We use the latest research-based early learning programmes and resources in our work.
In primary schools, we train foundation phase teachers to set up and manage classroom libraries and support leaners to build the habit of borrowing books to read at home.
In ECD centres, we build practitioners knowledge and skills to include early literacy activities in their daily programmes and distribute early learning resources and storybooks.
We enable parents and caregivers to use everyday opportunities to enrich their young children’s language, help them to develop pre-literacy skills at home, and promote learning through play.
We believe that parents have a critical role to play in their children’s early literacy development, starting from birth, so that children are ready for learning when they start school. We run workshops with parents at the primary schools and ECD centres where we work, to share ways that they can support their children informally to read and draw, and to develop language.
We use Wordworks’ Every Word Counts early literacy programme in our work. Various funders donate Book Dash books to support our early literacy work. This year we received:
17 000 storybooks from the Solon Foundation to distribute to Foundation Phase learners and parents through our Classroom Libraries project, and to children in ECD centres
6500 storybooks from the Do More Foundation for ECD centres and for children to take home
Book Dash’s overarching vision is that “Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five”, and their contextually relevant, locally produced beautiful little books are gratefully received by families who are eager to support their children’s learning.
The Jim Joel Fund supports our work targeting babies and toddlers in ECD centres. Practitioners caring for 0-3 year olds are typically the most under-resourced and under-trained of ECD practitioners, which is an enormous oversight as this is the time when babies and toddlers brains are developing at the fastest rate and benefit enormously from age-appropriate stimulation and responsive care. We train 20 practitioners a year in Wordworks Every Word Counts programme and mentor these practitioners in their classrooms to implement what they learn during training. Biblionef donates hanging libraries with beautiful board books and storybooks for this age group.
Our Classroom Library Project has been running since the beginning of 2022. We are implementing the VVOB 2021 research project designed by Wits University (view report) and use the monitoring tools to track progress by teachers and learners. To date we have worked with 30 primary schools in uPhongolo and uMhlabuyalingana. Because we believe that literacy starts long before children start formal schooling, we train parent to play an active role in their children’s learning at home, and a Gr R programme using Wordworks materials. According to the ECD Census 2019, 3 out of 4 children do not attend an ECD programme before entering formal schooling, so it is critical that Gr R learners engage in high-quality early literacy and language development activities in this bridging year.
The aim of the Classroom Library Project is to get isiZulu storybooks into the hands of young learners, and to support them to build the habit of borrowing books and to read at home. There is a growing body of research that shows that acquiring reading proficiency requires that children have extended and frequent opportunities to read texts at an independent reading level, and that independent reading aids fluency and comprehension. The key challenge is not only providing “learning to read” materials at schools, but implementing initiatives to ensure that books at the right level and interest get into children’s hands and are read at school and at home. The main finding from the VVOB 2021 study was that classroom libraries substantially increase both the number of storybooks children read and significantly increase the number of books children actually take home.
One of our practical strategies to improve teaching and learning is to mentor teachers in their classrooms and engage in participatory monitoring with them to identify areas for improvement. We thank the Solon Foundation for supporting this work.
