Past Workshops Archives - Reading Therapy & Literacy Support

Grade R and the Foundations of Literacy.

4 November 201920 May 2021 Lianne Bantjes

Are you the parent of a child who will be entering Grade R in the next couple of years? Then, this workshop is for YOU – Johannesburg

The Reception Year, Grade R, is a fundamental year in the development of a child’s literacy and their love of school & learning. We should never run the risk of it being a wasted year or a negative experience. There is a wide range of ‘Grade R’ environments & curriculum on offer and therefore, as parents, it really helps to be in the know.

Lianne, a teacher with over 20 years of experience in the field of education & training, will help you to understand some of the theory behind what takes place in a Grade R classroom. She will also give tips and advice on what shouldn’t happen and what you can do at home to build on what is learned at school.

This will enable you, as parents, to understand the school environment better, maximize the benefit your child takes away from this year, communicate more effectively with your child’s teacher, constructively support and build on the learning taking place, support the school & teachers in meaningful ways and ensure that your child has a happy and successful start to life at school.

You will learn…

how you, as a parent, can contribute to your child’s literacy development
what role you can/should play in your child’s academic life
what literacy is and how it affects academic success across all subjects
how Grade R contributes to the development of advanced literacy
what Grade R is all about & what should take place in the classroom
the value of learning through play – structured & unstructured – at home & at school
what neural pathways are and how they are created
what is meant by school readiness, how Grade R contributes to this and why it is important for entry into Grade 1

Literacy development should be the concern of the family as a whole and therefore, Lianne encourages mothers, fathers & guardians of any type to attend this workshop and fill in the gaps in their knowledge.

Choose your dates

2020 dates TBA – Johannesburg
18:45 – 21:00
Kingfisher Drive, Fourways / Standard Drive, Pine Park (Randburg)

For more information about Lianne & LB Literacy, click here.

To explore working with Lianne in Randburg / Sandton and other areas in Johannesburg, contact her for a consultation to discuss how she can assist you.

Literacy, Past Workshops

Reading aloud to Children

27 October 201920 May 2021 Lianne Bantjes

– Johannesburg –

Workshop – 26 June, 2019 – Randburg, Johannesburg

Another worthwhile morning was spent with wonderful people interested in and passionate about raising literate children.

On the 26th June 2019, I was joined by several ECD teachers, a forensic social worker and a School Principal to find out why ‘reading aloud to young children’ is so important and how it forms the foundation for literacy, success at school and possibly success in life too.

Along with a few demonstrations I gave tips, tricks and advice on how to inspire a love of reading in young children. There were lots of ‘aha’ moments during our discussions and based on the feedback I believe the attendees left more knowledgeable and inspired to make changes.

If you would like to find out more about upcoming workshops, please click HERE. Alternatively, if you would like to book a workshop to be presented at your organization, please contact Lianne at Lianne@LBLiteracy.co.za

Literacy and social media / digital era

I have had umpteen parents tell me over the last few years that reading and writing isn’t that important anymore. I usually ask these parents to consider the fact that due to social media and the digital era, we have way more text coming our way throughout the day, via multiple platforms in both our private and our work lives.

Just some of the social media apps we interact with daily.

We interact with these communication /publication platforms publicly and constantly – some of us are required to do so as part of our work obligations. We, therefore, need to be MORE literate than ever before because we have to be able to read, comprehend and process information fast and accurately. We also need to be able to respond meaningfully, quickly, professionally and often publicly, right there and then. The public aspect of these platforms, as well as the speed at which one is expected to communicate, means that we are under a lot more pressure to perform in the area of language and communication than ever before.

A mother is practicing pre-reading skills through picture reading with a young child.

Is reading going out of fashion?

Reading is not going ‘out of fashion’. One of the main reasons that we have a low academic pass rate, a high drop out rate before matriculation, matriculants who are unemployable and a workforce that cannot cope in South Africa is because our literacy levels are abysmal. This is because we do not have a reading culture in South Africa. We are in the middle of a literacy crisis in this country. To read more about South Africa’s Literacy Crisis, please click here.

Literacy as a foundation and S.A.’s literacy crisis

Literacy forms a large part of the foundation for all other education and the sooner we understand this and start reacting appropriately to this crisis the better. We need to go back to the basics such as reading aloud to children. However, it is not only up to our government to fix this problem. It is up to all of us to do our bit :

with our own children
the children in our communities
and by supporting teachers, schools and local literacy programs in whatever way we can.

Summary

This workshop was about creating awareness, growing knowledge & skills around literacy development, inspiring attendees to do more and to make necessary changes at home and in the work they do with children.

For feedback on this workshop, please go to Mrs K. Mazhuwa’s feedback on the TESTIMONIALS page by clicking here.

The How & Why of Reading Aloud to Children

30 September 201920 May 2021 Lianne Bantjes

Johannesburg

Workshop held at Oasis Baby Bridge the Gap School in Cosmo City, Johannesburg

22 May 2019

An inspiring, meaningful and heartfelt morning was spent with the teachers from the Oasis Baby Bridge the Gap School, as well as a few teachers and principals from the local community. We were also joined by three young ladies who live locally and who are determined to get into teaching as a career.

The idea behind the workshop was to motivate, support and inspire these teachers to use the magic of READING ALOUD to grow the literacy levels of the children in their care, as effectively as possible, while developing & fostering a love of books & reading.

Our morning was filled with discussing / demonstrating the following:

Why should we read aloud to kids?
The process of introducing a new book or story that creates EXCITEMENT
- Pre-reading strategies
- Prediction
- Drawing out known vocabulary
Reading the story & how to create MAGIC
- Building excitement & interest through intonation & body language
- Maintaining interest & engagement through questions & participation
- Introducing new vocabulary
- Linking new information with existing knowledge
- Creating opportunities for repetition & discussion
After reading
- End on a high note.
- Always tell learners how much you enjoyed reading to them.
- Compliment the learners on their behaviour & engagement levels.
- Reading must be a feel-good activity and must be associated with positive things.
Extension activities
- Extension activity: Discuss what happened in the story.
- Extension activity: Allow learners to retell the story or parts of the story.
- Extension activity: Bring in critical & analytical thinking by
  - asking learners to give their opinion regarding what one of the characters says or does
  - asking learners to say why they loved, liked, felt neutral to or hated the story giving reasons for their answers
  - ask learners what in their opinion a character could have done differently to change the outcome of the story
  - ask learners if they can think of ways that this story can be linked or likened to real life
- Extension activity: All learners to draw their favourite characters from the story and then to present them to the class with a verbal description.
- Extension activity: Stop before the end of the story and come up with your own endings.
- Extension activity: Rewriting the end of the story even if you know what happens in the book / choose a different ending.
Why children love to reread stories over and over and why this is important.
How can you get something new out of a story every time you read it?
How frequently should children be read to?

Nyameka Ngqondi, one of the current teachers at Oases Baby Bridge the Gap School, identified the need to start a school for children who are excluded from local schools for various reasons. Oases Baby Bridge the Gap School fills a unique need for about 20 children. I was so impressed by how enthusiastic and well behaved the learners were and how passionate the teachers are. It made me all the more pleased to be able to conduct this workshop with them.

We ended our day by forming break-away groups and each teacher took a small group of children out into the sunshine and had the chance to read a book aloud to the learners while implementing what they had seen and heard. It was heartwarming to see the children upon their knees, clamoring around the teachers, completely transfixed by the stories being read to them. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful morning of learning & discovery.

To see the passion and drive demonstrated by the attending teachers & community members showed me, yet again, how much talent & commitment there is out there in South Africa. It also highlighted how many well-intentioned, yet invisible, individuals we have, doing great work out in our local communities, here in Johannesburg and across the country. They need recognition and a huge appreciative pat on the back as their jobs are hard and often thankless.

If you would like to find out more about upcoming workshops, please click HERE. Alternatively, if you would like to book a workshop to be presented at your organization, please contact Lianne at Lianne@LBLiteracy.co.za

Category: Past Workshops