Help Teach Africa to Read

We are Edu Fun! Improving Literacy in Africa using the Phono-Graphix Reading method. 

We partner with Diepsloot Combined School (DCS) located in an economically disadvantaged informal settlement north of Johannesburg. Many of the children we work with live in shacks without electricity or indoor plumbing.

The long term vision of Edu Fun has been to replicate our Diepsloot programme in the rural and township schools that the Phono-Graphix Reading method has been implemented in, in order to address the varied educational, literacy and material needs of the population. 

We have shown time and time again, that the success of our literacy programme is due to volunteers using the same method and working in collaboration with the teachers who are able to give more personalised attention to the students. With large class sizes of 50 to 80 children in one classroom, including children with special educational needs, it's next to impossible and unrealistic to think that one teacher can reach every student. These children are also only exposed to English for the first time in the second grade, but expected to be as proficient as their English speaking peers in suburban schools by the time they are in Grade 4 when all academic subjects are taught in English.

With the support that we have had from our donors on the GlobalGiving platform, the idea of replicating this model became a reality in April this year when our Education team travelled to eSizameleni/Wakkerstroom to work with a group of teachers, students and local volunteers. 

Wakkerstroom is a quaint town 3 hours outside of Johannesburg and is situated on the border of Mpumalanga and Kwa-Zulu Natal. eSizameleni is the township where we worked with the teachers and the local community. The idea was to replicate our Diepsloot programme and conduct a literacy hour in each of the Grade 1 and 2 classes. We did this on 3 consecutive mornings, team teaching with the local teachers and encouraging as many local volunteers from eSizamelani and Wakkerstroom to join us. The intention is for these volunteers to continue to support the teachers on a weekly basis now that that they have the model and the training. The teachers had already received training earlier in the year and were trying their best in a challenging environment and requested further assistance. 

Our Education team volunteered their time and own resources to reduce Edu Fun’s costs and make this trip possible. The children were quite reserved and uncertain on day 1, warmed up a bit by day 2 and by day 3 many had that "AHA moment” that teachers and volunteers live for. That moment of truth where we just know that the penny has dropped and children have understood that letters are pictures of sound and that reading is merely about "cracking the code".

We hope to be able to return to Wakkerstroom/eSizameleni in August this year if funds permit. 

We returned to Johannesburg (exhausted), but with renewed passion and insight, knowing for sure that 3 consecutive days of Phono-Graphix instruction is more effective than 1 lesson a week until you have consolidated the basic skills.

We immediately started planning a 3-day challenge for the Grade 2 children in Diepsloot who, 4 months into the academic year were still struggling to grasp the basic skills. Our local volunteers spent 3 consecutive days in Diepsloot this week working with the same group of 4 children every day. It was wonderful to see the sparkle in our volunteers eyes when the kids had that "AHA moment” on day 2 or 3 of the programme.

So on that note we now focus our energy on our annual 3-day Holiday Buddy Reader, Art and Sports programme that we will run on 18, 19 and 20 June 2019 for approximately 90 Grade 2 and 3 students.  Each day, the students enjoy one-on-one customised reading lessons as well as daily art and sport sessions. The programme is provided free of charge to the students thanks to many generous individual cash and in-kind donors as well as many volunteers who give of their time to make these programmes possible.

The children who attend receive breakfast, lunch and snacks each day and get prizes and other gifts depending on the donations we receive.  The 3-day programme costs approximately $20 per child to run.

Thank you for your continued support and interest!

Links:

• Our Edu Fun website
• Teaching Reading in South Africa with Phono-Graphix

We are Edu Fun! Improving Literacy in Africa

We partner with Diepsloot Combined School (DCS) located in Diepsloot, an economically disadvantaged informal settlement north of Johannesburg. Diepsloot is home to approximately 250,000-500,000 people many of whom live in shacks without electricity or indoor plumbing.

We are a volunteer led organisation and our mission is to improve English literacy for grade 2 and 3 students at DCS. None of our work would be possible without our generous donors. Thank you for supporting Edu Fun! 

With the start of the New Year came an influx of new learners (our academic year starts in January). The Grade 2 class now exceeds 200 learners in just 3 classes (that’s an average class size of ~70 learners per classroom). During January our volunteers completed the assessments of all of these Grade 2’s in record time, which meant that we were quickly able to group similarly skilled learners together. Due to the support of our loyal volunteers, we’re able to divide the grade into 5 groups for our weekly lessons, where children are being taught in smaller groups of 35 to 45 children, but with the assistance of 4 or 5 volunteers/assistants. 

Last year and since inception, we have focussed on 100% of the Grade 3 class and a smaller group of Grade 4 or Grade 2 learners. Given the positive assessment results at the end of 2018, we made the strategic decision to shift our focus to 100% of the Grade 2 class and about 2/3^rds of the Grade 3 class, depending on the number of volunteers and the funding we get. The reasoning behind this is quite simple. In Grade 2, this is typically the learner’s first introduction to English. If we can expose them to the Phono-Graphix reading and spelling method from the beginning, we should see even more impressive results this year, giving these children a one-year advantage.

For the Grade 3’s we are focusing on two groups of learners. Firstly, the learners who struggled last year and didn't consolidate the basic skills of reading. This will give them a fighting chance in Grade 4, when all their classes are taught in English. Another group of children really excelled, and we are trying to maximise their potential - we call it “Harvesting the Harvards”. Our work is not limited to teaching reading, but also aims to instil a love for reading in children and this is a great platform to do just that, enriching these learners’ reading, vocabulary and comprehension skills

Each learner is issued with a name badge and a covered exercise book to work in, during their literacy lessons. We then supply all stationery for the year in terms of pencils, sharpeners and worksheets. Our biggest expense is the printing of worksheets and other teaching aids.

We are so grateful to all the Global Giving donors who have made the purchase of desks and chairs possible. From the donations we have received from Global Giving this year, we have been able to purchase much needed desks and chairs for the ever-increasing large class sizes. The largest class in the school currently has 84 children. 

We are grateful for our partner projects which are varied, but all have a similar theme – each was developed to provide support to remove barriers to education so that learners' basic needs are met so that they can focus on their school work. If a learner is hungry he won't learn. If a learner has tattered clothing s/he may not be able to concentrate or could be teased by others. If a learner can't see or hear properly or has an illness he won't reach his full potential.

Thank you to  the following projects which are crucial to the work that we do and were all created by volunteers who saw a need. 

• Ngangifisa - the Food Pantry providing groceries on a monthly basis to the most vulnerable families in Diepsloot, many of which come from child-headed homes.
• The Health Group - providing eye, dental and nutritional screenings 
• The Top-Up Project - mending school uniforms and sourcing new uniforms and shoes for the children who need it most.
• Further Education Programme (FEP) - supporting past students from DCS who are studying at university or have graduated and looking for employment. 
• The Baby Club - supporting young mums who are trying to stay in school

Working in partnership with these groups means that we can develop children holistically and all work towards a common goal. 

We rely 100% on donations to make our work of improving literacy possible. On behalf of all of the Edu Fun board, volunteers, DCS staff and the young learners with whom we work, we thank all of our generous donors for your continued support and we hope that this report shows you the tangible differences that your donations are helping to make.

THANK YOU

Links:

• Visit us at this link to find out more about our reading program