Friday I led a workshop at Rosebank Union Church in Sandton to train readers for crèches in the near-by township of Alexandra. (To read about my visits to Alex with fellow-SIM missionary Ruth Maxwell see my blog entries Alexandra Township and Return to Alex.)
Friday’s seven participants are already involved or plan to get involved in Rosebank’s extensive programs in Alex. One even has a journalism background. That one I want to recruit to write stories for the children.
I took along a stack of favorite read-alouds like Handa’s Surprise and Lulama’s Long Journey Home. Yes, I felt somewhat foolish reading aloud and interacting with a bunch of adults as if they were four-year-olds, but the point was to demonstrate how to involve children in the reading and not leave the words flat on the page. By their smiles and answers, I think the trainees got the point.
The one man, Moses, works with older children and teens in Rose-Act, a “Saturday school” where volunteers help children with homework and teach remedial classes so they can better succeed in school. The hope is to recruit some of these older children to help in community-run crèches, reading, speaking to the children in English and just playing developmental games like pitch and catch. What a great idea—facilitating community members reaching out to their own! I can’t wait to get together with those student volunteers when I come back in April and May.
(In case anyone is interested, I will post Friday’s notes.)
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2 comments:
You are amazing. I see you are multiplying yourself (by seven at least) before you leave the country. So you are returning for two months next spring? I wanna come! Thanks for posting the notes too.
Frankly, I thought of you and wanted to bring you. Think about it! Ruth tells me the readers were excited about the workshop and are going to read in the crèches next week. They picked up some books at an Exclusive Books sale. Looking through one, a participant announced, “This meets all the criteria in our notes!” May their reading be a great success!
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