Page 14 - DUT Excellence

DUT ALUMNA USES WHATSAPP TO TEACH
MAGUBANE’S BOOK EXPLORES LOVEIN THE ERA OF CHILDREN LANGUAGE
Pictured: Gloria Thandekile Mngadi.
COVID-19 has taught DUT’s Language Practice alumna Gloria Thandekile Mngadi to think of more innovative and impactful ways to teach children the importance of
preserving their language as Africans.
Mngadi (30) from Ndwedwe recently started a Whatsapp group titled: Ingosi Yabantwana (Children’s Session) where she teaches little children how to read and write IsiZulu and English. Seeing that most people moved to online learning during lockdown, she also came up with the idea of Whatsapp classes, which she says are a lot cheaper and accessible to disadvantaged communities.This is a service that she is running through her language services company, GTNAQM Pty Ltd.
“Ingosi yabantwana is where I am educating children through story- telling. I am educating them about preserving language and to also know IsiZulu and English.At school, in the English class you don’t get a chance to interpret in your own language. My plan is to teach them at an early age as language is the core of life and can open lots of opportunities.We use language in our daily lives.We also host face- to-face tutorials and monthly reading sessions,” she said.
Mngadi, who obtained her National Diploma in Language Practice at DUT in 2015, said that she began offering language services while she was still a student at DUT. She was selected to be an IsiZulu tutor where she taught and encouraged fellow students to love and preserve their mother tongue.
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