Nurturing readers: PRAESA and the IBBY-Asahi award
PRAESA (the research initiative behind Nal’ibali) talks about nurturing readers and writers in South Africa, and its solutions for a literate country.
Story as meaning-making
Stories are woven so tightly into the fabric of our everyday lives that it’s easy to overlook their significance in framing how we think about ourselves and the world. They fill every part of our daily lives as we talk about events and people, read books and news reports, gossip, send text messages, listen to music, watch video clips, and catch up on a…
Gauteng schools receive Nal’ibali Literacy Charter
To mark the close of International School Library Month on Friday October 31, Nal’ibali has partnered with the Gauteng Education Department and Gauteng Library and Information Services (LIS) to ensure that 1 000 schools in the province with libraries, partly functioning libraries, and classrooms libraries receive a copy of the campaign’s Children’s Literacy Charter, which outlines key experiences children need to help them learn to read and…
The joy of picture books
This International Picture Book Month, Nonikiwe Mashologu shares why picture books aren’t just nice to look at, but are an essential part of children’s literacy development.
One of the main reasons I found myself in the field of children’s literature was my love of the imagery that often goes together with the words in children’s books. I’ve always loved the art, colours and textures that…
Reading in the times of ignorance: Mandla Langa
Mandla Langa is an accomplished author whose book The Lost Colours of the Chameleon won the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Best Book Award for Africa., and his latest novel is The Texture of Shadows. Mandla speaks to us about growing up reading in a world where books were not a priority:
I grew up in Mayville, Durban, as the fifth child in a family of nine, including my parents….
Create your own Nal’ibali Story Power book box
Nal’ibali Story Power book boxes are a practical and artistic way to get your child to fall in love with books, reading and creativity!
Help your children to make their own Story Power book box, which they can use to store their favourite books and stories. They can keep it next to their beds so that reading and books become a part of their everyday life –…
Language can reshape our economy: David Harrison
What do you do when you’ve stared at the same problem for years but still cannot figure out how to solve it? You frame it differently and see it through someone else’s eyes.
So the next time we hold a big education summit in South Africa, we don’t invite educationists, but civil engineers.
They might picture the education system as a high-rise building, but would not…
Financial Literacy: Maureen du Toit
Maureen du Toit, from Haenertsburg, is the founder of the website funeconomix.co.za which features her stories, workbooks and talks and where you can ask Whyman a money-related question.
Maureen du Toit loves the colour purple. She wears it often. It is the colour of prosperity, she explains, which is probably why the characters in her books are “perky, pointy, purple people”.
Du Toit has spent the…
How stories develop empathy: Peter Gray
Peter Gray, research professor of psychology at Boston College (Massachusetts, USA) has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. He also authors a regular blog called Freedom to Learn, for Psychology Today magazine. He speaks to us about the role of reading in developing empathy:
Empathy is believed, by many psychologists, to be the biological foundation for morality. To empathise is…
Nal’ibali ‘Story Power’ flash mobs: Bringing home the power of stories
This month, Nal’ibali began the roll-out of its ‘Story Power: Bring It Home’ campaign. As part of the campaign, 500 multilingual billboards have been erected nationwide, imparting one important message: Stories have the power to change children’s lives, and PARENTS have the power to bring home those stories to their children.
To celebrate the launch of the drive, and to engage communities in the messaging,…