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Afrikaans Programme
Our Afrikaans Programme is second to none!
HISTORY
In 2005 I took my two primary-school children overseas for a year, and home-schooled them. I had plenty of English and Maths material – all Ant Books – but I couldn’t find an Afrikaans book that satisfied me. Also, I had two children, aged 10 and 13, who had a negative attitude towards Afrikaans that I needed to change.
Why teach Afrikaans?
From a pragmatic point of view: SA children have to take a second language to matric, and a poor Afrikaans mark will bring an aggregate down. Also, I believe that Afrikaans is a useful language to have – one has the basis some German words and phrases, one can get by in The Netherlands with Afrikaans, and in Belgium, it is practically the same as Flemish – with some grammatical exceptions. And of course, it is spoken in most parts of South Africa as a second, if not first, language. It is useful to know.
Why the negative attitude?
Our children can’t speak it, which is why they dislike it. In the case of my own children, after two years at a private school, if I said to my daughter, “Gaan haal jou boek”, I got the ‘rabbit caught in the headlights’ expression of pure panic – she couldn’t understand a word! Then our children get to high school, and find Afrikaans to be of a high standard, and they cannot cope. So they quickly learn to hate it.
Another word in the favour of Afrikaans…
This is an EASY language. It is one of the world’s most modern languages – barely 200 years old – so it has not had the time to change and mutate as older languages, such as English, have. Thus the GRAMMAR, SENTENCE-CONSTRUCTION and PHONETIC STRUCTURES are still quite pristine and clear – making it a doddle to learn!
So why do our children struggle?
To be confidence and competent in a second language, you need vocabulary. It is as simple as that. And our children are not taught vocabulary at primary school. They tend to be taught Afrikaans in ‘themes’, such as ‘the house’ and ‘the farm’ to make it more relevant and interesting. It is educationally unsound to sit a class down with pages and pages of ‘English-to-Afrikaans’ vocabulary to learn. Yet without vocabulary, they cannot communicate. They cannot understand. They begin to flounder – and start to hate the language.
So back to the history…
I knew I needed to teach my children VOCABULARY. But how? Then my son brought an Afrikaans reader home from school. He read it – badly – that night. The next night, he brought out the same reader, and read it again. It was a little better…This went on for about 10 days, and in that time I could hear an improvement in his fluency and confidence. And that was my “Oprah lightbulb moment”: READERS! So I wrote a series of readers to form the basis of my Programme, and fleshed them out with workbooks to improve the written work.
Yes, but did it work?
My children began to enjoy Afrikaans! I made the stories amusing – they are all about “Stoute Neels” and the mischief he gets into at home, at school, at the farm…With the REPEATED READING of each reader, my children themselves could notice the difference in their ability to use the language, and within a few weeks were able to hold halting conversations with me. The short written application of the workbooks also meant that they were not bogged down for hours with Afrikaans – just ’10 minutes a day’.
My son went to high school the next year – Maritzburg College. Although a sensible B-student, he was placed in the A set for Afrikaans…and at the end of his first year there, told me that “Afrikaans is an easy A for matric, isn’t it, Mom?” Hallulujah!
My daughter loved the Afrikaans lessons we did at home. She would always ‘save’ Afrikaans for last, just because she enjoyed it so much. And that has been the overriding response from home-schooling parents: the children love the Programme. And where there is enjoyment…
Fun and Efficient
I wanted a ‘fun’ programme, to change attitudes. I wanted an ‘efficient’ programme – that worked. I have proven that I have achieved both.
THE PROGRAMME
There are 5 levels, VLAK 0 to VLAK 4. There are also supplementary readers for your reluctant teenagers, VLAK 5.
VLAK 0 to VLAK 4
Each ‘level’ contains 8 readers and accompanying workbooks (see order form).
Each reader must be read for TWO WHOLE WEEKS (instructions inside each workbook) and each day, there is one written application WHICH IS BASED ON THE READER.
So the whole Programme lasts for AT LEAST 16 WEEKS. But flesh out each reader by adding a whole week for the writing of little sketches based on the reader, and your Programme will last for nearly 3 TERMS.
THE LEVELS IN MORE DETAIL
THE READERS
8 / level (plus supplementary readers for Vlak 0 and 1), 12 pages per book.
Will increase vocabulary, improve word-order, confidence, competence, pronunciation.
Contain a vocabulary ‘dictionary’ page to start, and questions at the end.
THE WORKBOOKS
Cover comprehension, ‘taal’, vocabulary extension, phonics, spelling, written expression…every aspect of written output. Include a great deal of repetition and practice. Have ‘blockword’ puzzles and fun pages, too.
VLAK 0
1 sentence / page. Present tense. Introduce ‘Stoute Neels’ and his family. Aimed at Grade 3.
VLAK 1
Up to 25 words / page. Present tense. ‘Stoute Neels’ at home. Aimed at grade 4.
VLAK 2
Up to 35 words / page. Present tense. ‘Stoute Neels’ on the farm. Aimed at grade 5.
VLAK 3
Up to 50 words / page. Past tense. An irritating relative, ‘Tannie Miems’, comes to stay! Aimed at grade 6.
VLAK 4
Up to 65 words / page. Past tense. ‘Stoute Neels’ at school. Aimed at grade 7.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Many high school students come to us when they realise that Afikaans is pulling down their aggregates. I recommend that they start at Vlak 3, but please call us on 033 – 342 7497 to discuss your child’s level.
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