Mother-tongue stories and preserving culture
Dr Carole Bloch, director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa, speaks to us about the importance of preserving our multilingual storytelling culture:
Many English speakers look bemused at the thought of celebrating World Mother Tongue Day – what’s to celebrate? After all, it’s normal to use our mother tongue every day, isn’t it?
No, it’s not! In a multilingual country like South…
Building a nation of readers, school by school
Righard’s reading group has grown a lot, from a mere 14 children plucked from informal soccer fields into nine different reading groups – totalling roughly 270 kids – reading every week! He and his team have also been asked to read at local schools during school hours, to help encourage reading for enjoyment among the students. He shares with us his views on building a…
Nal’ibali, SA celebs and Mother Tongue Day
This International Mother Tongue Day (Friday, 21 February), the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign will be highlighting the importance of reading and sharing stories with children in their mother tongue languages through its weekly literacy supplement and a special Twitter drive.
The campaign is calling on South Africans to share at least one, or all of their tweets, in their home languages on 21 February with some…
Nal’ibali by Night: A musical fundraiser
Join us for a magical evening of live music and lyrical storytelling by acclaimed local duo, Take Cover, of Idol’s fame, and their talented friends Paige Mac, at the Players Café and Bar at The River Club (Lynton Rd, Observatory).
Hosted by MC and comedian, Lunga Tshuka, the evening will be held in support of Nal’ibali and the Sunrise Educare Centre in Vrygrond to assist…
5 minutes with 5 illustrators, to celebrate International Picture Book Month
Well-crafted picture books are a genre all on their own and represent the careful weaving together of the visual and the word into a single thread of the story which delights, satisfies and feeds all who read them – young and old. This November is International Picture Book Month, and to celebrate we interviewed five of South Africa’s top children’s authors and illustrators to find…
Earn your reading stripes with Khumba and Nal’ibali!
Cape Town based Nal’ibali, a national reading-for-enjoyment campaign, has joined forces with the forthcoming 3D movie, Khumba, released by Triggerfish Animation Studios, to create a special edition of the Nal’ibali supplement. The supplement will feature a cut-out-and-keep story, inspired by Khumba, and will be published in English plus an additional three South African languages. The movie itself will be screened at cinemas in both English language and Afrikaans –…
Congratulations to our Children’s Day winners!
In celebration of international Children’s Day in June this year, Nal’ibali launched a creative writing and drawing competition for children between the ages of three and 11, asking them to tell a story, by drawing or writing, about what is special and important to them. We are pleased to say that after careful consideration, we have selected winners and runner-ups in each category.
Having received…
Celebrating storytelling this Heritage Day
South Africa is rich in culture and heritage and one of the ways this heritage can be preserved is through oral storytelling – a beautiful and powerful art. This Heritage Day, the Nal’ibali Cluster Mentors reflect on their own heritage as storytellers, the stories they were told while growing up, and the importance of preserving this tradition as a vital tool in literacy development.
David…
Getting to know Nal’ibali Reading Clubs
With more than 100 reading clubs supported through the Nal’ibali network, we decided to spend the month of August getting to know them a little better. While they all share the common value of reading for enjoyment, they’re all also unique and special in their own way. So we asked them to design posters to tell us a little more about the clubs. Some…
Growing a nation of readers
I have mixed feelings about September. While in my head it heralds the beginning of spring and the move towards warmer weather (even if nature doesn’t actually play along with this), International Literacy Day on 8 September always provides a sobering reality check: 775 million adults in the world who are illiterate; 64% of these women and 22% living in sub-Saharan Africa. Not exactly…
