High-quality African language Graded Readers and Storybooks, Anthologies, Classroom Libraries, Big Books and Worksheets for Foundation Phase learners.
Reading Resources
Graded readers are specially designed to support African language literacy in the classroom and may be used for Grades 1, 2 and 3.
Storybooks are designed for leisure reading and extending vocabulary at school and at home. Find storybooks for emerging and stronger readers in four levels.
Big Books provide a resource to do shared reading. They are mostly read aloud by a teacher, with learners joining in to read repeated sentences or refrains together.
Collections include Anthologies, which solve the cost challenge of printing individual books and Classroom Libraries for teachers to use to provide reading opportunities.
Worksheets enable learners to engage with the stories in a fun and educational way. These are further supported by guides for teachers and parents.
Ulwazi Lwethu graded readers are specially designed and developed for classroom use based on the latest research in African language literacy teaching. We have taken great care to develop resources that will make language learning fun, informative, and memorable for young readers, and effectively meet their educational needs.
The Ulwazi Lwethu readers are CAPS-aligned, decodable, phonically-regular, and sequenced. They are accompanied by high quality worksheets and other evidence-based and pedagogically-sound teaching support materials to support classroom activities.
Genuine and original stories that resonate with all South African people’s heritages and histories provide teachers with the resources to introduce phonic structures and relevant high frequency words, systemically and sequentially.
The materials available equip teachers to use different reading methodologies (Teacher Reading Aloud, Shared Reading, Group Guided Reading, Paired Reading and Independent Reading) – enabling educators to teach and encourage learners to read fluently, independently and for meaning in the early grades.
The imperative to improve literacy rates in South Africa is an urgent priority. With the right focus and resources, we can empower children to become literate in their mother tongues – unlocking new worlds of opportunity. At the heart of this effort is the need to invest in resources to support language learning.
A collection of 1 430 high-quality readers and storybooks in 9 African languages, namely Setswana, Sesotho, Sepedi, Xitsonga, Tshivenda, isiNdebele, siSwati, isiZulu and isiXhosa aimed at Foundation Phase Learners. The books have been evaluated for quality and language integrity by the University of Pretoria.
Along with fiction and non-fiction Storybooks and Graded Readers (themed in line with the Life Skills curriculum) teachers and parents can also access the books in the form of Anthologies, Classroom Libraries, Big Books and Worksheets, supported by teacher and parent guides.
All these resources are free to view online, download and print.
Search Reading ResourcesUlwazi Lwethu was spearheaded and funded by the Zenex Foundation. The books were developed by four expert literacy organisations – Molteno, the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development (NMI), Room to Read and Saide’s African Storybook – who came together in a collaborative framework to design, develop and create the high-quality resources and teaching support materials that make up the Ulwazi Collection.
Meet Zenex FoundationUlwazi Lwethu will stimulate public, private, corporate and community agency and use of African language literacy materials and contribute to indigenous language knowledge systems and the preservation of indigenous knowledge and culture.
Learn About Ulwazi Lwethu
