Monday 8 September is International Literacy Day and the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign has joined forces with Mxit Reach to launch a new and improved app to put children’s stories and literacy tips into the hands of even more South African parents and children.
Monday 8 September is International Literacy Day and the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign has joined forces with Mxit Reach to launch a new and improved app to put children’s stories and literacy tips into the hands of even more South African parents and children.
The app is accessible via the Mxit social networking platform which now has five million monthly users. It will allow anyone with a mobile handset to access regular stories in the South African language of their choice, as well as literacy tips and support.
Reports show that 51% of homes in the country don’t have access to leisure books and 85% of the population live beyond the reach of a public library, however most of the country now has cellphone reception, Carole Bloch said in a media statement.
“By harnessing this tidal wave of mobile communication technology use in our country, we hope to get even more adults reading and enjoying stories with their children so it becomes part of their daily lives," said Bloch, who is director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA), which is driving the Nal’ibali campaign.
Research shows that being told stories and being read to at home are the things most likely to help make children successful learners at school.
To address these critical elements on the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment app, caregivers are invited to sign-up together with the children in their care to receive a story or motivational tip in a language of their choice.
The app uses push technology, which means the server will remind or prompt users–in this case the parents or caregivers– to share a story with their child. Many children are more tech savvy than their parents and may well enjoy reading the stories on their own, but Bloch said that research indicates that the greatest rewards for children’s literacy development come when adults and children share stories together.
“There is a tendency for parents to engage less with their children around E-books and other forms of digital content," she said.
"Language and literacy skills are best developed in the discussion and engagement that takes place when caregivers and young ones share a story together – and this includes the sharing of stories found on digital devices.”
Maru Van Der Merwe, Mxit Reach Project Manager for the app, said that users also have the opportunity to earn points and rewards by completing stories, submitting reviews and answering monthly polls. She said the app also offers a story library for users to access at any time; audio stories for children to listen to together with their caregivers or on their own, as well as fun literacy quizzes and the opportunity to share reviews in a virtual reading club section.
They are also developing a multilingual rhyme library for use with babies and very young children, she said. Mxit Reach is a mobile service using the technology built by Mxit to create free mobile educational, health care, agricultural and community applications.To sign-up for the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment app: download Mxit from m.mxit.com.
Go to Apps > Search> Nalibali. For more information about the Nal'ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign, free children's stories in a range of SA languages and tips on reading and writing with children, visit www.nalibali.org, www.nalibali.mobi or find us on Facebook and Twitter: nalibaliSA.
