Speak to Me: Rationale for the Development of Educational ResourcesIntroduction Much of the existing education system and teaching resources currently in use in South

Africa – and other Southern African nations – is based on Western, English-medium

practices and resources. This implementation of English as the language of teaching and

learning (LLT) has become noticeably problematic in the African context where the language

barrier hinders the educational or therapeutic progress of non-English-speaking learners and

patients (Brock-Utne & Holmarsdottir, 2004). This can be seen particularly in the field of

speech therapy – often referred to as Speech-Language Pathology – where language is an

essential component of the restorative process. A significant percentage of a speech-

language pathologist’s caseload consists of assisting in the speech and language

development of children with developmental delays in the foundation phase. The need for

resources that are culturally and linguistically relevant to this context is therefore important

because speech and language is the focus of therapeutic treatment. It is also important that

the practitioner is able to communicate with their patient in a shared language in order to

explain the exercises to be attempted in that session. The same principle can be applied to

other teaching contexts such as in a classroom or remedial teaching where there is a need

for African-based teaching resources. It is my intention that the stories and resources

included in this project will attempt to fill some of that gap by providing a range of multi-

purpose resources that can be used in educational and therapeutic settings in multiple

languages. These resources address the most pertinent areas of language acquisition and

teaching at the foundation phase of schooling based on the South African Curriculum and

Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS).

All of the stories and resources included in this project can be found on a website dedicated

to providing educators and therapists with the materials they need to be most effective in

their lessons or therapeutic sessions in a Southern African context. The website, entitled

Speak to Me: Stories from Southern Africa, can be found at

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www.storiesfromsouthernafrica.wordpress.com. The title, Speak to Me, is intended to

represent both the aural nature of story-telling as well as the interactive uses for the

materials found on the site. It signifies the idea that in both an educational and therapeutic

setting, the teacher or therapist and their student or patient need to speak to each other;

two-way communication is essential to effectively achieve the goals set for a particular

lesson or session.

Catering to the Intended AudienceThere are two main groups that these stories and resources cater to: firstly, primary school

children in the foundation phase, and secondly teachers, parents and therapists working

with the children in this age group and level of schooling. Although the stories and resources

have been created for use by educators and therapists, they are written at the reading level

of the children who will be engaging with them in order to make them accessible to both

audiences. The stories are intended to complement the content of the educational level of

the child, based on the CAPS.

For the Therapist or Teacher

Each story is accompanied by an activity or resource and some ideas for how these can be

used. This is in order that the stories and resources can be used to their full potential while

allowing educators and therapists to decide for themselves how the story and/or suggested

activity might best be used for/by the child. The inclusion of ideas for use opens up the

resources to be accessible to those other than teachers or therapists. For example, parents

whose child is struggling in a particular area might, of their own accord or at the

recommendation of a teacher or therapist, use the stories and resources from Speak to Me

at home. Furthermore, teachers, therapists and parents are encouraged to be creative in

applying the resources in their own ways.

For ease of access, these stories and resources are available online at

www.storiesfromsouthernafrica.wordpress.com as free, downloadable PDF documents, as

well as copies that can be read on the website. All the content of this website is licenced

under Creative Commons. The Creative Commons licence allows users to freely download,

use and adapt the stories and resources available on the website as long as credit is given to

the original authors. This means that the stories can be accessed by anyone able to use the

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appropriate digital technology and can also be translated into other languages and used for

a variety of educational or therapeutic purposes without having to consult or reimburse the

author. An advancement of this might include partnering with an established company or

group such as The African Storybook Project run by the South African Institute for Distance

Education (Saide) that has a large group of African followers able to translate the stories and

resources into a variety of African languages (Saide, 2015).

This free use is limited by the digital divide, however. Many of the individuals this project is

intended to benefit do not have access to the technology necessary to view and use these

resources (Roodt, Paterson & Weir-Smith, 2007). To make the website and resources

somewhat more accessible, the website and the resources therein can be viewed from a

number of different platforms including mobile phones. However, the majority of those

using these resources will be teachers and health practitioners – presumed to have access

to the internet and therefore access to these resources. Studies have shown that mobile use

is increasing in Southern Africa and consequently it is necessary to include mobile-friendly

versions of the website (Roodt, Paterson & Weir-Smith, 2007; Aker & Mbiti, 2010). In

addition, the content on the website is available to download and the user can then print it

for easier distribution. This can be done from a public library or similar venue that provides

easier access to computers and the internet, and therefore to these resources.

As the website is intended to assist educators and therapists, a contact page allows users to

suggest corrections, offer to translate the resources or stories into another language, or give

ideas for more stories and/or resources. This can be done through the email address

storiesfromsouthernafrica@gmail.com. With this in place, the user can be fully catered to.

Within a reasonable amount of time, a teacher or therapist could expect to see a specially

requested story or resource that they could then use in their lesson or therapy session and

which would then be available for any others to use as well.

For the Child

According to the South African CAPS, during the foundation phase (Grade R or pre-primary

to Grade 3) the child’s language learning is focused on (1) listening and speaking, (2) reading

and phonics, and (3) writing and handwriting (Department of Basic Education, 2011).

Although this curriculum is particular to the South African context, it can be assumed that

similar content is covered in children of similar ages living in different countries. These

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stories and resources complement this curriculum, as does much of the speech and

language therapy content. Although dependent on the difficulties faced by the child in their

speech and language development, speech therapy aims to bring the child’s skills as close as

possible to the level of development observed for their age group and usually also follows

the school curriculum (Department of Basic Education, 2011). Furthermore, speech

therapists at times play the role of giving additional support to children whose difficulty lies

in acquisition of the LLT. To assist in this particular area of difficulty, some vocabulary sheets

have been provided on the website as resources. The stories in this project aid in both the

educational and therapeutic progress by incorporating elements of the first two segments of

this curriculum, namely (1) listening and speaking and (2) reading and phonics and have

been created to support the skills to be acquired in these years:

1. Listening and speaking - For the development of listening and speaking skills, the

stories can be read in a class room or one-on-one setting and the child asked

questions about in the content of the story, thus testing both listening and speaking

skills. The resource accompanying the story Lizard’s Adventure has been created for

just this purpose. It is a listening exercise based on a map with various obstacles such

as rocks, bushes, mud and long grass. From a designated starting point on the map,

the child is given instructions by the teacher or therapist to follow, such as “go fast

over the hill, three times around the tree, and jump onto the rock.”

This can also help a speech therapist or remedial teacher to identify areas of

difficulty in the child’s learning. For example, speech sound disorders in which

children have difficulty pronouncing certain sounds (e.g. where the child says

‘wabbit’ instead of ‘rabbit’) (Dodd, 2005) may contribute to confusion with sound-

letter correspondence (phonics). Similarly, language delays such as slow acquisition

of grammatically essential morphemes such as the regular and irregular plural or

pronouns can be detrimental to a child’s understanding of language and therefore

the way in which they speak it (Bowen, 2011; Paul, 2001). The same reasoning can

be applied to other difficulties in this area, such as dyslexia (de Oliveira, Cardoso &

Capellini, 2012). The teacher or therapist can then devise subsequent sessions

focused on improving those particular areas.

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2. Reading and phonics - The CAPS document breaks down reading and phonics into

the following categories: Shared reading (including Shared writing), Group guided

reading, Paired / Independent reading, and Phonics (including Phonological

Awareness).

Shared reading and writing uses one text for the class per week. Using the shared

reading text to help inform structure and parts of speech, the children collectively

compose a story together in the shared writing exercise. The stories on the website

provide texts that can be used in these exercises. For example, Owl’s Horns can be

used to teach children how to correctly write direct speech for the characters in their

stories. The baby baboons talk about climbing the tree to feel Owl’s horns. One is

braver than the other and so completes the challenge, discovering that they are

simply feathers and nothing to be afraid of. In the creation of their own story during

shared writing time, the children could be asked to imagine how the conversation

between Owl and the baby baboons might go.

Group guided reading and paired/independent reading both focus on developing the

individual child’s reading skills by improving vocabulary, grammar, comprehension

and fluency. The children read in groups or in one-on-one sessions with the teacher.

The stories in this project can be used here as set books while the children are

learning to read. The resources accompanying the stories can also be used to

improve vocabulary or as exercises to aid in the improvement of writing skills. For

example, one of the resources on Speak to Me is a vocabulary list of the different

animals spoken about in the stories that has been compiled in both English and

Shona. Certain stories can also be paired with their translation for the development

of vocabulary and fluency. The simplicity of this resource also makes it easily

translatable into any other language may be needed. Both the stories and the

vocabulary resources can therefore be used to improve vocabulary in both the

child’s home language and second language. Additionally, the stories can serve as

educational entertainment for children who finish the required work before others

in the class, freeing up the teacher to focus on the children who need more guidance

and closer attention.

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Phonics and phonological awareness are also an important focus at the foundation

phase and are a particular focus of speech Language Pathology for this age group, as

they are considered to be the building blocks of literacy (Gillon, 2004). This includes

activities such as isolating syllables or phonemes (particular sounds that make up a

word), rhyming, matching letters and pairing phonemes to create words. The stories

and resources in this project do not specifically cater to this area of education but

can be used as an introduction to a lesson or session dealing with these exercises.

For example, the teacher or educator might read Lion and Impala then use the

vocabulary from that story as a spring board for the lesson as well as to help hold the

children’s interest.

Independent reading is important in improving fluency of reading, among other skills, and in

order for the child to be able to read without assistance. Therefore the content and

vocabulary needs to be suited to the reading level of such a child. To this end, the font and

vocabulary used in the stories have been carefully selected to suit the level of education for

the foundation phase as detailed below.

Both the stories and resources are written in the National First Font as this is the same as, or

very similar to, the font commonly used in teaching children of this age group to read and

write. The use of this font allows the child to read the stories more easily than if a different,

unfamiliar font were used. With this potential hindrance out of the way, the child can focus

on the story and associated task, potentially without assistance from a teacher or therapist.

Additionally, the stories incorporate words from the Dolch Sight Words List (Dolch, 1936;

Answers 2000 Limited, 2015) – an extensive list suggesting appropriate sight words to be

taught to children at each grade level within the foundation phase. This list was used while

writing to ensure that the stories would be age appropriate with vocabulary that the child

could recognise and read by themselves. There are a few complex words in each story but

these can be taught to the child by the teacher/therapist and/or included as part of the

lesson/session in order to improve or develop the child’s vocabulary. The Dolch list assists

with reading fluency and is accompanied by phonemic awareness and learning to sound out

sounds and syllables in longer words (Dolch & Bloomster, 1937). This method would be used

to help the children learn to read the other words in the stories.

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The resources accompanying each story focuses on a different area the child might need

assistance with. This includes vocabulary based on the story, focus on a particular part of

speech such as question words (where, when, how) or prepositions, or a skill such as

counting. The resources will be examined in more detail later in the paper.

The StoriesThe stories found on the website were intentionally crafted to appeal to a wide audience in

an African context. They are intended to entertain as well as be applicable to educational or

therapeutic situations; to stand alone while also providing opportunities for learning. To this

end, there are several elements allowing the stories to achieve this effect: their origin in

African proverbs; the use of animals as primary characters; translation into languages other

than English; the use of educational literary devices; and the incorporation of an audio

component.

African Proverbs

Proverbs of all cultures stand out because of the succinct, witty way in which they provide

wisdom and life lessons. Encapsulated in one sentence is a vast wealth of meaning that can

be used to develop critical thinking (Asimeng-Boahene, 2010), teach life skill and values, as

well as open up a number of educational opportunities. The stories are based on proverbs

because several ideas and themes can be conveyed through one proverb. Proverbs can be

used to teach life lessons as well as specific language or reading lessons and can take on

special significance for the child as they explore the proverb and its various meanings. The

idea in the story is also easily encapsulated in a short, succinct sentence that is usually

entertaining or profound and therefore easily remembered. The memory of the proverb and

the story it tells can be used in follow-up lessons or sessions to recap what was learned

before in order that it might be further built upon.

While the stories in this series are based on Shona proverbs, the themes and characters are

similar to those found in many other African cultures and are applicable to learners from a

variety of backgrounds. For example, the story Owl’s Horns is based on the Shona proverb,

kungotya nyanga dezizi nyamba manhenga (The horns of an owl are feared but they are

feathers) – the Shona equivalent of “don’t judge a book by its cover” – teaching children to

take a deeper look. This value of suspending judgement is an important life skill for children

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to learn and the principle can be applied to any culture. Using the story of two young

baboons who want to climb a tree but fear the owl sleeping in it, children can be taught the

values of getting to know others before passing judgement while simultaneously working

through a lesson focused on improving their literacy or another academic skill.

Animal Characters

The use of animals as primary characters is intended to unify readers from a variety of

cultures and languages. They provide a common ground as they are not specific to one

culture or traditional group. Some of the animals may be specific to a particular region but

many Southern African children will be able to identify them and relate to their regional

context. The use of animals also bypasses issues of race, gender and other socio-political

concerns that might arise, making it easier for children of diverse backgrounds to identify

with them (Krueger, & Krueger, 2005). In this sense the animals can be considered relatively

neutral characters that can be used in education or therapy without the socio-political

hindrances mentioned above although they must still be used carefully as some cultures

ascribe negative connotations to certain animals (e.g. frogs and cats are commonly

associated with witchcraft). This relative neutrality is important for this project as it aims to

cater to children and teachers or therapists from a diverse background and cultural context.

For example, the different animals in the story The Marula Tree present a diverse group

with each animal having particular strengths and weaknesses. The use of human characters

would restrict this as it opens up the story to possible stereotyping or prejudice that could

become problematic. The issues this might create would change the focus of the story from

ideas about hard work and using strengths to achieve goals, to issues about race or gender.

In itself, this is not problematic – racial and gender issues are important and worthy of

discussion – but in this context it could obstruct the lesson and hinder the progress of the

child in the development of their language or literacy.

In addition, many children in the Southern African context are familiar with these animals

from a young age. This familiarity allows the children to view the animals as symbols and

facilitates the learning of a social lesson, such as the one encompassed in the proverb that

the story is based upon (Friedman, & Gordezky, 2011). For example, snakes are widely

regarded representing evil. The use of the snake as the antagonist in the story Lizard’s

Adventure is therefore appropriate as a symbol of danger.

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Language

The stories and resources on the website are written in English and Shona. I chose Shona,

one of Zimbabwe’s national languages, as I grew up in the country and understand Shona

better than any of the other African languages. Future stories may contain languages from

other Southern African cultures so as to further encourage participation by making the

exercises and stories accessible to a wide range of individuals. One of the primary difficulties

of education and therapy in the Southern African context is that many of the resources are

in a language different to that of the scholar or patient’s home language. This barrier can be

lessened through the familiarity of the user’s home language and the use of ideas and

proverbs from a more familiar culture than Western content is based upon. While English is

still the LLT in most Southern African schools, studies show that use of the mother-tongue is

very effective in successful education (Sigcau, 2004). By supplementing the English LLT used

at school with these resources in the mother-tongue, the child’s education will be

enhanced.

Most of the stories on the website so far have been translated and back translated into

Shona by two Shona speakers, Geraldine Madondo and Munashe Wazara, to ensure

accuracy and confirm that the vocabulary is age appropriate. The stories are separated into

their language categories on the website but also linked to their translations. This is done so

that the stories themselves can be used as teaching resources while learning languages. The

stories can be compared page by page to teach vocabulary, phrases and grammar, switching

between translated versions.

The website and Creative Commons licence allows for the possibility of further translations

of the stories into many different languages by volunteers. To this end, there is a page on

the website inviting visitors to be involved and providing a template detailing the style and

procedure of translating a story or resource of their choice. With this in place, making the

translation of stories accessible to visitors, the project should grow to include a variety of

languages. This will provide a wider variety of stories and resources to Southern African

educators and therapists who require material in their language that will appeal to the

upbringing and context of their student or patient.

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Literary Devices

There are a number of literary devices included in the stories that assist in learning. The

most frequently used is the repetition of carrier phrases, as is often seen in children’s books

(Corrigan, 1980). This is best exemplified in Lion and Impala with the phrases, “Impala runs

away and hides ______. Where is Impala? Lion sees his horns” repeated several times in the

story. This repetition emphasises what is being taught, in this case the concept “where”.

This carrier phrase can also be used in resources based upon this story.

Audio Component

Although not yet applied to every story, audio recordings have been included on the

website. This has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, some forms of technology such as mobile

phones may not be able to access or open the written form of the story. To remedy this, the

audio file can then be played so that the beneficial effects for education or therapy might be

made more readily available. The audio file can also be shared relatively easily across forms

and can be used to teach or tell the story without the physical and/or written version of the

story.

Secondly, the inclusion of audio files is valuable in the educational and therapeutic setting

for which these stories are intended. For example, a child in a remedial lesson may struggle

with the learning disability of dyslexia and may find it helpful to listen to the words of the

story as they are reading them for themselves to ensure that their recognition of words is

correct. Similarly, a child undergoing therapy for a speech or language disorder may be

assisted in the development of pronunciation by hearing the story read out to them. The

audio files might also be used in a normal school setting or at home for the child who has

not yet learned to read and is unable to be personally attended to by a parent or teacher. A

further use can be for the learning and development of a new language. The stories and

their translated version(s) can be used in combination with the audio component to acquire

vocabulary in a language different to the child/teacher/parent’s home language. The use of

this element allows the child to have assistance in their learning when a teacher or parent is

unavailable.

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ResourcesMost of the stories examined above are accompanied by an exercise or other resource that

can be used to supplement or enhance the educational or therapeutic benefits of the

stories. These are given with suggestions as to how they may be used, although the teacher

or therapist will most likely have their own exercises and simply need the resource itself.

For example, the story Lion and Impala focuses on prepositions and the question word

‘where’. In this story, Lion is hunting Impala who continuously runs away and hides but Lion

always finds him because Impala’s horns give him away. Each time Impala runs away, the

child is told where he hides (e.g., behind a rock) and is given a picture that includes all the

places Impala hides. The child is then asked where Impala is hiding. This tests the child’s

listening skills, as they should be able to point to Impala’s hiding place. Their answer is

confirmed on the next page by a picture of Impala’s horns sticking up from behind his hiding

place. This is repeated several times in the story, thereby reinforcing the notion of

prepositions and the question ‘where’. Through this frequent repetition of ‘where’ as well as

the application of pronouns, the learning of these concepts is made fun while offering

multiple opportunities to practice them.

To accompany this are several suggested exercises to help enforce the concept in the child’s

mind. The teacher or therapist may have their own exercises to establish this concept, and

are encouraged to find their own applications of the resources and stories. Games such as

hide-and-seek, emphasising their use of phrases such as “where is [child’s name]?” and

prepositions describing possible hiding places, “under the table”, “behind the door” are

commonly used to teach these concepts (Paul, 2001). They might instead choose to use the

picture of Impala’s hiding places to incorporate different prepositions and confirm the

child’s understanding of ‘where’ by asking questions about alternative hiding places for

Impala: “Could he hide on top of the rock?”, “Where else could Impala hide?”. In this case,

the teacher or therapist might not need the suggestions provided on the website but only

require the picture of Impala’s hiding places.

Limitations and Future DevelopmentsThe primary limitation to this project is my position as a white, English-speaking individual

with a very limited personal knowledge of African languages and cultural practices. In an

attempt to remedy this, the characters in the stories are animals specific to Southern Africa

11

that help to provide a familiar base for speakers of any language residing in this area and to

eliminate stereotypes or the distraction of other topics such as issues of race or gender.

Another attempt to remedy this is the provision on the website for volunteers to translate

the stories into other languages. This will allow the project to have further-reaching effects

than it does currently and will not be limited to my knowledge or understanding. To

compound this, a future development that should strengthen the project might be to

partner with a remedial teacher or speech language pathologist in order to create resources

that will be of most help to them.

A secondary limitation that has already been discussed above in the section about catering

to teachers and therapists, is that of access to the stories and resources through the

website. Many of the intended audience may not have access to the necessary technology

as is likely in South Africa where a large percentage of the population do not own a

computer or have access to the internet (Roodt, Paterson & Weir-Smith, 2007). As a solution

to this problem, the website and its contents have been made compatible with internet

enabled mobile phones as mobile penetration is rapidly increasing in Southern Africa. In

addition to this, PDF documents licensed under the Creative Commons have been made

available for download from the website. These can be accessed and printed through

computers at public libraries, making them available to everyone who might need to use

them. The Creative Commons license eliminates economic restrictions that often

accompanies normal copyright licences.

ConclusionAs shown above, there are many different factors to consider during the creation of

children’s stories, especially so when they are intended to complement educational or

therapeutic curricula which have themselves been carefully constructed for use by/for

children. Although challenging, the creation of these extra-curricular materials are necessary

to enhance and complement the education or therapy of children, particularly in the

Southern African context where there is currently a lack of such resources. In some ways,

accessibility of these stories and resources is equally as important as the content they cover

and effect on the child. The resources and their potential benefits will be useless unless they

can be accessed and used effectively by teachers, parents and therapists. To circumvent

this, the creation of the website to house the stories and resources, licenced under Creative

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Commons and optimised for mobile use, creates the opportunity for maximum accessibility

and interaction from all over Southern Africa. With interaction from users, the project

should grow and be able to ease many challenges faces by the different educational and

therapeutic needs that can currently be observed in the Southern African context.

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