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> Levelled and Decodable
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Unique Features

Mother Tongue Matters

Written in indigenous languages by mother tongue speakers and all adaptations carried out by mother tongue speakers.

High Quality Readers

Developed by four established NGOs with expertise in African languages and quality assured by the University of Pretoria.

Local and Relevant Content

Stories reflect the realities of South African children’s multilingual contexts and multiple experiences.

Curriculum Aligned

All materials have been developed by African Language Literacy experts in alignment with the CAPS Life Skills Curriculum themes and topics.

Cost effective

All material has been set-up to access for free to download, self-print or for bulk-printing (a Partner can assist you if you do not have your own printing supplier).

Curate your own collection

Choose from a multilingual collection of 1 430 high-quality Graded Readers and Storybooks in under-published indigenous languages.

Educational Benefits

High quality CAPS-aligned African language reading books and teacher support resources, targeted at learners in the Foundation Phase to read in their home language. Systematically helping learners with decoding, letter sounds, word recognition, reading fluency and comprehension.

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Levelled and Decodable

Graded readers are levelled and decodable to systematically improve the reading fluency and comprehension skills of Foundation Phase learners.

Grade R - Early Emergent
Level 1 - Grade 1 - Emergent
Level 2 - Grade 1 & 2 - Developing
Level 3 - Grade 2 & 3 - Early Fluent
Level 4 - Grade 3 - Fluent
Level 5 - Grade 3 – Independent

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Storybooks have been developed with increasing levels of difficulty starting with First Words for new readers becoming more complex up to First Paragraphs for more capable readers.

Level 1 - First words: Single words or a short simple sentence; up to 11 words per page.
Level 2 - First sentences: Two or three short sentences; 11–25 words per page.
Level 3 - First paragraphs: One or two short paragraphs; 26–51 words per page.
Level 4 - Longer paragraphs: Two or more paragraphs; 51–75 words per page.
Level 5 - Read aloud: Fewer pictures; more than 76 words per page.

These levels refer to the reading level of a child and have no significance on the grade of a learner. Learn More

Licensing

Ulwazi Lwethu resources have been developed as Open Education Resources (OER).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I copy or sell the books?

Graded Readers can be printed and photocopied and the material may be distributed in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

Storybooks may be distributed, remixed, adapted, and built upon in any medium or format for commercial use, so long as attribution is given to the creator.

All Ulwazi Lwethu materials cannot be used for commercial or for-profit purposes.

If in doubt, please contact any of the Ulwazi Lwethu partners.

Find out more about Licensing

Can I use my own printing supplier to print the books

Yes, all reading resources have been set-up for professional printing with print instructions for your printing supplier. Once you have selected the materials you want to print, add them to your Book Trolley and when you check-out..

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How do I choose the appropriate Level?

Ulwazi Lwethu graded readers are categorised in five sequenced levels. The Ulwazi Lwethu readers and storybooks are designed to provide learners with reading materials that range from very easy to more complex and challenging.

For Graded Readers the levels start at Level 1 for use in Grade 1 Term 1 and increase in difficulty to Levels 4 and 5 which are suitable for more capable readers in the same grade or a higher grade. Each grade has levelled readers to support differentiated reading skill levels.

The storybooks have also been developed with increasing levels of difficulty starting with First Words for new readers, to longer sentences as reading improves, to First Paragraphs that has more complex texts and stories for more capable readers.

Levels explained