NACCW Uses WhatsApp with Reading Groups

When lockdown struck, we knew it was going to be very difficult for our reading group beneficiaries to keep on with their work. So we were excited to hear from our partner, the National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW), that some of their reading group leaders had managed to continue their groups online in KZN and the Free State.

What is interesting to us is that they chose WhatsApp (rather than Moya Messenger or our mobi site) as their platform of choice, because young people are there already. Each reading group has their own WhatsApp group of about eight or nine teen learners. They consult the FunDza content menu, and then the group themselves choose what to read for the next discussion.

The learners read individually, and then discuss the stories or poems in their WhatsApp group at set times. The leader generally starts the group going with a question or two, and then young people write in comments or send voice notes, mostly in their home languages (Tswana and Zulu), giving their responses to the story. Leaders have also used the platform to set short writing activities.

They have read a range of material on the site, including blogs, poems and short stories. The most popular texts so far, according to one of the group leaders, has been Scars in my heart (a short play), The School Dance and Rich girl, poor girl. These are all short stories.

The group leaders also provide psychosocial support to the teens in the group, updating them on Covid-19 and also putting them in touch with other support systems they may need.

We are so pleased that our material has been so successfully integrated into the NACCW’s programmes, and really hope that we can expand this partnership.