FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
Workshops developed by the Family Literacy Project, KwaZulu Natal, and
adapted by Kitengesa Community Library.
These workshops were originally designed to be run with women at the
Bethesda Arts Centre, Nieu Bethesda in 2006. They were adapted in April
2009 for use with Lwannunda Women’s Group, Kitengesa Community Library,
Masaka, Uganda.
Notes to the facilitator:

Do not worry if you do not finish a workshop in the time given. Don’t
rush through the activities; rather carry on in the next workshop. If
these workshops take more than the suggested number of sessions,
that is not a problem.

If you think that the group members are not enjoying the workshops,
stop and spend time finding out what the problem is.

Arrive on time for the workshops.

Be prepared for each workshop.

Enjoy yourself!
Page 1 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 1
Introduce these twelve workshops by saying that you
believe that parents are the first and most important
teachers their children will ever have. Explain that the
workshops will help parents to find out more about at least
three things:
 How they can help children enjoy books and reading
 How they can prepare their children for learning to
read and write
 What they can do to help their children do better at
school.
Ask the participants to make a list of their names. Then
ask, and note down, which children they are living with at
present and how old these children are.
Check to see if the times of the workshops (Wednesdays,
4-6 p.m.) suit everyone.
Explain that sometimes you will ask people to work in pairs
or in small groups. This is because it is easier to have good
discussions when there are fewer people in a group. After
you have had small group time or worked in pairs, you will
always make time for sharing.
Count people into groups – go around the circle and give
each person a number starting from 1 to 3. Ask all the
people given the same number to get into a small group i.e.
all the 1’s will sit together, all the 2’s etc.
Each small group must answer the question “What is a
family?”
After about 5 minutes hand out paper and pens and ask
each group to write down their ideas for an answer to this
question.
Discuss the different ideas and try to come up with one
answer that everyone thinks is the best answer. The group
will see that families come in different sizes and shapes!
One way we can describe a family is to say it is a group of
people who live together, look after and love one another.
Your own
notebook
Pens and paper
Newsprint,
masking tape,
and marker
pens
Page 2 of 21
Ask people to go back into the same small groups. Ask them
to discuss what happens in a family when a baby is born.
What are the things people do to celebrate this occasion?
Come back to the large group and talk about some of the
things that were discussed in the small groups. Talk about
how different families behave – there are some things that
people do that are the same but there are also differences.
We must respect these differences and realize that other
families are not exactly like our own families.
As a large group brainstorm so that you can complete the
Newsprint and
sentence “Literacy means ……….” Try to make sure that the marker pens
answer includes something about reading and writing and
how these are used in everyday life.
Ask people to think about where they need literacy skills in
their daily lives. Tell them you will be using this
information in the next workshop.
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FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 2
You can do this activity in a large group or two smaller
groups:
Give out one or two sheets of newsprint, crayons and
marker pens and ask the group/s to draw a map of their
community.
If there are two maps then look at both of them and
discuss any big differences if there are any.
Now ask people to think about the map and what they do at
the different places. Talk about where they need literacy
skills. Talk about what it is like if someone cannot read or
write.
Ask people to work in pairs and think of their own families.
Ask them each to write down when family members ever
read or write together, or in pairs. For example: reading a
newspaper, checking the dates on a calendar, making a
shopping list, preparing for a wedding meeting.
Ask everyone to share one thing from their list. Go around
the group so that everyone has a chance to say something.
Collect the lists and keep them until a later session.
Ask people to work with the person next to them i.e. in
pairs. Give each pair a picture and give them time to talk
about it.
Now ask one of the pair to pretend they are the “adult” and
the other person will pretend they are the “child”. The
“adult” must discuss the picture with the “child”.
Back in the large group let the “adults” talk about how they
felt talking about the picture with the “child” and let the
“children” talk about how they enjoyed or did not enjoy the
discussion.
Newsprint,
crayons,
marker pens
Paper and pens
Lists
Pictures
Page 4 of 21
Take one of the pictures and discuss how you can help a
child enjoy talking about a picture:
 Ask the question “What do you think is happening
here?” (This allows the child to make up something;
there is no right or wrong answer so they will not be
frightened of saying the wrong thing.)
 Point to something familiar to the child and say “This
reminds me of xxxx, what does it remind you of?”
(The child will be able to guess, again there is no
right or wrong answer)
 Point to a colour and ask “What colour is this?” and
then say “Let’s look around us to see what we can see
that is the same colour.”
Talk about how important it is to make the child feel
comfortable. Nothing we do with our children should make
them feel as though we are testing them. We are having
conversations; we are trying to make a time to enjoy
ourselves with our children.
Hand out newspapers. Ask people to find pictures that
might be interesting for children. Invite each person to
take a picture home to talk about with one or more of the
children in her family.
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FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 3
Ask the group members if they talked to their children
about the picture that they took home. Let them say how
they felt about this. Ask if the children enjoyed the
experience. Ask how the adult could tell if the child
enjoyed talking about the picture.
Give out pieces of paper cut into small pieces. Ask each
person to make a mosaic or pattern of some sort. You can
take in a mat, basket, or a piece of material for them to get
ideas.
Ask people to think of a child doing this activity. What
skills are they learning that will help them with reading and
writing?
Here are some ideas of how this activity helps children:
 Children learn to recognize and match shapes (This
helps them to develop the skill of matching shapes
and that is a skill they need when they match and
remember the shapes of the letters of the alphabet)
 Children use only two of their fingers rather than
their whole hand – this is a fine motor skill – a skill
that is needed when they use a pen or pencil.
 Children need to look at a piece of paper and then
pick it up. This is eye-hand co-ordination. This is a
skill we need when writing. We also need it when
turning the pages of a book carefully.
Ask the group to think of other activities around the house
that help children develop these skills – helping arrange
utensils or furniture, cleaning food like peas or rice, doing
up buttons, sweeping the floor etc
Children also learn to use their imaginations to create
pictures and patterns. Children who use their imaginations
well usually write good stories as they get older. Parents
can encourage all children to tell stories and use their
imaginations in this way.
A4 paper,
small pieces of
coloured
paper, glue.
Page 6 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 4
In pairs ask the group to talk about what helped them when
they were learning to read. Also ask them to think about
what made learning to read difficult.
If anyone wants to share their experiences they can do this
when the whole group comes back together.
Make a list of things that the group will do to make reading Newsprint and
and writing a pleasure for their children.
marker pens
Ask the parents to think of some songs and rhymes they
sang when they were children. Do they sing these with
their children? What songs and rhymes do the children sing
now?
We are not talking about popular songs heard on the radio –
we are talking about rhymes that children sing or mothers
sing when they are playing with young children. Think of
Luganda as well as English rhymes.
When adults sing or say these rhymes with children they
are doing a number of important things:
 They are having fun together
 They are teaching children new words
 They are helping children remember rhymes and
sound patterns
By doing this with children they are helping prepare them
for learning to read and helping them even if they can
already read.
Ask the group to make up an easy rhyme they could sing
with a young child OR teach the group a rhyme that you
already know. It should have a rhythm/pattern and some of
the words should be repeated.
Ask the group to try this out with their children at home
and report back in the next workshop.
Page 7 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 5
You talked about telling stories using imagination in one of
the earlier sessions. In this session you are going to
practice making up and telling a story about a real event.
Ask the group to work in pairs. One person in each pair
tells the other one what they did yesterday.
Now the person who listened to the story must re-tell it by
using the words “She” or a name, rather than “I” or “me”.
For example: Julia woke up early and got out of bed. She
made herself a cup of tea etc etc
Some ways to make the story telling an exciting experience:
 Use different voices for the different characters
 Demonstrate something e.g. how someone ate their
breakfast.
 Stop in the middle of the story and asking a question
like “what do you think happened next”
As a group discuss what children learn from this activity.
Newsprint and
List the points that they make on newsprint.
marker pen
Some ideas that might come up (if they don’t then you can
mention them:
 Children learn that a story has a beginning, middle
and end
 Children learn how to sequence (put in order) things
that they did.
 Children learn to put their ideas and actions into
words.
 Children learn how to recall or remember events
All these are important early literacy skills. Remind people
that early literacy is the time before the children can read
or write. In the same way babies learn to walk – first they
crawl, then they pull themselves up on furniture, then they
walk. So in literacy development children talk first and
learn many skills that will help them when they start
learning to read and write.
Page 8 of 21
Older children will also enjoy this storytelling activity and
it will give them practice in making a good story – beginning,
middle, end, and exciting parts, using the right words.
Ask the group to say if they could do this with their
children. They can tell the group about it in the next
workshop.
Page 9 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 6
Give everyone time to talk about their storytelling activity
with their children. Focus on whether or not the children
enjoyed doing this. Remind everyone that we are not trying
to test the children; we are helping them to enjoy reading,
writing and storytelling.
In this activity you can either do it with the adults alone or
you can ask the adults to bring in one of their children if
they are between 3 – 10 years old.
In pairs (adults only OR parent and child) ask them to think
of an activity like going shopping, getting ready for school,
or going to church or to see family members.
Now get them to draw a picture of each one of the steps in Paper and
this activity. Each step is drawn on a separate piece of
crayons
paper. If the children are involved, then the adult can write
under each picture what is happening. If two adults are
working together ask each of them to draw her own
pictures.
Now ask the pairs to mix up their pieces of paper (they
don’t mix their pictures with someone else’s!), or, if two
adults are working together, each should mix up her own
set. An adult working with a child should ask the child to
put the pictures back into the right order. Two adults
working together should exchange their sets and take it in
turns to rearrange the pictures; the one doing the
rearranging is a “child”.
Remind the adults that this is a game, not a test. When the
child gets it right, then give lots of praise. When the child
gets it wrong try to ask her if that’s really where she wants
to put the picture.
This is an opportunity for parents to practice giving praise
and encouragement. These are important when we are with
children – they really want us to be happy with what they do
and it is good for them to see that adults appreciate what
they do.
Page 10 of 21
Another skill that has been gained here is sequencing –
putting things or events in order. Children are able to
practice giving a story a good beginning, middle and end.
Page 11 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 7
Show the group one complete set of the books. Ask the
group to choose one of them.
Hand out one copy to each person of the book that they
have chosen. Give them time to read or look at it.
Ask them what they like about the book. Do they think a
young child will like the book? Ask them to give a reason for
their answer.
Hand out an exercise book to each person. On the first
page of the exercise book ask them to copy out the title of
the book you have chosen. Meanwhile, write the title
yourself on a piece of newsprint that you have put up on a
cupboard door where they can see it.
Ask the group how they might express the title in Luganda.
If there is more than one suggestion, discuss the question
until you reach an agreement.
Write the Luganda title beneath the English one on your
newsprint. Ask everyone to copy it under the title they
have written in their exercise books.
Turn to the first page of the book. Encourage the group to
talk about the picture. Then ask everyone to copy the
sentence into their exercise books. Meanwhile write the
sentence yourself on the newsprint.
Ask the group for a Luganda translation of the sentence.
When a translation has been agreed upon, write it on the
newsprint and ask the group members to copy it into their
exercise books just as they did the title.
Go through the subsequent pages of the book in the same
way. You may be able to finish up to half of the book in this
session, but don’t try to rush it; you can continue this
activity for as many sessions as are necessary.
“Colour” books
by Kathy
Knowles.
Exercise
books, pens
Newsprint,
masking tape,
marker pen
Page 12 of 21
Before the next session, type the Luganda title and all the
Luganda sentences into a computer file. Begin each
sentence on a new line and leave a blank line before typing
the next one. Use a font size that is as close as possible to
the size of the print in the book, while making sure that
each sentence takes only one line and can fit into the white
margin that is at the top of the page. Centre all the
sentences on the page.
To be ready for the next session, make enough copies of
the list you have typed for each person to have one and to
have one yourself. You may want to make a few extra copies
in case any of them get spoilt.
Page 13 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 8
Hand out copies of the book that you have been working on
and of the translated sentences.
Ask everyone to cut the title from the top of her copy of
the list so that it is on a narrow strip of paper. Make sure
that everyone has identified the title correctly. Cut the
title off your own copy as a demonstration.
Using glue sticks, stick the Luganda title at the top of the
title page of your own copy of the book. Ask everyone to do
the same.
Do the same thing for each of the translated sentences in
turn, making sure, each time, that everyone has identified
the correct sentence for the page you are working on. The
Luganda sentence should be stuck in the white margin that
is at the top of the page. In this way everyone is making
her own bilingual version of the book
When each Luganda sentence has been stuck in place, carry
on translating the book, sentence by sentence, as before.
Allow time to talk about the picture that goes with each
sentence.
Write each English sentence on newsprint with the Luganda
translation beneath it. Group members should copy each
English sentence and its Luganda translation into their own
exercise books.
You may be able to finish the book in this session, but don’t
try to rush it; you can continue this activity for as many
sessions as are necessary.
When the session is over, type out the newly translated
Luganda sentences as you did before and make copies for
the next session.
Copies of the
book. Copies of
the list of
Luganda
sentences.
Scissors
Glue sticks
Exercise
books,
newsprint,
marker pens
Page 14 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 9
Hand out copies of the book that you have been working on
and of the sentences that were translated last session.
Everyone should cut the sentences apart as before and
stick them into the appropriate pages of the book.
When everyone has got a complete book in both English and
Luganda, ask for a volunteer to be a “child”. You will model
how to read the book to a young child in Luganda. Use the
handout to give you some ideas of what to do.
Give out the handout on reading to young children and let
people read through it. Talk about each point.
Now ask people to work in pairs and read a book to each
other. Remind them that each time they read to a child
they don’t have to do everything on the handout. It must
be fun for the adult as well as the children!
With the whole group, talk about whether they might want
to use the English sentences and with which children.
Again, ask for a volunteer “child” (this will be an older
“child”, probably—one that is in primary school). Model how
you might read the book in English to a child.
Ask the group to discuss how reading in English is different
from reading in Luganda. Points that might come up are:
 The child is likely to be older.
 It may be necessary to stop at times to translate
particular words.
 You may need to model the pronunciation of the
words for the child.
 Since the child can probably already read in Luganda,
you may want to discuss the spelling of some of the
words.
Note: If you don’t have enough time, you may want to keep
these last three steps (about English) for the next session.
Copies of the
book. Copies of
the list of
Luganda
sentences.
Scissors, glue
sticks
Handout on
reading to
young children
Page 15 of 21
Ask people to take the books (which are now theirs) home
and suggest that they read them with their children.
Page 16 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT KITENGESA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
WORKSHOP 10
Ask whether anyone read her book to a child or children at
home. Invite those who did to describe the experience to
the others.
If the group wants to go on to translate the next book in
the same way, you can do that. Otherwise, continue with
the activities described below.
Go back to the maps drawn early in the course. Ask people
to look at them and think about where they see signs with
words on in the streets.
Make a list of the kinds of signs with words – not of each
sign but rather for examples: shop names, times of opening,
advertisements, signs for institutions.
Now ask people to think of their homes. Ask them to think
of all the printed or written things in their homes. Make a
list with everyone calling out some examples e.g. calendars,
books, food labels,
Think about how adults can use what is around them to help
children become familiar with print. Ask people to work in
small groups and then do a small role play of how they could
help children in this way.
Ask the group to talk about the likely differences between
talking about Luganda signs and English ones and about how
environmental print in each language might be used
differently with children of different ages.
Ask the adults to think about environmental print and try
to use it to read with their children during the week before
the next session.
Maps
Newsprint and
marker pens
Newsprint and
marker pens
Page 17 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT BETHESDA ARTS CENTRE
WORKSHOP 11
Talk about anything the adults enjoyed doing with their
children in the week – especially around environmental print.
Discuss making a book for a child. This book should be
about something that will interest her. Ask for suggestions
for a topic. Examples are: animals, letters of the alphabet,
plants, cars, toys, food.
Show them the book you have made. Point out the
following:
 The book is written in Luganda
 The cover that has a title and shows something about
what will be in the book
 How the pictures fit onto the page
 If there are words they are clearly written
 The pictures are pasted onto the pages so that the
child does not have to keep turning the book around
to see them.
Give each person blank paper. You can show them how to
fold the pages and punch a hole to thread the wool through.
Hand around the magazines, scissors and glue. Ask people
to cut out pictures that fit their pages and that are about
their topic. They can start sticking the pictures into their
books.
Ask them to take the books they have made home and look
at them with their children. At the next workshop you will
give them time to share their experiences.
Your book
A4 pages,
punch, wool
Magazines,
scissors and
glue.
Page 18 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT BETHESDA ARTS CENTRE
WORKSHOP 12
Ask the women how their children enjoyed the book they
took home. Give people time to discuss how they felt when
their children were looking at the book. Note down some of
the comments that the children made.
Puppets can be used to tell stories. They can also help
children who are shy to tell a story because they pretend it
is the puppet that is speaking.
Ask the women to get into groups of 3 or 4. Now they
should write a simple little play, not very long. It should
have four characters in it.
Ask the women to make the puppets for their story. This
Materials for
will probably take the whole session, and perhaps they may
puppets
even have to finish the puppets at home or in the next
session. They should use scraps of material, or wool or
paper.
When the puppets are made the women must rehearse their
short play and then perform it for the rest of the group.
Make sure that the puppets are kept safe because you will
use them later.
Page 19 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT BETHESDA ARTS CENTRE
WORKSHOP 13
Many children and adults like to talk about themselves and
their lives. Making a book is one way that helps to put
these stories in order.
Ask the women to draw a time-line for their own lives
showing when and where they were born, schooling, hobbies,
important events, marriage, children etc
Give each woman paper to draw some of the scenes from
A4 paper,
their lives.
crayons
Ask them to write a sentence in Luganda about each
picture.
When they have drawn quite a few pictures and written the Stapler
sentences, then they can staple them together to make a
book.
You could arrange a session when the children come into the
centre to make a book about themselves. If you do that
get them to do a time line as well because that helps them
get their thoughts in order.
The adults can read their book with their children at home.
Children usually enjoy hearing about what their parents did
when they were young.
Page 20 of 21
FAMILY LITERACY AT BETHESDA ARTS CENTRE
WORKSHOP 14
Ask the group to each make a list of things they do with
their children that help them develop their reading and
writing.
Take out the lists made in the second workshop – this was
where people listed things they did together with their
children around printed material.
Paper and pens
Lists of
literacy
activities in
the home.
Ask people to compare the lists – how many new activities
are on the list they made today?
Talk about the changes – if there are changes then that
shows the workshops have been very successful. If there
are no changes then perhaps there will have to be a revision
of some of the workshops.
Now ask the group if they would like to demonstrate to
others some of the things they have learnt in these
workshops. They can do this in different ways, here are
some suggestions:
 Have a workshop open to anyone interested and show,
for example how to read to a child, tell a story to a
child, have a puppet show
 Ask the local school if they would like the group to
meet with some parents and talk about how they
enjoy reading with their children
 Visit other families and read to their children
 Make a poster to advertise one of the events
 Make a poster that can go up in a local shop to tell
people about the importance of reading to your
children.
Give everyone a piece of paper and let them draw something Paper and
that they found important in the workshops.
crayons
Decide if you want to continue with more workshops. If so,
brainstorm what people would like to cover in those
workshops.
Page 21 of 21