THRASS Reading Gogos Program
A ‘gogo’ is the Zulu word for grandmother.
In February 2009, a group of women, under the banner
of Ekufundeni, A Place of Reading, went to Letsha
Primary School in Daveyton to start the Reading
Gogos Program (Reading Grannies Program), with the
aim to help the children to learn to read, so that
they then could read to learn. The program was
overseen by Sue Skidmore.
My friend and I, being two of those gogos, were
assigned to help in grade 3. We enjoyed being with
the children and tried our best to make contact with
them. It wasn’t easy because those foundation
classes have between 50 and 60 children, of which
only a few could understand some English. It was
frustrating to see that even in grade 3 not many
children could read. We had lots of quality time
with the children, however we kept thinking about
ways to improve their reading.
After hearing about THRASS in April this year, some
of us went on the THRASS Accredited Training Course
in Johannesburg on 5 and 6 June. On 27 June, a
workshop was held for all the teachers and gogos.
From the beginning of the 3rd term we
introduced the children to the THRASS resources –
provided and funded by the THRASS Absa TalkTogether
Project. It was an instant hit! The raps and the
Sing-A-Long songs were their favourites from the
beginning. Africans are so musically inclined, that
I’m convinced that music, songs and dances are the
way to teach African children. Every time we arrived
at the school, the children greeted us with
Sing-A-Long songs and asked what we were going to
teach them. Our lesson plans changed, we
incorporated stories, word games and craft according
to the THRASS picturechart and the children quickly
learned new vocabulary and their spellings. Two of
the children were entered into a district Spellathon
and took first and second place!
On 26 November, the school held an end of year
concert, which was a first for this school. The
children performed with singing and dancing the
THRASS songs and with some English reading.
Teachers, children, parents and gogos are all very
enthusiastic about the progress that has been made
this year and I’m convinced that the THRASS method
played a great part in it.
We are now working in two other schools, with
resources funded by the THRASS Absa TalkTogether
Project, with a further two schools planned for
2010.
Written by a Reading Gogo
