In mid-May, the Northern Cape launched the Jolly Phonics project, spearheaded by the Ministry of Education and Universal Learning Solutions. Designed to boost literacy among Grade R and Grade 1 students, Jolly Phonics employs a child-friendly, multisensory approach to teaching the sounds of the alphabet. Over 650 teachers received two-day training sessions from internationally recognized trainers. The method, effective especially for children who speak English as a second language, uses 42 phonetic building blocks to decode English. Post-training support is provided via online mentorship and an app that enables teachers to document classroom findings. The initiative is part of the Jolly Futures program by Jolly Learning Ltd and has already shown positive results in other African countries. Collaboration with Sol Plaatje University will assess the project’s impact, with hopes to expand province-wide if successful. Universal Learning Solutions has trained over 200,000 individuals in Jolly Phonics across Africa, marking it the continent’s largest literacy project.
Original Source: Helena Barnard
Date: 2024-05-31 12:15:29
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