School learners taken to an imaginary world
Worldwide target to read to 1 million children, one story at a time.
Future Nation Schools invest in reading activities by making reading fun and interesting for children.
The school holds regular ‘Cosi Cosi’ Days, also known as storybook reading days. Recently, they invited author, journalist and philanthropist, Nthabeleng Sekhokhoane to a storytelling session, during which parents were encouraged to enable their kids with the power of knowledge by reading to them.
The Future Nation Schools have adopted monthly Read Aloud Days – an international initiative started in the hope of reaching a worldwide target of reading to one million children, one story at a time. Since the schools have an African-based educational focus, they have given the initiative an African twist and named it ‘Cosi-Cosi’ Days, which translates to ‘Once Upon a Time’ in the Nguni languages.
The schools have offered some tips that will assist parents to make reading time fun and interesting for their kids. These are techniques they also use when hosting their monthly ‘Cosi-Cosi’ days on their campuses:
– Create a cozy spot for your reading time with your child.
– Reading aloud is fun for children, especially when parents use different voices for each character. It’s also a way to build vocabulary, attention skills, and comprehension, as well as, perhaps most importantly, a love of reading.
– Let your child help you choose the book you will be reading together – this will get them excited and keep them interested.
– Point out the pictures in the book as you read – this allows them to understand and connect to the story.
– Help your child realise that reading pertains to more than just books – encourage them to read everything they can get their hands on, including comics, cereal boxes and kid-friendly websites.
– For birthdays and holidays, give your children books, just as you would a toy –everything looks better with a bow on it!
– Leave your kids’ books next to their beds. If you encourage them to read for a few minutes each night, they’ll be polishing off books in no time. Even if they’re old enough to read to themselves, consider reading out loud to them too. After all, what’s better than a bedtime story?
– Help your kids sign up for a library card – not only will they feel more grown up, but they’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and possession about their reading abilities.
– Turn a trip to your library or local bookstore into an anticipated event, and you never know, your little ones might even beat you to the car.
Future Nation Schools would like to invite everyone to join them on every second Friday to enjoy African folk-tales and to educate children about their roots and lineages.
For more information on the schools, visit https://futurenationschools.com/ or visit their social media pages on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FutureNationSchools/.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/futurenationza.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurenationschools/.
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