African language storybooks promoted to encourage children to learn their home language
“The initiative of the 21 foundation-phase storybooks is in support of and also addressing the need of the national drive to develop the reading skills of young learners in South Africa, as these skills are key to learning.”
February 21 is international mother language day. The aim of this day is about preserving linguistic diversity and promoting mother tongue-based multilingual education.
The NEWS spoke to National Education Collaboration Trust about its initiative of 21 foundation-phase storybooks in different African languages.
“The initiative of the 21 foundation-phase storybooks is in support of and also addressing the need of the national drive to develop the reading skills of young learners in South Africa, as these skills are key to learning.
“However, one of the challenges has been the shortage of suitable reading material for young readers in their home languages,” said National Reading Coalitions (NRC) national project manager Bailey Nkuna.
The 21 stories are published in African home languages and focuses on Grade One to Grade Three. He said the aim was to have stories suitable for foundation-phase learners which would also be relevant and suitable for more experienced intermediate phase learners, who are from Grades Four to Six.
He added there are not enough books for young people to read. “There is a shortage of suitable material for young readers to read for pleasure in most African home languages. “This initiative aims to address this need,” said Nkuna.
The 21 storybooks were written by qualified NECT staff who were over 60 years old who were available to write during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The stories are all topical and cover different topics. “The topics were selected by the authors. “However, they were encouraged to focus on topics that were of broad relevance and would be of interest to young readers.
“Also, the writers have experience in working with teachers and learners in their communities so they were able to discern relevant themes and topics of interest for young readers,” said Nkuna.
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GCN asked Nkuna if African mother languages are dying as they were not being taught in schools.
“To say that African languages are not being taught at school is incorrect as they are. “African languages as subjects are taught from Grades One to 12, and African languages are used as the medium of instruction for all subjects in the foundation phase.
“There is a complex debate in terms of whether the transition to teaching all subjects, other than languages, in English from Grade Four onwards is correct or not. “English is an international language of business. This is the current policy.
“However, children receive a solid foundation in their home language,” said Nkuna. He said parents can also play a role in helping children learn African languages. “We encourage parents to take every opportunity to support the development of their child’s reading skills whether it is in their home language or a second language. “Also, buy books in African languages and read with your children,” said Nkuna.
He also encourages parents to check out the 21 books stories on their website. “The 21 books are available in a compressed format so that they can be accessed via WhatsApp or easily downloaded and read in electronic format.
“These stories are available on the website, which is zero-rated and as such downloading these stories will incur no data costs.
“The goal is to get the stories into as many hands as possible such as teachers, learners and parents so that they are read,” said Nkuna.
The NRC in partnership with the Department of Basic Education and GCIS is running monthly virtual reading club sessions under President Cyril Ramphosa’s Reading Circle.
This is an initiative that brings together everyone with a love for reading to get together and discuss a book.
Those interested in the initiative can visit the NRC on website www.nect.org.za
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