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Literacy Blog

My name is Mbali Dipuo Kgame. I was born in Zola in Soweto, but grew up in a small, isolated township called Poortjie in the Vaal. As a teen, I moved back to Zola, so both places have influenced my writing and creativity. I have written two stories for Nal’ibali, Hair Magic for Radio Stories Season 5 and The Djembe Drum for Season 6. Hair...
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  Storytelling is an essential forerunner in children’s literacy development and an important way of preserving culture and language. Yet many of the same stories appear in different parts of the world: passed down from generation to generation, retold in various languages and with different cultural adaptations. These classic fairy tales contain important moral lessons and universal human truths.    As part of Literacy and Heritage Month,...
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Meet our Eastern Cape FUNda Leader, 38-year-old Zanele Ndlovu from Gwenxintaba village in Lusikisiki. Zanele is passionate about literacy and has been involved in several initiatives to help instill the love of reading for children in her community. What are you currently working on for Nal'ibali and what do you enjoy doing most? I am the co-founder and director of the Novulakuvaliwe Library. We work with...
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This June, as we remember the Soweto youth who protested the use of Afrikaans and English as the languages of school instruction amongst other injustices, the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign calls on aspiring and established authors to donate their original African language stories. South Africa faces a critical lack of children’s literature in indigenous languages and Nal’ibali believes is is these stories that motivate and inspire...
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The foundations of language are laid and set before children reach Grade R, when, based on this, researchers can predict children’s future educational attainment. However, with attendance at early childhood development centres lower than it has been in the past 18 years, many young South African children are facing a gloomy future. Three literacy NGOs, supported by Liberty Community Trust, have teamed up to...
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Lack of access to reading material and books remains one of the biggest challenges in bridging the gap of illiteracy in South Africa. According to educational experts, fixing the literacy crisis would require the coming together of multiple players, and this is why three NGO's and the Liberty Community Trust have partnered to lend a helping hand. Research shows that 78% of Grade 4 learners...
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Khangu Ntuli “Children who enjoy reading also excel in subjects other than language! They are able to express themselves more fluently, communicate with others, and become independent readers through reading. I highly recommend the FUNda Sonke loyalty programme to friends and family”. Khangu is a language teacher at Kwamiya Primary School in KwaZulu Natal. Her school joined the Nal’ibali programme in 2016 and she was elected...
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Everyone wants the best for their children, and no one understands this better than ProVerb – a South African father, entertainer and entrepreneur who has witnessed the power of books to unlock life’s potential. Having recently issued his memoir – The Book of ProVerb, he has joined the Nal’ibali campaign to help inspire children across South Africa to get reading. 1. Your own life is...
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Nal’ibali – the national reading-for-enjoyment campaign – has set a new read-aloud record in South Africa. For the past eight years, the campaign has been celebrating World Read Aloud Day by calling on members of the public to help them read a single story out loud to children across the country in their home language. This year, Nal’ibali received pledges from thousands of South...
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Nal'ibali, has over the years partnered with Sign Language Education and Development (SLED) to recreate our World Read Aloud Day story in South African Sign Language (SASL). This year Zoliswa Flekisi is our SASL Language storyteller.  Tell us about Zoliswa? Who is she and where is she from? My name is Zoliswa Flekisi and I am a Deaf, South African Sign Language storyteller, poet and teacher...
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