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Storyteller Gcina Mhlophe Shares Tales About Preserving Nature

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 23 Nov 2011   |   

Popular and talented storyteller Gcina Mhlophe will be sharing tales about preserving nature in the coming weeks.

Mhlophe, best known for izingwanekwane (African traditional folk tales), is scheduled to perform storytelling sessions to teach communities about preserving the Earth at the two-week 17th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) that starts on Monday.

African culture teaches children that they must not listen to tales during the day because they will “grow horns”, but Mhlophe has encouraged many storytelling enthusiasts, who are inspired by her zest for the oral tradition.

I recall waking up every Saturday morning and running to my hi-fi to hear Mhlophe tell the stories of The Princess and the Frog and The Singing Chameleon.

I was seven and it was music to my ears.

So it’s on the basis of my experience that I predict that this is going to be an electrifying experience for young children – and the young at heart.

Mhlophe is well known and respected for keeping history alive in the oral tradition.

Talking about the climate change conference, she said her role was to teach people about the importance of preserving nature.

• Read complete article at iol

Nine-Year Old Free State Twins Set to Launch Novels

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 09 Nov 2011   |   

WHILE most children under 10 cannot wait to get home after school to have fun with friends or play the latest TV games, twins from Qwaqwa are busy writing short stories.

Yuvadiya and Sonal Ranjith — nine-year-old Grade three learners at Harriston Primary School in Harrismith, will launch their books, Huvera and A Christmas Miracle, later this month.

Huvera, an eight-page book written by Yuvadiya, tells the story of a little girl who gains respect in her community through her own good efforts.

Sonal’s book is about a very sick girl who sees a star and makes a wish which is granted to her.

Surev Ranjith, father of the twins, said his daughters have always been different from other kids their own age.

He said his daughters’ books would be ideal reading material for other children “as young people easily identify with stories by young writers”.

The twins write about everyday events in their surroundings and also tackle issues that trouble young children.

“Furthermore, being a young author develops confidence in children who often find careers at a later stage that incorporate creative writing,” Ranjith said.

“The books will inspire other children to write and it also shows that you don’t have to be an adult to write a book.

“They are so confident that they are not scared to be put under the spotlight.”

From early on in their lives, they preferred to read children’s books or express themselves through drawings, the proud father said.

When he heard about the “Dancing Pencils Literacy Development Project” in Durban, a non-profit organisation which assists young authors, Ranjith knew it could be a chance for his children to make some history.

• Read complete article at FreeStateTimes

IEB Exams Get Going Around the Country

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 03 Nov 2011   |   

Today is D-day for thousands of the matrics who write exams set by the Independent Examinations Board.

Nearly 9000 pupils from 176 schools are sitting for the board’s exams. They include 8305 full-time and 523 part-time candidates.

The exams started on October 10 and pupils have already written several subjects, including German, Portuguese, consumer studies and tourism.

Most pupils, however, are writing their first paper today – 7911 pupils write the English home language paper and 453 the English first additional language paper .

The pass rate for the board’s exam last year was 98.4%. The state schools’ rate was 67.8%.

Education expert Graeme Bloch said the standards of the board’s exams and those of the Department of Basic Education were similar.

“The exams are all checked by Umalusi and I have a lot of faith in them,” he said.

Umalusi, which is responsible for quality assurance for all matric exams, said last month that it had moderated and approved 76 Independent Examinations Board question papers.

• Read complete article at Timeslive

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

Technology in the South African Classroom

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 06 Jun 2011   |   

Teachers in a South African primary school are using Microsoft’s interactive hands-free gaming systems, Xbox Kinect, to improve English literacy among learners. Microsoft says both learners and teachers have embraced the new technology in the classroom. Victor Ngobeni, Manager of Microsoft’s Africa School Technology Innovation Centre, will present a workshop about the study, which is a world first, at the upcoming African Education Week in Johannesburg from 6-8 July.

Games used in all three learning areas
The study is taking place at the Lakeside Primary School in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and six Xbox Kinect units were installed in the school’s Grade 1, 2 and 3 classrooms in March. Says Victor Ngobeni: “Teachers integrate it into formal lessons for 2 to 3 hours three times a week. The other time spent playing is purely for enjoyment. Although the games are used in all three learning areas, it appears that numeracy (maths) is being integrated more often than the other two as all the games have scores and these are being used in lessons on counting, number concept, basic operations and data collecting. Games like Kinect Sport, Kinectimals and Joyride have also been used in lessons on road safety, transport, wild animals, pets, diminutives and good sportsmanship.”

• Read complete article

Aussie Teachers Loving Lesotho

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 16 May 2011   |   

“We came to teach and ended up learning.”

That was the comment of two Australian teachers, Lydia Mancini and Kaye Young, who travelled to the highlands of Lesotho to help with the education of local youngsters.

The directors at Maliba Lodge, Australians Nick King and Chris McEvoy, and Lesotho engineer Stephen Phakisi, have established a community trust in the area both to improve and protect the environment in the Tsehlanyane National Park and to improve the living conditions of local villagers.

Lesotho’s literacy rate of 85 percent is one of the highest in Africa but this small country has major problems, with high levels of HIV, poverty and malnutrition. It is estimated that 60 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

The Maliba community trust sponsors a work programme for the five local schools and experienced teachers are being flown in from Australia to help with tuition and to improve the skills of local teachers.

Mancini and Young, who are from Peninsular Grammar in Melbourne, have spent a month at Maliba Lodge, running workshops and helping teachers and pupils at the schools.

“We hope this programme will continue, with at least two groups of teachers travelling to Lesotho from Australia each year,” said McEvoy.

Both teachers described their experiences as “amazing”.

“We thought we were going over on this noble quest to teach all these poor people but we ended up learning so much about ourselves,” said music teacher Mancini.

“The children and teachers were very accepting and warm. The musical experience was phenomenal and really moving. They are in their element when they are singing and I am so excited that I can now sing in Sesotho.”

Young was taken with the enthusiasm of the children and their ability to work in the most demanding conditions.

“The children were so affectionate and love school and learning. Honestly, the whole experience exceeded our expectations and it has changed the way I teach.”

Young said one of the best ways to learn something was to teach it to others.

“That is one of the great things about our job. In teaching the students in Lesotho, and working with the teachers to provide them with ideas to improve their teaching methods, I found that I was also learning myself and improving my teaching skills.” Young said she had to produce creative ideas and activities for teaching students in their second language – English – and under difficult circumstances. The classes were large and there was a lack of resources and equipment.

• Read complete article

Durban Government School to Represent South Africa in the World Championship Kids Literature Quiz

by Chelsea on 13 Apr 2011   |   

There’s more than one South African team travelling to New Zealand for a World Championship this year. A couple of months before the Rugby World Cup kicks off, a team of four 12 year olds from Manor Gardens Primary School in Durban will compete against teams from UK, USA, Canada and New Zealand in the Kids Lit Quiz, an international competition which tests the literary knowledge of children between the ages of 10 -13.

To get to the world final, Manor Gardens Primary School had to beat 150 teams from schools all over South Africa in regional finals that took place in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. The competition is open to 10 – 13 year olds from any primary school in South Africa.

In a nail-biting competition, Manor Gardens emerged triumphant, the first time a team from KZN has won the Kids Lit Quiz in the 8 years that South Africa has been taking part. It is also interesting to note that while the majority of teams come from private schools, Manor Gardens is a government school and is the only government school ever to have won a National Kids Lit Quiz final.

Having won the Nationals for KZN, Manor Gardens will now have to search for sponsors and funds to get the team to New Zealand. School librarian, Isobel Sobey commented that, “These children have worked so hard and it would be heart-breaking if we couldn’t raise the funds to get them to the World Finals. We will be asking the Durban community and local businesses to dig deep to assist them with travel expenses so that they can make their school, KZN and South Africa proud”.

Wayne Mills, a university lecturer from New Zealand, came up with the concept twenty years ago. He developed the quiz so that good readers could also be rewarded and have a chance to win glory for their schools, just like the children who are good at sports. The first quiz took place in Hamilton. In that first year 14 teams took part. Today it has grown into a hugely popular annual event spanning four continents. In the UK alone, 400 teams took part in the regional finals this year.

To sponsor the team, please contact Manor Gardens Primary School (a Section 21 company) on 031 261 1401.

SA – The Good News via Manor Gardens Primary School.

No School for Ivory Coast Children as Violence Rages on

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 28 Feb 2011   |   

DAKAR – Some 800,000 children in Ivory Coast have missed out on school since the outbreak of violence following last year’s disputed presidential election.

In the western regions of Moyen Cavally and 18 Montagnes, where fresh fighting erupted on Tuesday, some 180,000 children are losing out on their education and most teachers have been absent since November.

“We know from experience that when children’s education is disrupted in a situation like this, they are less likely to go back to school once the crisis is over,” said Guy Cave, Ivory Coast country director for Save the Children.

“We are talking about a massive disruption to children’s right to education. It is really important that we get children back into school as soon as possible.”

More than 80,000 people have been uprooted by clashes between supporters of incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo and his rival Alassane Ouattara, who is internationally recognised as the election winner.

Nearly 45,000 of those who have fled their homes have sought safety in Liberia. But aid groups say the thousands of children who have crossed into Liberia cannot attend school there because of language and curriculum differences.

The repercussions of the turmoil on children’s education were outlined by the United Nations on Thursday following a nine-day assessment mission across the West African country.

The assessment, carried out with other aid groups operating in the country, revealed that education has even been disrupted in the centre and east of the country where basic services are still functional.

• Read complete article at Alertnet

Cavendish Square Hosts 2011 Literacy Book Sale

by Nonikiwe - Editor on 24 Feb 2011   |   

SHOW US YOUR HEART THIS FEBRUARY AND SUPPORT CHILDREN’S LITERACY AND WESTERN CAPE AIDS/HIV NGO, WOLA NANI

WHEN: THURS 24th – SUN 27th FEBRUARY
WHERE: CENTRE COURT, CAVENDISH SQUARE
CELEBRITY CHILDREN’S BOOK READINGS:
SEE CHAD SAAIMAN & WINNIE THE POOH IN CENTRE COURT, SAT 26th FEBRUARY,
11:00 – 12:30
BOOK DRIVE: BRING YOUR OLD & UNUSED BOOKS IN DURING THE SALE TO BE DONATED TO WOLA NANI

• Visit Cavendish

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