Mary Moshoeshoe is determined to cultivate the culture of reading through her newly-published children’s book entitled A visit to my grandfather’s farm: a multilingual story book. The story is narrated in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, and Sesotho, and targets primary school learners.
“The book is focused on the grade 3s and 4s, grades that are learning to read in order to understand language, and build a vocabulary,” said Mary. Readers will be equipped with vernacular and writing skills in three other languages, and vice versa.
The young author’s passion for languages developed when she and her twelve-year-old twin sister were faced with the challenge of learning isiXhosa. Their parents had sent them to a boarding school in the Eastern Cape for academic purposes from a small Lesotho town called Mohale’s Hoek.
Years later, as a BA Communication Science undergraduate at the University of the Free State, that passion was reignited. Two of the three years she spent at the university were dedicated to writing the book, which was published two months ago.
As a student, she “wanted to write something that allows people to learn about different cultures.” When she realised that it is much easier for children to absorb information at a young age, she began to work on the draft in 2013. With the assistance of the university’s Department of Linguistics and Language Practice, the manuscript was translated from English into the other languages.
Mary has identified approximately ten underprivileged Bloemfontein schools to introduce the literature to. The book is expected to be launched officially at the end of November 2015.