Learning to Read in South Africa using Phonics
Association of Baptists for World Evangelism
www.abwe.org
12 March 2012:
Thank you for this privilege. I hope to print some sets of books by next week at the latest to run the teacher training. The teachers and principal are very excited about this opportunity. We are planning for them and some of the parents in the community to help assemble the books to nurture ownership of the books/program.
ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism) does have some Christian schools around the world but I think they only have one in Cape Town. The schools I am helping are not ABWE schools or Christian schools but government schools that have been deprived of many resources for many years.
The school has only a handful of English books, no library, no phonics based books, and a requirement to teach all content areas in English by grade four. This is typical in south Africa and as you may know, English is the language for all of the universities here. These classroom sets, with training for the classroom teachers from qualified literacy teachers, will be a huge help.Those who can economically pay school fees, and can find entrance into a traditionally white government school or a private school will receive a relatively good education.
But if you are in an economically deprived situation, especially during your foundation years, your educational opportunities diminish. There are numerous outreaches into the schools to help uplift them educationally and over time, I am sure they will improve, but presently, the situation is quite severe.
There are also many strides in the University system with scholarships available for those who make it that far. But for those, like the children at John Masiza Primary, just learning to read English is a great challenge because of the lack of training and resources. I believe Fantastic Phonics will be a huge help in growing strong readers in this community.
Thank you again for this opportunity. I will send another email that includes some of the children at John Masiza Primary, they average 42 children per classroom. Beautiful children as you will see …
Penny Hesman,
Association of Baptists for World Evangelism
www.abwe.org
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25 May 2012
Jennifer,
Thank you again for the privilege of using your books for reading literacy in South Africa. It has been exciting to see how the community and churches in Port Elizabeth are coming together to make this a reality.
Through the contributions of numerous people, we have been able to print the over
57,000 pages necessary to make these books. People have come together to help cut, collate, staple, and prepare these books. I did the teacher training this week and the first set of books will be delivered for use on Tuesday.
I will be at the school each morning to help facilitate as teachers implement this program. They are excited and so are we. We will try to document the progress of the children. It should be easy because presently very few of the grade 2 and grade 3 children are reading English at all!
Thank you again for your investment in literacy around the world! I will keep you
updated and will send pictures in the near future.
Regards,
Penny HEASMAN
ABWE US ORGANISATION