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Here you will find Nal'ibali's latest news and updates. 

News & Articles

Nali'Bali in the media

Here’s a piece of common sense familiar to most of us adults (well, at least those of us who have ever watched an episode of the Dr Phil show on TV):  you can’t keep doing the same thing continuously and expect to get different results. So, if you’re faced with a huge challenge like improving literacy levels in South Africa, you clearly can’t be doing...
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The simple, profound thing we all can do

Posted on
27 February 2013
In this society, which urgently needs to educate citizens to be articulate and literate, there is something simple but profound we can all do – we can tell and read stories to children. Far from being a luxury, the story habit establishes in children the sturdy bedrock on which to grow the power of empathy and an educated mind. It starts with enjoyment. Take Tara: Tara’s...
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Putting books in the hands of children

Posted on
14 February 2013
On a hot, dry February day, in a heat that would normally make the most attentive     student lethargic, a Grade 4 class is rapt. Seated cross-legged on the floor, their  mouths agape, eyes bright and never wavering, they focus intently on the woman turning the pages of ‘Jack’s Tractor’ by Thomas Taylor. Throughout the story, they repeat sounds and words back at...
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New Year reading resolutions

Posted on
29 January 2013
Do you make resolutions at the beginning of each new year? Many people’s resolutions involve giving up something they enjoy to improve their lives. But that’s where reading resolutions are different – they are simply about doing more of what you enjoy! Try our suggestions below to make reading and stories a part of your family’s everyday life! And download our Story Power Pacts for you and...
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Stories travel – by word of mouth and in writing. Stories for children have been adapted over time from adult stories, often by translators, who have been responsible for crafting and shaping stories to suit their audiences across time and space. Think of Aesop’s Fables, told by Aesop, a slave and storyteller in Ancient Greece in the 5th century BC. Aesop’s Fables moved across continents for centuries,...
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When did you last share a story? Was it this morning, when you told a neighbour about what happened yesterday in the check-out queue at the supermarket? Was it yesterday, when your daughter brought home a history project about the first democratic election in South Africa and asked you what you did on that day? Was it last weekend, when you and your friends...
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A simple reading plan shows the way

Posted on
5 December 2012
Recently I visited Pratham, a large non-profit organisation that promotes reading across India. I was intrigued by their claim that they could get young children to learn to read within six weeks and that they could help those lagging behind to catch up. If we could do the same, I thought, we could begin to overcome one of the biggest challenges to education in South Africa –...
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One could have easily mistaken the adult reading workshop for a pre-school class as grown men and women jumped up and down, sang and performed theatrics – all in the name of promoting literacy. The Nal’ibali regional training workshop hit the Grahamstown area at the weekend as part of a national drive to get children and adults reading for enjoyment in a bid to inspire...
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The Open Book Festival is an innovative and exciting event that hopes to build a love of reading among South African youth. Ahead of 2012's Festival, where Nal'ibali participated in a panel on reading-for-enjoyment, we caught up with festival co-ordinator Frankie Murrey to talk literacy, libraries and growing a love of books and reading among young people. Join Nal’ibali for a panel discussion about the importance of...
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Great stories to help our country grow

Posted on
4 December 2012
One of my favourite storybook characters as a child was Mrs Tiggywinkle from The Tale of Mrs Tiggywinkle by Beatrix Potter. She was a hedgehog who miraculously reinvented herself daily – without ever compromising her true identity – into an industrious entrepreneur who ran a laundry service! There she was bustling across the rolling green hills of the English countryside, a world that for me...
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