yesterday, EE also had drop off points the North West, Gauteng, and Kwa-Zulu Natal. The organisation urged companies, publishers, and all South Africans to donate and also give few hours covering books that will be delivered in schools.

Fiona Ingram on Writing Children's Books

by Bontle on 12 Jul 2010   |   

Fiona Ingram is the author of award-winning children’s book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab in the Chronicles of the Stone series. Ingram is a journalist and lives in South Africa. In the interview, Ingram talks about the inspiration behind her children’s books and gives advice about writing for children.

The Secret of the Sacred Scarab is a thrilling adventure of two young boys, whose fun trip to Egypt turns into a dangerously exciting quest to uncover an ancient and mysterious secret.

A 5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. The boys embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an ancient Egyptian ruler. With just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another!

• Listen to the Podcast

Book details

• The Secret of the Sacred Scarab by Fiona Ingram
  EAN: 9780595719778
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!