Increasing English Literacy in Phokeng

As Fulbright ETA's, Marva and Grace have been given the life-changing opportunity to work with the Royal Bafokeng Nation, a society based in the North West province of South Africa. The traditional Setswana-speaking community is led by their king, Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi.

Marva and Grace are excited to enlist YOUR help as they work alongside the Royal Bafokeng Institute, a supplementary education institution, to develop programs aimed at improving student literacy and numeracy. English literacy is vital since despite having eleven national languages (!), all students are required to write their annual exams in either English or Afrikaans. We're hoping that improved English literacy scores will increase university attendance, job opportunities, and anything else our students can dream up.  

There are several initiatives Grace and Marva would like to implement.

First, we are launching a student-run yearbook to encourage writing, reading, peer-editing, and photography. In addition to a traditional yearbook setup that covers academics, sports, and organizations, this publication will also have a section that highlights our students' creative writing and contains essays documentng their lives.  By inspiring our high schoolers to write about issues going on in their schools, communities, and country, we hope to enourage these young people to become active and engaged citizens. Your support will allow us to buy the necessary technology to facilitate this - several point and shoot cameras as well as a number of iPads that will allow them to type and edit their work. 

A second project we are working on is developing a supplemental math curriculum in collaboration with the NBA Africa office. The program is designed to cater to the math needs of athletes in secondary schools throughout the village. In addition to designing a new curriculum book for team math development sessions, we are interested in purchasing a class set of hands-on math tools.

Furthermore, we would like to take field trips to the universities in nearby Pretoria and Johannesburg. We have the hope that many of our students will have the opportunity to be the first in their families to attend college and maintain the belief that exposing them to these atmospheres is key. Your financial support will allow us to take our students to both further education colleges and larger universities, such as the University of Pretoria, University of the Witwatersrand, and University of Johannesburg. By helping instill the spark for higher education at a young age, we hope to empower our students to dream BIG and work HARD to make their goals a reality.

And finally, your support will help fund our English courses focusing on strong communication skills - proper letter writing format, improved spelling and grammar, and a developed confidence in our students' English speaking abilities. In additon to iPads and cameras, we hope to purchase books to develop reading skills, notebooks to foster writing development, and tape recorders to allow students to hear their speaking and pronounciation. Ultimately, we hope to empower our students with skills that will enable them to become the future leaders of South Africa.

Thank you for all your support!