Volunteers needed to teach literacy at Chivirikani Primary
Programme manager Shoki Motau said she provides training.
Bridge Church is looking for committed volunteers to join the Shine Literacy Programme (SLP) that will assist in teaching Grade Two learners English literacy at Chivirikani Primary School.
SLP aims is to help average and struggling children learn to write, read and speak English.
The selection process is based on performance. Learners write a test to determine the selection, based on the score they achieve.
In 2022, SLP catered for 38 learners and 14 volunteers who are each responsible for two children. However, in the fourth term, they were left with 34 learners because some left the school.
They currently have 12 volunteers and they are looking for more to be able to enrol as many children as possible on the programme.
Programme manager Shoki Motau said she provides training. “After the training, they need to observe existing volunteers before they begin teaching”, she added.
“When they begin teaching they will start with one child and I will be there to monitor everything and provide advice,” said Motau.
She said part of their strategy is using educational games like word and sentence construction, writing paragraphs and creative writing.
“We play games where they have to pronounce words and form sentences from it, do puzzles, alphabets, pictures and different professions where they identify a profession and tell us what they do.”
Motau said although the children are paired they would separate them when they detect a challenge and concentrate on the one with the challenges. The other child will be handed to another volunteer.
According to pastor Andrew Graetz from Bridge Church, somebody birthed the idea in Cape Town and saw that with a lot of foreigners coming into South Africa that the children speak their home language or a dialect from that country.
“They found by the time the children get to Grade Four that they can speak local South African languages, but when they get to Grade Five they need to transition into English.”
He said children struggle because they cannot learn due to the language barrier.
“Education is a key that unlocks the child’s potential, so SLP was initiated to bridge that gap. If we can give children literacy skills while they are on a developmental level, it gives them an advantage in life. It gets them interested and gives them a passion for education and reading.”
Motau said initially the programme focused on migrant learners but they have extended it to cater for every learner that needs help.
Details of the programme
The sessions are held twice a day during school hours on Monday and Wednesday for an hour. The first session starts at 08:45 to 09:45 followed by the second one at 10:15 to 11:45.
Graetz said anyone can volunteer, however, the person has to be committed throughout the year, have good communication between them and the manager and love children.
“You do not need special skills to be a teacher. If you can speak, read and understand English that is your qualification. Hence we even have post-matriculates who finish school at ages 21 and 22 who are volunteering.”
He said they have a policy that volunteers have to sign before joining the SLP.
“They also need to get a police clearance certificate because we do not want to expose children to abusers.”
Individuals or companies that would like their employees to volunteer may contact Motau at 079 525 2659 or email at progressive.cascade3112@gmail.com
