Shine held a very lively and successful Parent Workshop on Saturday morning. We were joined by 57 parents and five teachers, along with four of our friends from Equal Education who came to see how we run our Shine workshops.
We covered the importance of listening, the sounds of the alphabet, Paired Reading and Shared Reading. Before we said goodbye, we shared the book "The Big Hungry Bear" with everyone.
I love these mornings-- they remind me that we are following the Shine mission every day: Through community involvement and partnerships, and using effective innovative and measurable practices, Shine aims to inspire South Africa to achieve our vision of 'a nation of readers.'
We covered the importance of listening, the sounds of the alphabet, Paired Reading and Shared Reading. Before we said goodbye, we shared the book "The Big Hungry Bear" with everyone.
The audience was so responsive, the children were amazingly engaged and we all learnt a lot from each other. My favourite part of the morning was when Grandfather Rod shared his own experiences of storytelling, from when his grandparents used to tell him late-night stories in the rural Eastern Cape many years ago. Rod's voice was rich and hypnotic, and he held us all in the palm of his hand; we were there with him, huddled under the blankets, in the dark, in the cold, with the glow of the lamp. The audience's response was electric. Rod conveyed the meaning of 'story time' better than anyone I know: his message spoke to the heart.
I love these mornings-- they remind me that we are following the Shine mission every day: Through community involvement and partnerships, and using effective innovative and measurable practices, Shine aims to inspire South Africa to achieve our vision of 'a nation of readers.'
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| Sharing experiences |
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| A great Saturday morning crowd! |
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| The most important people participating! |
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| Rod, one of our grandparents, sharing his stories. |
