The CITW Zambezi team is thrilled to announce that following the success of our two Literacy Centres, Jafuta and Jabulani, we have recently opened a third centre at Chidobe Primary School, located a short drive from Victoria Falls.
With this, throughout the last week of January, the CITW Zambezi team, in collaboration with a Stellar Wordworks Trainer, carried out another highly successful literacy training workshop for the seven new Chidobe Literacy Centre mentors. We also completed a refresher workshop for all 14 of our current mentors at Jafuta and Jabulani.
The week-long training focused on learning about the importance of assessment, how to keep records on students so that progress may be monitored, and lesson plans. New games were learnt, and the importance of allowing the students to talk and not be passive learners was discussed at length with all of the mentors. As well as this, the participants all had the opportunity to implement this first-hand in the afternoons, with students who were attending the Jafuta Literacy Centre where the training was taking place. The Stellar Wordworks trainer noted that “having the students in the afternoons made a huge impact, as we could discuss what aspects the mentors found difficult and what we could do to adapt lessons appropriately”.
During the training, and within the centres, the mentors are given Stellar Wordworks material to use. This material provides an excellent base for literacy learning, as the mentors are able to adapt these to suit the level of the learners and build up their skills. Following the training, it is very clear to see that all of the mentors are enthusiastic and eager to learn new ideas and implement ways to help students with their literacy skills.
The CITW team is very excited to watch all three of our literacy centres continue to go from strength to strength, and to continue to empower all of the children in the communities they are centred in – for today a reader, tomorrow a leader!
