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Doing the Household Chores so that Others can Read

Doing the Household Chores so that Others can Read

Date: 2019-10-18

What's the link between washing Dad's car or taking out the garbage and phonics The answer is that the Grade 5 pupils at Crawford La Lucia have been tackling chores around their homes to raise money to enable Grade 1 pupils across the city to get a sound literacy grounding.

The "Gateway into Reading" programme which teaches foundational reading, developing basic skills in word recognition and deciphering, has been developed by the Kloof-based Neema Foundation and has been implemented at Ekuthuleni Primary School in Amaoti by The Domino Foundation's Life Skills programme.

Life Skills leader, Leigh-Ann Stevens, had shared her enthusiasm about the reading programme with the Crawford Grade 5 teachers, who then invited Ekuthuleni Grade 1 teacher, Dumile Nxumalo to give a presentation to their pupils where she described the hampered circumstances under which the children at the Amaoti schools have to learn. The pupils were stunned to hear that, not 15 minutes away from La Lucia, there are other schoolchildren who are given one pencil that must last an entire year.

"Our learners take it for granted that they each have their very own set of khoki pens", said one of the Crawford staff. "Our Grade 5s were determined to make a difference in their peers' school lives." The pupils set to work, preparing sandwiches for the Ekuthuleni learners, collecting stationery and creating learning games which they donated on Mandela Day this year.

Inspired by the catch-phrase "Make Every Day a Mandela Day", the Crawford teachers instituted "Cash for Chores" for the Grade 5 pupils and their parents. Each child drew up a contract with their parents to raise money in exchange for tasks done around their home over a three week period. Everything the pupils earned was donated to Ekuthuleni so that each Grade 1 would receive a "Gateway into Reading" booklet each of which costs R20. A total of R9110 was handed over to Ms Nxumalo when she and several of her pupils visited Crawford a second time.

The Grade 5 staff asked their charges and their parents then to write a reflection on what their time and effort spent on the whole exercise had meant to them. One of the reflections contained these words: "Even though it was hard doing all the chores and having to give all the money away, I felt good about myself because I would be helping someone who could be a future leader." Another said: "I have raised R460 for 23 books. I have therefore impacted 23 lives." Leigh-Ann was inspired by what she had read: "The generosity and willingness to make a difference that the Crawford learners have shown has been encouraging."