On the 8th of October, I left help2read’s UK office in Oxford Circus to work alongside my colleagues in South Africa for 2, 5 weeks. On arrival, I attended an annual celebration event for one of help2read’s literacy development collaboration partners, Partners for Possibility.
It’s 8 am on Monday morning at Ekukhanyisweni Primary School in Alexandra township, Johannesburg. Refilwe Matomela, a 24-year-old resident of Alexandra, sits down with a Grade 4 learner to start a one-on-one reading session in the container library at the school.
Tomorrow, September 8th, is International Literacy Day, a day intended to focus awareness on the state of (il)literacy in the world and to support initiatives intended to empower communities and bring about change and improvement in worldwide literacy development and promotion.
Grant Brown, co-MD and Chief Operating Officer of Zando, an online fashion store, has encouraged his staff to get involved in the community. Their support is already pledged to The Sunflower Fund and the World Wide Fund for Nature; this attests to Zando’s commitment to making a difference in communities and the environment.
South African literacy development organisation, help2read, has partnered with LightSail Education to bring the award-winning digital literacy platform to help2read’s partner schools around South Africa.
Here at help2read, we believe a home environment that fosters a love of reading is instrumental in helping children learn to read. In fact, recent research considers a home that encourages reading to be one of the foundational pillars in raising a strong reader. These five key questions will assist you in creating a literacy-rich environment at home.
Do your learners struggle to continue reading when they come across a new word? Maybe they decipher the word incorrectly or get so stumped that they give up and stop reading altogether. Early readers are guaranteed to come across words that they aren’t familiar with when reading.
It’s no secret that we are passionate about helping children as they learn to read. Children face many hurdles that they need to overcome when learning to read, and reading with speed and expression is certainly one of them.
This Mandela Day, we called upon our supporters to champion literacy and make a BIG difference in the lives of children that struggle to read. Marking 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela, this year’s commemoration was one to remember with the launch of the #100by100 Challenge, as well as numerous activities and celebrations with learners at our partner schools.
Holiday Reading Clubs are always a big highlight on the help2read calendar, and it’s not hard to see why! A combination of high-energy games, fun activities and reading adventures creates a brilliant mix that gets children learning and reading during the school holidays.
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