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01 July 2021
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Story Dikgapane Makhetha
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Photo Supplied
This year, the young people of South Africa celebrated 45 years of the annual commemoration of
Youth Day. The University of the Free State (UFS)
Community Engagement (CE) office on the
Qwaqwa Campus has engaged a number of stakeholders in the call to use football as a means of bringing people together, transforming lives, and enthusing communities. Through partnerships, community organisations have great potential to create opportunities for breaking down barriers and inspiring social cohesion, initiating enablement through the development of social projects, and promoting education and health awareness.
On 16 June this year, local community organisations collaborated in the hosting of a soccer event for the youth of Qwaqwa at the FIFA Football for Hope Stadium in Tsheseng.
The Agape Foundation for Community Development,
Love Life,
Right to Care,
Youth in Action, Qwaqwa FIFA Project, and the Tsheseng Athletics Club were all stakeholders who diligently joined forces to ensure the successful launch of the tournament. Community development practitioners, who are trainees in the UFS Qwaqwa Department of Community Development, were garbed in departmental branded gear and have cautiously facilitated adherence to COVID-19 protocols. About 250 people, including football fans and participants, attended and enjoyed the entertaining games. Through the partnered recreational project, the Qwaqwa Campus CE office responded to the 2021 Youth Day theme: ‘Growing Youth Employment for an inclusive and transformed society’, by enhancing opportunities for networking among stakeholders. Football is popularly known for promoting transformational social projects in diverse communities across the globe.
CD-ROM for learning Afrikaans as foreign language launched
2009-04-30
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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 |
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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 |