According to a 2021 research article by Wordsrated.com, 51.2% fewer people in South Africa were reading books at the time of their research than in 2006, while a report by AfricaCheck noted that just under 30% of the population have never read for leisure.
This is due to a combination of factors, including the prohibitive prices of books, the unavailability of leisure time, and cultural norms that reflect a lack of understanding of the benefits of literacy. And yet, according to the NPO READ to RISE reading has proven to be effective in helping children excel at school and go on to become constructive members of society. It all starts with reading.
Promoting a culture of reading has been repeatedly noted as the best way to improve literacy levels among children and adults alike. Reading forms part of primary school learning, but it’s only a small part of the high school curriculum for English literature. At this level, reading should be encouraged beyond just the textbooks in order to keep literacy levels up, but also to highlight the benefits of reading for pleasure. And while a range of factors that result in children not reading cannot be fixed overnight, there are some manageable ways to buck this trend — one being the development of reading groups at schools.
Lea-Anne Moses, Executive Director of the Fundza Literacy Trust, shares some advice on how South African school teachers can run their own reading groups.
Ensure that the group has access to exciting material
“Engaging reading material is a sure-fire way to get teens and young adults reading,” notes Moses. “If all that’s available are bland reading materials and textbooks, there’s very little chance that high school students are going to want to join a reading group”.
If the school doesn’t have access to new, exciting books or reading materials, put out a call to your community, your parents, your network and even your local library. There are many people who are looking for ways to sustainably offload some books that they have at home. Additionally, incorporate platforms such as Fundza into your reading groups. Through its data light mobisite, fundza.mobi, young people now have access to a library of local stories written by themselves and their peers about them and for them.
Make it about more than just reading
“In a similar way to how book clubs are as much about getting together as they are about discussing books, so school reading groups should also factor in the social aspect,” Moses advises.
Make the reading group a safe space where students can also share their own stories or opinions. This could be done through note cards that are left in each book before they are passed onto the next person, so they share both the story and their experience of it.
Encourage everyone to write something short every week or every second week and have them share it with the group if they wish. You could also share a question with the group a day or two before each meet-up and students can prepare an answer to that question. Questions such as “What made you smile this week?” or “What are you looking forward to right now?”, and “What do you wish to achieve this year?” encourage openness and sharing among students and peers.
Show up prepared
Moses says: “If you have asked the students to read a particular short story before the next meet-up, you should not only have read the short story too, but also have prepared some questions about the story to ask the group”.
Being prepared in this way shows your dedication to the group, but it also holds everyone accountable as they would need to finish the reading in order to participate in the discussion.
Moses shares: “If you are struggling to get the group to discuss something, you can make use of something called the ‘think, pair, share’ method where you ask a question, learners take time to think of their answer before sharing it with a partner, and then sharing it with the bigger group. This also ensures that the whole group gets involved in the discussion”.
Let the students choose some of the reading materials
“If you involve the students in choosing some of the required reading, they are more likely to actually read it,” notes Moses. “Let them choose the book or they could choose a story from a digital portal”.
Draw up a schedule ahead of time of when students can choose the reading piece or book. This not only shows that it’s chosen fairly, but students are more likely to hang around if they see they are being relied on to choose the reading material in two- or three-weeks’ time. Doing this also allows students to choose books that are linked to popular culture — for example something they’ve seen online or the book version of a particular film they enjoyed.
Make use of reading group resources
“There are a number of online resources available to teachers who would like to run reading groups at their schools. This would be a good place to start for anyone wanting to get this going,” says Moses.
Resources for reading groups, warm-up games for groups and running reading groups are all useful if you are looking at getting started. Additionally, Fundza offers a SACE-accredited “How to run a reading group” course, and educators who complete this will earn professional development points.
Moses concludes: “Reading for fun needs to be encouraged more among high school scholars. Often these students don’t have the space or time to read at home, so by creating a reading group at school as part of their day, schools are not only improving literacy levels, but also giving their students a comfortable space in which to enjoy this pastime”.
