Funda Wande and WCED collaboration
Funda Wande and WCED collaboration Funda Wande has entered a collaboration with the Western Cape EducationDepartment for the development of literacy materials for Afrikaans HomeLanguage and the use of the Funda Wande isiXhosa anthologies for allFoundation Phase isiXhosa Home Language learners in the Western Cape. Sincethe beginning of 2020, four training sessions have taken place, facilitated byFunda Wande.
The first was the Anthology training for 20 IsiXhosa Curriculum Advisors on the14th and 15th January 2020 at CTLI, Kuilsriver. The training was very well receivedand there was engagement around the use of the anthologies for Group GuidedReading and for extended reading. The reading ladder, Funda Wande’s Baselineassessment and GGR booklets were the highlights. The Funda Wande videoswere also found to be of worth for the Curriculum advisors to use when trainingtheir teachers.1
The second training was with all Foundation Phase Curriculum advisors at the WCED Curriculum Strengthening Forum on the 21st and 22nd January 2020. The focus was Teaching Reading in the Foundation Phase with the emphasis on Comprehension and Group Guided Reading. Seventy-five Foundation Phase Curriculum advisors from all eight districts participated in two three-hour sessions over the two days. Portia facilitated practical ways on how to make the teaching of comprehension skills more explicit, how to teach these skills within the different genres that need to be covered in the CAPS and also how to consolidate these skills during Group Guided Reading.
The Funda Wande videos were used as points of discussion throughout the sessions. The Curriculum advisors were involved practically, and the response was overwhelming. 2
Following the CSF, Funda Wande was invited by two Districts to engage with teachers. The first of these engagements took place in Metro Central on the 19th February 2020 at St Theresa’s Primary School in Welcome Estate. There were 110 Grade 2 teachers from three circuits. The focus was on using the story glove for fiction and non-fiction texts and teaching comprehension strategies explicitly.
The second district engagement was at Metro South on the 20th February at Parkhurst Primary School in Westridge, Mitchell’s Plain. There were 127 Foundation Phase teachers in attendance. Gradual Release and teaching comprehension skills explicitly was the focus of the afternoon.
By - Portia October
