In an effort to encourage the learners to read and preserve IsiXhosa, the Ibuyambo Book Festival and the Langa Library held IsiXhosa Reading Competition semi-finals on Friday 26 September at Langa Library.
A total of four primary schools, including Siyabulela, Zimasa, Thembani and Mokone, participated in the event.
The competition targeted learners in Grade 4 and Grade 5, with 14 and 19 learners per grade, respectively.
They were judged by former Xhosa teachers.
Pumla Makeleni, the founder of Ibuyambo, a non-profit company focusing on revitalising, preserving, and promoting indigenous languages in the province, described the festival as the first of its kind. She said the intention is to make reading books fashionable in the townships. “It is our first competition, and we are intending to do it annually. We are just testing the waters. We aim to go to other areas where there are Xhosa speaking people because we are mainly focused on IsiXhosa,” she said.
Makeleni expressed a concern about literacy among learners from lower Grades. She said they mostly read without understanding. She said they are trying to instil the culture of reading at an early stage.
“In our research we discovered that only 20% of learners who are at lower Grades can read to understand. As an organisation we also have a Creative Writing Club to ensure that after they have completed primary school the club can accommodate them even if they are at high school,” she explained.
Nontsikelelo Dyani, who is a teacher from Zimasa Community School, described the competition as informative. She said it helps the learners to constantly read. “Majority of the learners are struggling to write. Sometimes they can pronounce the words but struggle to write them down, particularly those words that have a click sound like nkqe, qhu, rh etc,” she explained. She urged the parents to encourage their children to read Xhosa books instead of focusing on English books. She said the competition gives them more exposure and boosts their confidence.
A Grade 4 learner from Thembani, Zethembe Ndzo (10) said the competition was fun. “I’m used to reading. I didn’t struggle at all. Instead I was so excited reading in front of the people,” said Ndzo.
Makeleni said 24 learners proceeded to the finals to be held on Friday 24 October at Guga Sthebe Cultural Centre. “There are 14 learners from Gr 4 and 10 from Gr 5 who proceeded to the finals,” she concluded.
