We celebrate World Read Aloud Day to advocate children’s right to read and write. Litworld.org says “By raising our voices together on this day we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world.”
This World Read Aloud Day (WRAD), FunDza is supporting the Nal’bali reading-for-enjoyment campaign, by calling on the 350,000 registered readers on our mobi network to read aloud the same story on the same day so we can experience the joy and benefits of sharing stories with children together – and be inspired to carry on reading aloud with our children each and every day of the year.
Nal’bali has commissioned a short story by Niki Daly specifically for their WRAD drive. They have had the story translated from English into five other South Africa languages – Afrikaans, Sesotho, Sepedi, Zulu and Xhosa. Says Daly: “Food is needed to keep our bodies healthy and alive. Books and stories are needed to keep our minds sharp and imaginative. No child should be without food or stories.”
FunDza is publishing all versions of the stories on our mobi network and encourage our readers to read the stories to younger family members and friends on WorldRead Aloud Day – giving them the opportunity to share and model their love of reading. Read the stories here:
– ʼn Goue ster en ʼn soentjie vir Thoko (Afrikaans)
– A gold star and a kiss for Thoko (English)
– Inkwenkwezi egolide nokuphuzwa kukaThoko (isiXhosa)
– Inkanyezi esagolide nokuqatshulwa kukaThoko (isiZulu)
– Thoko o hwetša naledi ya gauta ebile o a atlwa (Sepedi)
– Thoko o fuwa naledi ya kgauta o bile o a sunwa (Sesotho)
FunDza is encouraging its readers to let us know to whom they read the story and, if possible, to submit recorded sound bites or videos clips to our various social media platforms of them reading the story aloud.
Find FunDza on Facebook here: FunDzaLiteracyTrust and on Twitter here: FunDzaClub.