Durban reading team takes on world’s best
Carla Lever sits down with the South African school representatives for the Global Kids’ Literature Quiz
MICHAELA Crankshaw, Jemma Kasavan, Jaskaran Rajaruthnam and Sam Walker are all Grade 7 pupils at Manor Gardens Primary – a small public school in Durban. In July, they will represent South Africa in the World Finals of the Kids Literature Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. We interview them and their inspirational teacher, Isobel Sobey.
Q: Congratulations to all of you on making the world finals of the Kids Lit Quiz – this must be hugely exciting! How stiff was the competition in the South African national finals?
TEAM: We were up against the best teams in the country, so it was difficult. It’s always stressful because we never know what to expect. Q: How long have you been practising literature quizzes with Mrs Sobey?
TEAM: We have weekly morning book club before school and we sometimes do quizzes after to discuss our books. It’s mostly just about reading a lot of books and remembering what you read, who wrote it and when it was written – the quizmaster can ask absolutely anything!
Q: Your school has an incredible track record when it comes to making the national and international finals of this competition. It seems that Mrs Sobey is your secret weapon! What’s your winning approach, Isobel?
ISOBEL: We are lucky to be in a school where reading is a priority from Grade 1 and pupils have been exposed to as many as 400 books in their first year of school. I’m just lucky to work with them once the foundation phase teachers have worked their magic. I guess I am saying that I’m not the magic; it’s Manor Gardens Primary School that is a magical place!
Q: Isobel, you’ve said pupils at Manor Gardens work towards getting a place on the team as early as Grade 1. How have you managed to develop such an incredibly powerful culture of reading at your school?
ISOBEL: Reading forms the basis of much of our teaching, is brought into lessons all the time and we give children and teachers half an hour a day to read solo for fun. With all the reading going on, most children make an effort to find books they enjoy.
Q: It sounds like it’s a big deal to get on the Book Quiz team! What do the rest of the school think about the quiz and how do they support you?
TEAM: They are very proud and extremely supportive of our fundraising initiatives.
Q: The international quizmaster says he can draw on any book published – 2000 years’ worth of literature is a lot to cover! How do you prepare?
TEAM: Read, read, read … we’re lucky that we don’t all like the same types of books, so we can divide what we need to cover. We’re allowed to read anything we want but Mrs Sobey looks for new books that might be part of the quiz.
Q: What benefits do you find reading gives you all?
TEAM: We can actually go to different exotic places in books themselves! We also learn a lot of general knowledge and vocabulary and it’s a relaxing form of escapism.
TEAM: Only four pupils get to take part in the competition.
Q:How do you keep encouraging everybody in the school to get excited about reading?
ISOBEL: I do lots of book talks, I introduce new books, we watch movies based on children’s books. We have our own school interhouse Children’s Book Quiz – this way more children have a chance to answer questions about books.
Q: Who do you think is your biggest competition this year?
TEAM: New Zealand and the UK. ISOBEL: I say Singapore.
Q: I know you mentioned some programmes that Manor Gardens is running to partner with other schools to spread the reading bug. Can you tell us a little about that?
ISOBEL: The Phendulani Quiz was started by Marj Brown, the National co-ordinator of Kid’s Lit Quiz in South Africa. Schools sponsor other under-resourced schools who receive a set of books which they have a set amount of time to read before we all get together to hold our own quiz. Every year, the Phendulani Quiz grows a little bit and a few more children get to enjoy bonding over shared books. Q: Not everybody gets the chance to fly to New Zealand, but why is it important that every child in South Africa has the opportunity to read books
in their own language?
TEAM: Reading develops your mind and your world. We wish everyone could find a lifetime friendship with books, like we have!
From Sunday April 15, Nal’ibali will be publishing its supplements in two new languages. An English-Setswana edition will be published in the Sunday World in the North West, and an English-Xitsonga edition will be donated to reading clubs in Limpopo. Clubs in both provinces will collect their copies from select post offices. The post offices (10 in each province) will also have 50 additional editions each to give away to members of the public.