Inaugural Language and Literacy Fair Illuminates Livingstone

By Staff Reporter

The Tourist Capital came to light from 7th to 11th h August 2023 when the Language Teachers’ Association of Zambia (LATAZ) held its inaugural Language and Literacy Fair. Held under the theme: “Bridging Language and Literacy Gaps through Inclusive Activities for Improved Learner Performance”, the fair was widely enjoyed by participants, teachers and parents. Learners from all over the country, aged between six and eighteen gathered in Livingstone for a full week and competed in Scrabble, debate, drama, essay writing, grammar quiz, literary terminology quiz and the spelling bee. Supported by the Ministry of Education, the inaugural spectacle attracted participating teams from all ten provinces of the country.

“This fair has been in our plans for almost eight years. I’m really glad that we have finally held this event in our lifetime,” said Kanyama George, the LATAZ President.

He continued, “The main purpose of this fair is to provide a platform for our pupils to demonstrate the communicative competencies that they have acquired in the classroom. We hope that this is only the beginning and many more fairs will be held in the coming years.

Official Opening

Figure 1: L-R: Charles Kabungo – LATAZ National Secretary, George Kanyama – LATAZ National President, Mrs Nalubamba – District Education Standards Officer, Livingstone, Mr Nzila – Dean of District Eductation Board Secretaries – Southern Province, Grace Mwiya Nosiku – Provincial Education Officer, Southern Province during the Official Opening of the Fair.

Scrabble had participants from all provinces in all categories. The categories were Primary, junior and Secondary. The competition was conducted in a knockout format with the Preliminary round, Quarterfinals, Semi-finals and Finals. The participants were given the guidelines and the rules of the game that the competition would abide by. The adjudicators were also given the orientation due to them in order to make the competition fair for all participating provinces.

Drama: Under the Drama Category, provinces exhibited literary knowledge by producing the performance from the Imprisonment of Obatala specifically looking at Woyengi. The demonstration of the acting skills was a marvel to behold during the National Fair. The performance lit up the National Fair.

Debate: The debate was an opportunity for learners from across the country to demonstrate their listening and speaking abilities. The learners through the guidance of their patrons and matrons were able to debate some of the pertinent issues that are affecting the nation and the globe at large. Debate is an important cog of the Zambian Language syllabus and its demonstration at the National Fair was a show of how the learners are learning the language skills.

Selling: was the main highlight of the event because not only did it serve the main purpose of the fair, but it was also used to select Zambia’s representatives at the Africa Spelling Bee scheduled later this year in Addis Abba, Ethiopia

Senior and Junior Spelling Bee top six to represent the country at the Africa Spelling Bee in Ethiopia later this year

Inclusivity

It was gratifying that the fair organisers made provisions for pupils with Special Educational Needs to take part in the competition.

Learners with Special Education Needs about to participate in essay writing

The First Ever LATAZ National Fair ended with the clarion call to continue improving and getting bigger and better. The call on all stakeholders to help improve the performance of the learners in all language subjects.

Closing

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From L-R: George Kanyama – LATAZ President, Grace Mwiya Nosiku – Provincial Education Officer – MOE, Jayd Nalili – Principal Curriculum Specialist for Languages- MOE, Angela Fungameli Mulusa – Deputy Dead, National Headteachers Association & Mrs Mudenda DEBS Kazungula following National Language and Literacy Fair proceedings

The successful hosting of the fair brought about new hope and energy for LATAZ. It is hoped that the committees at each level will build on this success to and word hard towards reclaiming the lost glory of the association.