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28 May 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa
Siphila Dlamini
Siphila Dlamini represented the UFS at the 15th Southern Africa Scout Youth Forum.
During the short April holidays, first-year BA student, Siphila Dlamini, led and participated in the 15th Southern Africa Scout Youth Forum and the 41st Southern Africa Scout Conference. Siphila previously also represented South Africa in the 8th and 13th World Scout Youth Forums in Baku, Azerbaijan and Harare, Zimbabwe respectively. He also participated in the 2018 International Leadership Training in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Siphila was elected as a member of the Southern Africa Youth Committee for the term 2017-2020, with the mandate of representing young leaders in decision making and youth engagement at Zonal level of the Southern Africa Scout Youth Forum.

He formed part of the forum committee and chaired several sessions of the proceedings since the tender age of 14. Youth leaders from Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries such as Botswana, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Malawi, South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe attended the conference. 

This 15th forum was themed ‘The Role of young people during emergencies’. Throughout the forum, young people deliberated on strategies to improve decision making in national scout organisations within their respective countries. The Southern Zone Youth Forum empowers young people by equipping them with good decision-making skills and increasing youth engagement on the African continent. 

According to Siphila, the Southern Zone Youth Forum is an effective tool for youth engagement and the continuation of skills development among young people in Southern Africa. It allows the youth to reflect on their growth and achievement, while broadening the unique impact of scouting in the world. 

News Archive

CD-ROM for learning Afrikaans as foreign language launched
2009-04-30

 
At the launch of the CD-Rom, Gesellig Afrikaans, are from the left: Ms Riana de Beer, Research Assistant at the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, Mr Christo Steyn from Bare Creative who did the digitalisation of the CD-ROM, Prof. Van Niekerk, Prof. Engela Pretorius, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, Prof. Driekie Hay, Vice-Rector: Academic Planning, and Mr François Marais, Director of the Centre for Higher Education Studies and Development at the UFS.
Photo: Lacea Loader
The Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently launched a CD-ROM course to learn Afrikaans as foreign language at the Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

For the past ten years the Department has been offering a course in Afrikaans as foreign language to small groups at the UFS. “However, the need for this course has escalated to such an extent on the Main and Qwaqwa Campuses of the UFS that we have decided to produce the CD-ROM. We have also found that not a lot of courses to learn Afrikaans were available. Those that do exist, do not recognise the needs of adult learners,” said Prof. Angelique van Niekerk from the Department.

“International students are often interested in learning new cultures and languages and staff members would also like to learn Afrikaans in order to understand the language better. Now they are able to master the basic principles and concepts of the language,” said Prof. Van Niekerk.

The course, which will be presented on the Main Campus, comprises a basic and an advanced course. Course attendants will receive both these CD-ROMs. English is used as the back-up language and translations of all the texts are available on the CD. Contemporary Afrikaans music is used to assist in fixing sound patterns, and the pronunciation of Afrikaans sounds, words and sentences is available through the sound component of the course. Uncomplicated language jokes, advertisement texts and cartoons are used to enhance the course content and a vocabulary list and list of idiomatic language uses will be kept updated by the learners. Explanations of basic grammatical constructions are given in both Afrikaans and English and learners are assessed at the end of the course. Aspects like word order, temporal indications, etc. are covered amongst other things.

“Mastering a foreign language is time-consuming and contact with the language is very important. Although there is a contact session with a facilitator of two hours per week, it is a handy course for people who cannot attend classes regularly,” said Prof. Van Niekerk.

The CD-ROM is available from at Prof. Angelique van Niekerk, vnieka.hum@ufs.ac.za, Tel. no. 051-4012339, at R150 per CD.


Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
28 April 2009

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