literacy development

The PUKU Children’s Literature Foundation had their official launch for their isiXhosa Story Competition on Wednesday 1 October 2014  in Grahamstown.  Teachers, parents, students and community leaders attended the event at Nombulelo Secondary School in the Joza Township. This amazing story competition isn't simply about the powerful effects of creativity and writing. It strives to celebrate and promote the isiXhosa language - allowing a platform for children to express...

Hlubi Mboya took the South African silver screen by storm with her heartbreaking performance as Nandipa in Isidingo. After ten years of successfully fleshing out this character with talent and sensitivity, Hlubi has moved on to the freelance world to “grow my craft and reignite my faith in the industry”. Above and beyond her sprinting ambitions, she has always had a hand in social...

The acapella group that has stolen South Africa’s heart – The Soil – worked hand-in-hand with us this Literacy Month to help spread awareness about the power of stories to shape children’s future. Hailing from Soweto, Buhlebendalo Mda, and brothers Luphindo and Ntsika Fana Ngxanga, shot to stardom as the winners of the 'Standard Bank Standing Ovation Award at the 2010 ‘National Arts Festival in Grahamstown....

Selected to be one of the 460 transformative design projects toshowcase the role that design can play in social transformation, the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign proudly launched itsWorld Design Capital 2014 project, Turning Litter Into Literacy Awareness, together with young readers from Schotse Kloof Primary School at the World Design Capital 2014 Pop-Up Space in Long Street on Saturday 16 August. Working together to create the first...

'Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible',' -Audrey Hepburn. Each day, we’re inspired by the team of Nal’ibali Cluster Mentors, Story Sparkers, Trainers and Reading Club Leaders who make it possible put children on the path to success. Through the power of reading and stories, they provide the tools and tips that parents need to grow their children’s talents and excitement for learning. This Women’s...

“I love playing and chatting with children...feeding and putting them to bed with a little story, and being away from the family has troubled me throughout my life,” Nelson Mandela, 1981 This Mandela Month, Nal’ibali, the national-reading-for-enjoyment campaign, together with Jacana Media is offering all children and caregivers the opportunity to celebrate and remember the legacy of Madiba through local author Niki Daly’s The Herd Boy...

To increase access for parents and educators to the popular bilingual children’s literacy resource – the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment supplement – Times Media will be moving the weekly publication to two new newspaper titles as of April 13, 2014. Previously published in The Sowetan in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, the supplement will now appear every Sunday in the Sunday World; and will be moving from The Times to the Sunday Times Express in the Western Cape....

Nal’ibali, the national reading-for-enjoyment campaign, has created a set of specially illustrated public storytelling seats to inspire children and caregivers to sit and share stories together. Made out of recycled bathtubs, and placed in public places around Cape Town, the seats form part of the campaign’s current ‘Story Power. Bring it home’ drive, aimed at raising awareness about the power of stories to spark...

One of the lesser appreciated problems in South Africa which, if tackled correctly, could have a knock on effect for everything from business acumen to social understanding to basic education is that in a lot of areas within the country, there’s no such thing as a reading culture. As the Spanish philosopher George Santayana put it, “those who do not remember history are doomed...

An initiative in which The Herald and other Times Media Group (TMG) newspapers are partners has won international recognition. The not-for-profit Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA), the Times Media partner in the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign, was awarded the Ibby-Asahi Reading Promotion Award in Mexico City this month. The award was initiated by the International Board on Books for Young People (Ibby) and sponsored by the Japanese newspaper company...