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RtL Africa Conference 2017
Learning to Write, Reading to Learn
8 - 10 September 2017
Girls' High School
​Pietermaritzburg

Reading to Learn Africa's second conference will be held at Girls' High School, Pietermaritzburg from 8 to 10 September 2017.  Attending the conference will be Dr David Rose from the University of Sydney, Australia. David will be our keynote speaker.  In addition, we will have plenary sessions by Dr Carol McDonald from UNISA and Dr Emmanuel Mgqwatshu from the School of Education, Rhodes University.
Amongst the delegates are three teachers from Sweden, academics from different institution, a panel of young authors from FINDZA  and, of course, teachers from Pietermaritzburg, KZN and as far afield as Cape Town and Grahamstown.

Keynote Speakers

Dr David Rose is Director of the Reading to Learn program, which trains teachers in primary, secondary and university levels in a unique methodology for integrating literacy in teaching practice. http://www.readingtolearn.com.au He is also an Honorary Associate of the School of Letters Arts and Media, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Sydney. http://sydney.edu.au/arts/linguistics/staff/associates/david_rose.shtml
Reading to Learn currently conducts training programs with state and independent school systems and in universities in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America. Dr Rose’s work has been particularly concerned with Indigenous Australian communities, languages and education programs, with whom he has worked for 30 years. In addition to literacy and teacher education, his primary research interests include language and cultural contexts and language evolution. He is the author of The Western Desert Code: an Australian cryptogrammar. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 2001, Working with Discourse: meaning beyond the clause (with J.R. Martin). London: Continuum, 2003 (reprinted 2007), Genre Relations: mapping culture (with J.R. Martin). London: Equinox, 2008 and Learning to Write, Reading to Learn: genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School (with J.R. Martin), London: Equinox, 2012.


Dr Carol Macdonald was educated at Wits University and at Reading University and Edinburgh University in the UK.  She spent a decade doing research in what was then called black education, before joining the School of Education at Wits University, where she taught psychology in education.Her best known research was on the Threshold Project. Over the last decade she has worked as a consultant in education, and her special interests are theoretical psychology and language and language policy in education.


Prof Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu was born in Hammarsdale, Mpumalanga Township. In 1997, he began his academic career as a lecturer in the English Department. His first employment was at the then University of Durban-Westville. He was 24 years old at the time. He is currently an Associate Professor of English Language Education and Literacy Development at Rhodes University. His fields of expertise are Higher Education Studies, English Studies and Language Education. He leads and supervises research, publishes in national and international journals, and presents his work at local conferences and abroad in such areas as Higher Education, Language Across the Curriculum, Language Planning, Academic literacies and English literatures. His work centers around theorising and challenging teaching practices across disciplines in Higher Education that serve to exclude students. In the 20 years of his academic career, Prof Mgqwashu has occupied the following leadership positions:
  • 2008 – Head of Department: English Department – Education Faculty (UKZN) 

  • 2009 - Deputy Head of School: School of Languages, Literacies, Media and Drama 
Education, Education Faculty (UKZN) 

  • 2010 – Head of School: School of Languages, Literacies, Media and Drama Education, Education Faculty (UKZN) 

  • 2013 - Cluster Leader: Education Studies – School of Education (UKZN) 

  • 2016 – Head of Department: Education Department – Education Faculty 
(Rhodes University) 

  • 2017 - Deputy Dean: Education Faculty – Education Faculty 
(Rhodes University) 


Venue

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The venue for the conference is the McDowell Centre, Girls' High School, Pietermaritzburg.
Enter through the Topham Road gate for secure parking close to the venue.

Draft Programme

Click here for the draft program.  This program is still subject to change.

Focus on writing

​​In discussion with teachers, it became apparent that WRITING is the most difficult aspect of Literacy to teach effectively.  It was decided that a large portion of the workshops and papers this year should focus on writing, not only as regards to RtL, but also other aspects of writing.  At the conference you will be able to listen to a panel of young authors from FUNDZA www.fundza.co.za and their mentors, talking about their experience of learning to write for publication.  A local author, Marilyn Mills, will share her new book - Mbali, the Eco Warrior - three stories about environmental matters - and how it can be used in the RtL classroom.  Teachers will have an opportunity to write their own stories for their own classes and learners from different schools will read their work to an audience. We are also hoping to have a session on digital storytelling.  In addition, there will be two workshops on Writing using RtL and Assessing of writing, using the RtL criteria for writing.

Conference Presentations

 Click on the name of the presentation you wish to read or download

Fiona Beal - Digital storyetlling

​
Dr Billy Meyer - Semantic Waves

Kellie Steinke - THE VALUE OF MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT IN READING TEACHING

Professor Emmanuel Mqgwashu - ​Democratising the classroom 

​Monika Dolfin  Ida Hansen
Teaching source criticism through ideological language studies 


Photo Gallery - Seen at Conference 2017

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