Shameem Sirmonpong (winner), Sonja Kruse (FunDza) and runners up Pioneira Pelston and Codey Rodgers.
Cupcakes and yellow chips in the OLC (Open Learning Centre). Now that is something one can expect students to sink their teeth into. A book, on the other hand? Maybe not so much.
Yet, here we are with plates stack high celebrating students who spent the year reading. We are here to celebrate the winner and runners up of our Reading For Enjoyment campaign at False Bay College in Fish Hoek. The campaign has been running since the beginning of the year and FunDza staff have been holding regular sessions with students to encourage them to read (and write too).
Students participating in the campaign were required to read books and then complete book reviews. Congratulations go to the following:
Winner – Shameem Sirmonpong
Runners-up – Pioneira Pelston and Codey Rodgers
Special achievement for completing all 5 book reviews:
Zintle Lufele
Nazli Abrahams
Lona Dyubele
Students who completed one review:
Nelisiwe Somhlahlo
Lindokuhle Gcoba
Yanga Mlanjeni
But, we are not here just to celebrate these students. We’re also celebrating the biggest winner: Reading. This is our second year of running the campaign at False Bay College Fish Hoek (more info). What started as a brainwave by literacy champion, Righardt le Roux of Nal’iBali, has taken commitment and dedication from all the stakeholders to create a reading culture at Fish Hoek Campus.
Fridays has become known as FunDza Fridays. When we pass students in the corridors, we hear cries of ‘FunDza FunDza!’. More importantly, when we are not there, some of the lecturers have decided to turn the Friday English lessons into reading sessions. Lecturer Natascha Krull makes use of our Big Ups! anthologies and Harmony High books to engage the whole class in reading aloud. A student starts a session off and then throws a crumpled piece of paper to a classmate who then has to continue where he/she left off.
With the help and guidance of Nal’ibali, students have also started a book/reading club on the campus. And when you search our FunDza Fanz section, you will find many poems, essays, stories and even a novel written by False Bay College Fish Hoek students. The winner of the campaign, Shameem, has also become a FunDza beneficiary as she has started a book club at her son’s school. As she said:
‘I want my son to benefit from reading as I have benefited from this campaign’
What has turned this campaign into a mini-movement is the participation of the students. The ones at the awards ceremony and the ones in the corridors. We had their buy in and we had the buy in from the lecturers and the OLC team.
And so here we are. The OLC. Books. Students. Prizes. Lecturers. Yellow chips and cupcakes.