This year marks an important chapter for Nal\u2019ibali, South Africa\u2019s reading-for-enjoyment campaign, as it celebrates ten years of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nal\u2019ibali, Xhosa for \u201cHere is the story\u201d, was founded in 2012 to spark children\u2019s potential through story\u00adtelling and reading. Since then, it has been leading literacy transformation in South Africa by galvanising adults into reading with their children through its annual World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year WRAD will be observed on 2 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WRAD is a sustained initiative to promote a culture of reading aloud with children amongst families, parents, caregivers, teachers and society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Altogether 13 401 children were reached with Nal\u2019ibali\u2019s first call to action in 2013. In 2021 the campaign, together with its partners, read aloud to over 3 million children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The growth of this initiative suggests that South Africans have embraced the call to read aloud on the day. Reading is the foundation of education, and Nal\u2019ibali works hard to promote reading and literacy throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n As opposed to previous years when Nal\u2019ibali\u2019s focus has been on increasing the number of children being read to, the target remains three million children in 2022. <\/b>\n<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, this non-governmental organisation, with the help of various partners, aims to sign up 1 million families to commit to reading regularly to their children over the next three years. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere schools play a key role in teaching children the mechanics of reading, families play an equally key role in helping children to fall in love with stories and books,\u201d says Katie Huston, acting director of Nal\u2019ibali. <\/p>\n
\u201cChildren who regularly hear fun and engaging stories understand how books work and are more motivated and better equipped to learn to read, and to keep reading.\u201d<\/p>\n
Research shows that families who participate in WRAD keep up a sustained habit of reading and sharing stories. <\/p>\n
Family literacy is essential for many reasons, one of the biggest being that reading and writing helps to break the cycle of poverty. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor children to enjoy a story, they must be able to understand it,\u201d Huston says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of this, we commission a brand-new story in all 11 official South African languages each year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The story is also made available in South African Sign Language and braille through Sign Language Education and Development and Blind SA. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe then encourage adults everywhere to pledge to read it aloud to children on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s story, \u201cA Party at the Park\u201d<\/span>, was written by Mabel Mnensa, author of the children\u2019s book Kantiga Finds the Perfect Name<\/span>. <\/p>\n To cater for the approximately two million foreign children living in South Africa, \u201cA Party at the Park\u201d has been translated into an additional six languages: Swahili, Shona, French, Chichewa, Portuguese and Lingala.<\/p>\n In addition, neighbouring African countries have been invited to join Nal\u2019ibali\u2019s WRAD celebration. <\/p>\n This is a landmark step for the campaign, as it shares its reading resources beyond South Africa\u2019s borders to build a pan-African resolve to get children and families reading.<\/p><\/b>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This year marks an important chapter for Nal\u2019ibali, South Africa\u2019s reading-for-enjoyment campaign, as it celebrates ten years of 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