Much like us at the Early Learning Resource Network, you were probably engrossed in all the World Literacy Day webinars, tweets, blog posts and project launches that flooded the social-media timelines on 8 September.
There was a lot going on in the early literacy space, including an illuminating webinar hosted by African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) in collaboration with Neil Butcher and Associates (NBA). If you didn’t get a chance to join on the day, you can view the recording below – it’s well worth a watch.
Take a look at these links and discover openly licensed storybooks and reading resources that are available in some of the world's 7,000 living languages:
‘Researchers are agreed that reading aloud is the single most important activity by which parents, grandparents and caregivers can foster early brain development, lifelong learning success, reading pleasure and reading skills.’
Sometimes innovation is not about the shiny new things, but rather about grasping existing opportunities to make them work for you and your community, especially when confronted with a crisis.
It’s been an eventful year. In spite of the Pandemic, we have much to celebrate in the promotion of early literacy and a culture of reading in the global South. The awards and milestones achieved by the institutions and people listed below should be applauded, given the many challenges they faced in 2020.
So, we’ve put together a list of all the excellent happenings that we’ve noted; if anything is missing, please let us know in the comments section below.
Caption: We discovered some children were good illustrators and storytellers; others were good observers. The children were improving their skills from one day to the next - Patrick Joseph Gongwe, HK Learning Centre
For this blog series, the Early Learning Resource Network is reaching out to authors, editors, illustrators, translators, educators, publishers and other stakeholders who, through their creative endeavours, are working to grow and improve the early learning environment, specifically on the African continent.
