Franschhoek Reading: Encouraging a love of reading, stories and books
The Franschhoek Literary Festival Schools Programme kicks off this week ahead of the Franschhoek Literary Festival which takes place this weekend on Friday May 19 to Sunday May 21.
Franschhoek Reading, an initiative of the Franschhoek Literary Festival, has made a significant investment in four primary schools in the Franschhoek area over the past 15 years. The reading promotion takes place from 15 to 19 May 2023, has been curated by the FLF Team and will be facilitated by the library facilitators at each school.
Franschhoek Reading has several objectives, including encouraging young people to use libraries, strengthening their appreciation for books and reading, increasing awareness of the joys of reading, exposing children to activities that promote a love of words, stories, and books, and transferring skills amongst educators and library facilitators.
Franschhoek Reading is taking place at the following schools:
Monday 15: Wemmershoek Primary (404 learners)
Tuesday 16: Groendal Primary (901 learners)
Wednesday 17: Wes Eind Primary (549 learners)
Thursday 18: Dalubuhle Primary (739 learners)
Friday 19: Phendulani Quiz – Grade 7 learners (300 learners)
The exciting activities will be conducted in Afrikaans, isiXhosa, and English, with activities tailored to learners in the lower, middle, and higher grades. This week’s activities include the Phendulani Quiz, Franschhoek Writing, visits by book mascots, two theatre pieces (Ouma Olifant/Makhulu Indlovu and Bongi Bird), storytelling, games, motivational talks, Wordathon, story reading, alphabet stories, pictures as a language, and how to write a story. The distribution of activity books, activity sheets and books also takes place during the week-long programme
In addition to the funding from the FLF, 2023 Franschhoek Reading also benefits from the support of a number of industry stakeholders including Jonathan Ball Publishers, PanMacmillan, Penguin Random House, Oxford University Press, NB Publishers, New Africa Books, Nal’ibali and The Book Development Association.. These organisations have contributed through book donations, mascots, activity sheets and reading supplements.
Comments Elitha van der Sandt, Franschhoek Literary Festival Director, “It’s an opportunity to connect learners to words, songs, play and stories in a fun, non-intimidating way. One cannot simply give a child a book and say it’s important to read. We need to make them fall in love with words and stories. And where will they find these? In books.”