Dr Alta Engelbrecht from the Department of Humanities Education has set sail on a fascinating and exciting journey of linguistic discovery for school learners. She has written six textbooks destined for instruction in Afrikaans, but with English subtexts, making it easier for the learner to understand the Afrikaans language.

This is a unique move in South Africa for school instruction, and a first for the Department of Education at the University of Pretoria. “This endeavor of meta-writing, she says, requires working within the parameters of process-inspired, text-based and theme-based instruction. There is a logical built in structure that corresponds with the way that children naturally acquire language. The texts used are very user-friendly and are themes that the learner can easily relate to.

Texts, content and questions were chosen according to the standards and prescripts of the CAPS curriculum.” The books included are Nuwe ALLES-INEEN Taal-en-lees exercise books, Eerste Addisionele Taal (EAT), for Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, and Grade 7, as well as ‘Pad na jou Hart’ study guide for Grade 10. For EAT literature and film study teaching, a new workbook for learners was also published. The ‘Pad na jou Hart’ book, film and study guide is for Grade 11. It is an accessible and interesting work written in modern Afrikaans usage style, and is easily identifiable with all cultures and races. There are also exercises specifically for the EAT process.

The aim of this study guide is to help learners understand and enjoy the book and film as preparation for their exams. “The work book gives complete guidelines of the story elements, the unfolding of the story as well as understanding of the activities which enhance and enrich the story. English and Afrikaans are both Germanic languages which makes it easy for learners to recognise certain words and sentence structure”, said Dr Engelbrecht.