Back to school week in Cape Town, I thought I would post a couple of great school resources, from LAPA Uitgewers.
Typically the week of wild and crazy storms, meant that back-to-school was delayed for thousands of children all over Cape Town… but here are some great local reads, for South African children, whatever the weather.
Sankind Lees die Wind
Where has this book been, it is an absolute stunner, cross-cultural learning at its best and my favourtie South African children’s book this year. If you want to get to know a people group better, then read their stories. This is a collection of short stories, from the San people, written for young people… beautiful stories about their animals, their culture, their history and even their weather. It is just a wonderful collection of folktales and mythology from a very different tradition.
It is written for middle graders and perfect to read to a class as each story is well contained, or for a homework assignment. The stories are beautifully illustrated and at the end of the chapters there are little explanations of interesting words, or an extra fact or two. In fact, this book, would be a lovely addition to story collection in a library and I hope they bring out a hard back collectable version of it.
This Fantastic Series Collected by Marieta Nel
This book in this series are a teachers dream… literally all the work of choosing stories and selecting poems for a school term has been taken care of. It is a fabulous collection of stories, I can’t recommend it enough.
The stories are great for class room read-a-loud time or for homework reading… I love this series, great collections of stories… AND I have to say: one of the greatest features of these books is that you can click on the QR code with your phone, inside the front cover, and listen to all the stories read out loud. For a child that doesn’t speak Afrikaans (or English) as a home language this is an invaluable tool to help them get their pronunciation correct… and for kids that really don’t enjoy reading it is a great way for them to develop their cultural literacy, without being held back by their reading skills.
Tyd is a B**ksem
I have nothing but praise for this fantastic series… this is the fourth book like it and they are brilliant all the way. Excellent help for children who need to read Afrikaans for school, the book is divided into sections: short stories, traditional stories, poetry and dramas. Seventeen contemporary short stories on a wide variety of topics. Six traditional stories, fables and such like and a lovely big collection of poems. I love that there are two dramas included in the book, which allows children to join in the reading together.
Apocalypse at the End of the Street
Another book in this fantastic series of books ready for classroom reading and at last an English Version. All the books in this series have a collection of short stories, folklore, poetry and drama, all ready to read in the classroom. We all know that the best gift we can give to our kids is to read aloud to them… these stories are packed and ready to go. I love the mix of global stories and local stories and I love the South African culture within these books… these are perfect for read aloud time in the classroom.
Vrae en Antwoorde vir die Klaskamer
This book is to help your grade 10-12 child practice exam questions, begriptoets (comprehension) question practice from more than fifty sources. It is an invaluable tool for children doing Afrikaans at school… everything from summaries to advertisements, magazine articles and graphs, comic strips and even listening exercises… where the teacher reads the text and the students can answer the questions that follow.
I have to say, this is just for fantastic exam practise… and there is a comprehensive list of answers at the back of the book as well.
Listen Up
An English and Afrikaans book, yes, you read that right… you know when, as a teacher, you are asked to stand up and speak to a group of children about something, but also not really part of the curriculum you actually teach. This book has over seventy contributions from teachers and authors, with talks ready and good to go for different age groups as well as for the staff room. If you are in a position where you have to give assembly talks or inspiring group talks, with a Christian worldview, then this is a great book to have at hand. Pick a talk and present it, the work has already been done for you. Short, readable messages prepared for teachers to present to kids, in Afrikaans and English, depending on the group you are talking to. Topics like: Why should I study, the end of term, a message for matrics, and one I really enjoyed on boundaries: The Goldfish that wanted to be Free… a good book to have at hand or to gift to a teacher.
These books were given to us for review purposes by Penguin Random House South Africa and Lapa Publishers. This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely our own.