1. NATIONAL READING STRATEGY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE PRESENTATION 19 October 2007

2. Purpose Put reading firmly back on the school agenda; Clarify and simplify curriculum expectations;(debunk myth of NCS not encouraging the teaching of reading); Promote reading across the curriculum; Affirm and advance the use of all languages; Encourage reading for enjoyment as a legitimate aspect of the teaching of reading.

3. The Reading Programme Focuses on support to schools through: Increasing access to books; Providing support to teachers through provision of resources as well as techniques on Developing reading skills in learners; Inculcating a love for reading – reading for enjoyment. Scheduling time for reading within the school time table. Copyright © 1991 Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company

4. Increasing Access to books Supplying schools with (scientifically based) reading programmes/ schemes – (through normal provincial LTSM processes); Ensuring that all Foundation Phase classrooms have reading corners with exciting story books in all the languages spoken in the province (100 story books per FP class launching that process); and Ensuring access to a well-resourced library for all schools (including strengthened collaboration with DAC).

5. Support to teachers Advocating a balanced approach to teaching literacy Provide support through training and resources to teachers on: Different methods of teaching reading; Easy to apply reading tests for teachers to establish competencies of learners and monitor their own progress, AND A collection of best resources for teaching reading.

6. Supporting teachers: teacher’s manual Manual developed to assist teachers with the teaching of reading in the Foundation Phase. Focuses on providing guidance to teachers on how to teach, what to teach and when to teach. Provides guidance on how to allocate the 10hrs per week indicated in the NCS to give adequate attention to the five areas critical to effective reading; An additional half an hour per day proposed for all schools to “drop all and read” – including educators and principals – to begin to instill a culture of reading for enjoyment. Teachers’ manual already in print and will be provided to all schools for the beginning of the 2008 school year.

7. Supporting teachers: toolkit Toolkits/reading boxes have been developed for use by teachers in the Foundation Phase and contain all that teachers need to teach reading at this level e.g Conversational posters, big books and flash cards for beginner readers; guided/leveled readers for learners at different levels etc.Dictionaries for both teachers and learners – including bi-lingual dictionaries. The Toolkits have been developed for Grade R and 1, in English, and development in the Indigenous Languages for these grades in process. First set of 1 000 boxes to be delivered in QIDS UP schools at the beginning of the 2008 school year.

8. Reading for Enjoyment 100 story books to all classrooms in primary schools; Introducing new Grade R and 1 learners into schooling by providing personal books and bags as part of “Drop all and Read” campaign; Facilitating the writing of relevant and interesting children’s storybooks in the different languages and Providing guidelines to parents, teachers and care givers on helping children with reading.

9. Progress to date Approximately 10 000 primary schools have already received packs of 100 reading books towards establishing classroom libraries – all Q1 and 2 schools to have been supplied by beginning of 2008 school year; 16 titles already published in 11 languages – 160 000 copies to be sent to 120 pilot schools by March 2008. Target is 120 titles and 1.3 million books in the next three years.

10. Monitoring learner performance Systemic Evaluation remains the key tool to assess performance across the system on overall literacy; An Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) instrument has been developed to help teachers measure whether learners are acquiring reading skills (developed in 6 languages already: isiXhosa, isiZulu, Xitsonga, Tshivenda, Sepedi and English); Tool looks at reading fluency in terms of (timed) automacity in letter recognition; word recognition; fluency in paragraph reading and comprehension and a test for concepts of print and print orientation (book-handling and knowing where to start reading on a page. EGRA will also be used for benchmarking so we can put realistic expectations to the schools;