How reading saved my life
I am alive today because reading saved my life.
There are not many people who love reading. It is so disappointing to find that people still have negative attitudes towards reading. I can’t blame them because we all have different experiences and reasons. I long for a day where reading and writing will be advertised and hyped up like drugs and alcohol. Billboards everywhere, TV,…
Support a reading club this Mandela Day
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
– Nelson Mandela
The 18th of July is the 5th Nelson Mandela Day celebration, and we want you to celebrate by giving 67 minutes of your time to a reading club near you.
Spend your…
Sharing the magic of stories this Mandela Day
This Mandela Day, Nal’ibali called on radio stations across the country to help create 67 minutes of collective storytelling across the airwaves. Not only did the stations respond, they went above and beyond, airing far more than the required 67 minutes of children’s stories in support of the campaign’s mission to create the conditions that grow a love of reading, and hence promote literacy development…
67 ways to celebrate Mandela Day
Try these ideas to inspire reading, writing and storytelling among children – not just on Mandela Day, but every day of the year, because children who are passionate readers today, are tomorrow’s leading problem solvers. Once you’ve tried these, download all 67 ideas here!
Visit a reading club where you can read to children, tell them stories, drop off books and stationery – not just during Mandela Month…
Nal’ibali training in May
This May the Nal’ibali team travelled the country, doing live reading club demonstrations. These training sessions offer participants a clear understanding of the purpose of Nal’ibali reading clubs (to promote reading for enjoyment as a literacy development strategy) and to give practical advice on how to organise activities, create a safe and nurturing reading space, and most importantly, to encourage reading for pleasure!
The live demonstration training…
Parents Support Children’s Literacy Rights with Nal’ibali
As part of its national roll-out of a Children’s Literacy Charter, Nal’ibali Cluster Mentors have begun sharing the Charter with the parents of their reading clubs and broader communities.
The Charter, a guide for adults and caregivers on the different kinds of literacy experiences all children need to have to become fully literate citizens, was excitedly received by the parents, grandparents, teachers and supervising adults…
The simple, early triggers that help our children to learn
How can we fix our education system? That question preoccupies our national mind – and not without cause. We fail to prepare enough people for basic jobs, let alone to sustain a sophisticated knowledge economy. If that is the question, the inevitable answer is that we need good teachers, quality textbooks and enough time in the classroom. But what if we asked a slightly…
Nal’ibali celebrates a year of success
Having delivered close to 10 million reading-for-enjoyment supplements since its inception in June 2012, the Nal’ibali national reading-for-enjoyment campaign co-founded by Times Media and PRAESA (the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) has achieved phenomenal outcomes in promoting multilingual literacy development across South Africa in its first year.
The supplement, which appears weekly in select Times Media newspapers, aims to spark children’s potential through storytelling and reading…
Creative writing competition to celebrate our children
In celebration of international Children’s Day on Saturday 01 June, Nal’ibali is launching its ‘Celebrate our Children, Celebrate Childhood’ creative writing and drawing competition for children between the ages of three and 11, with four book hampers to the value of R10 000 each to be won.
Children are full of imagination and curiosity and when given the opportunity, they are capable of producing great…
Sunday Times publishes 10 new tales for Sunday Times Nal’ibali Storytime
The Sunday Times, in partnership with PRAESA (The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa), launched the new Sunday Times Nal’ibali Storybook today (16 May 2013). Attended by the Western Cape Minister of Education, Donald Grant, the event celebrated ten new children’s stories commissioned by the Sunday Times and written by South African authors.
The illustrated stories will be printed in all our official languages, starting with English and followed…