Nal’ibali, a reading-for-enjoyment campaign launched countrywide in 2012, is again leading literacy change by galvanising adults into reading with their children through its annual World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) celebration next month.
The annual celebration is a sustained initiative to promote a culture of reading aloud with children among families, parents, caregivers, teachers and the broader society on Wednesday 2 February. A total of 13 401 children were reached with Nal’ibali’s first call to action in 2013, while the campaign, together with its partners, read aloud to over 3 million children last year.
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’ibali – isiXhosa for “here’s the story” – works hard to promote reading and literacy throughout the year.
In previous years Nal’ibali’s focus has been on increasing the number of children being read to on WRAD. This year, the target remains 3 million children. However, the NGO aims to sign-up a million families, with the help of partners such as Standard Bank, Liberty Community Trust, Volkswagen and the City of Cape Town’s Library and Information Services to commit to reading regularly to their children over the next three years, starting on WRAD.
“Where 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,” explained Katie Huston, Acting Director of Nal’ibali. “Children who regularly hear fun and engaging stories understand how books work, and are more motivated and better equipped to learn to read themselves and to keep reading.”
Research also shows that families who participate in WRAD continue a sustained habit of reading and sharing stories. Family literacy is essential for many reasons; one of the biggest is that when family members can read and write, it helps break the cycle of poverty.
“For children to enjoy a story, they must be able to understand it! Because of this, we commission a brand-new story in all 11 official South African languages each year,” said Huston.
The story is also made available in South African Sign Language and Braille through partners, Sign Language Education and Development and Blind SA. “We then encourage adults everywhere to pledge to read it aloud to children on the day,” added Huston.
This year’s story, A Party at the Park, was written by Mabel Mnensa, author of the children’s book Kantinga Finds the Perfect Name.
A Party at the Park has also been translated into an additional six languages – Swahili, Shona, French, Chichewa, Portuguese and Lingala – to cater for the about 2 million foreign national children living in SA. Neighbouring African countries have also been invited to join Nal’ibali’s WRAD celebration – a landmark step for the campaign as it starts to build a pan-African resolve to get children and families reading, and share its reading resources beyond our borders.
The public can join the celebration by pledging to read the official story with their children on WRAD via the campaign’s website, www.nalibali.org, or by sending the word “WRAD” via WhatsApp to 060 044 2254. The story can be downloaded from these platforms at no cost and pledgers can choose to keep reading with Nal’ibali throughout the year by opting into its family-reading programme.
Pledgers are also encouraged to share pictures of their read-aloud sessions online, tagging @NalibaliSA or using the hashtag #NalibaliWRAD2022.
