Writing for children under new curriculum

Stanely Mushava Literature Today
“If you are going to write for children, you need to become a child yourself. Think like them, observe things from their perspective and watch how they react to particular words,” children’s writer Jenny Yon explains her approach to writing textbooks. “Otherwise, you will be only writing down at them, instead of writing to them.” It is the insight which has guided Yon through the creation of her densely circulated English and Maths textbook series for both the primary and the secondary level. The highly regarded writer’s best-known publishing credits include New Zimbabwe Primary English, Structures and Skills, originally done by Dick Dawson, and Focus.

But these are set to be forgotten as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has directed publishers to create new books, within approved proposals and templates, for use under the new curriculum.

Familiar names like C.J Ngwaru and Jenny Yon have bounced back under commission to come up with new textbooks for the new curriculum which is being implemented in phases, from Early Childhood Development to Advanced Level.

Instead of entering curriculum changes into force overnight, in sweeping fashion, the ministry wants those in junior school this year to pioneer and grow with the revised curriculum while the rest will finish on their old curriculum.

Naturally, as such, publishers’ immediate attention is on lower level reading. Yon recently coordinated and edited the Readers are Leaders series, a comprehensive series for early reading by College Press. The 22-book set is aimed at reinforcing the basic structures and vocabulary found in most primary courses.

Curiously, the books are not designated to specific grades as the new curriculum directs that students be taught according to their individual capacity rather than the traditional one-size-fits-all method. College Press editorial manager Phillip Mudzimba said reading stages covered by the series include beginners with the themes, skills and content developing from simple to complex.

“Diverse themes which take into account the importance of English as a tool for communication, cultural, political, religious, social and economic development are covered,” Mudzimba said. The issues are presented in a lively manner encompassing different genres such as prose, poetry, drama and bubble speech which makes reading enjoyable.

Language learning under the new curriculum is not just a matter of mastering communication, but also coming to terms with cross-cutting themes, that is, issues of national concern such as agriculture, health, constitutional rights and responsibilities, and new technology.

In Readers are Leaders series, thematic concerns gel with language skills. Children’s rights are discussed in “Book 20: Kudzai Learns His Rights”, enterprise skills in “Book 22: Great Ideas,” heritage studies in the same title, and environmental issues in “Book 18: Wood for Fire.”

Collaboration is taught in “Book 21: The Super Team” and “Book 19: The Girl with No Phone,” gender equality across the series, disaster management in “Book 18: Wood for Fire” while the family unit recurs in “Book 3: Our Families,” “Book 5: At the Farm” and “Book 7: Three Little Warthogs.” “The themes covered equip the readers with competencies for lifelong learning and draws from the various experiences of the Zimbabwean reader,” Mudzimba said.

“The series has projects and activities which instil problem solving, critical thinking, leadership, communication, self-management, enterprise and technological skills in the reader,” he said.

Jenny Yon concurs: “Education cannot be isolated from a vision for society. Readers Are Leaders is informed by the need to make education relevant and include specific aspects that the nation is currently focusing on.

“It’s not just about language but cross-cutting themes are being foregrounded. You have entrepreneurship, family, gender balance, culture and blueprint issues coming together with language skills,” Yon said.

“For example, the English phrase ‘extended family’ has no local equivalent. Instead of cousin, in Zimbabwe you just have brother or sister. So the way language was being taught was not promoting indigenous ways of life,” she said.

The series also cuts away from the default representation of family and has families being headed by single mothers or grandparents. The authors reason that education must reflect the finer realities of the society in which it obtains.

To bring these cross-cutting objectives to life in simple stories, Yon said, requires that authors get into the minds of children and operate from there. “One must think in particular ways, use simple vocabulary and love the challenge of interacting. It must not be a question of preaching, but picturing dialogue,” Yon said.

She described it as a sensitive assignment that rules out labelling and upholds dignity. “We also locate the stories and messages with the context of experiences children can relate to.”

For example, in “Kudzai Learns His Rights,” anything remotely connected to duty seems to scratch our young hero like a wire brush. But with time and good counsel, he learns to appreciate both his responsibilities and his rights. Slow-jammed messages in innocent school and home settings are meant to prime children for their civic roles in greater society.

The newly incepted curriculum has put libraries up for a progressive overhaul in the next few years as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education looks to make the sector more responsive to the needs and experiences of contemporary Zimbabwe.

Cross-cutting themes and new learning areas, including Physical Education; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Heritage Studies; Visual and Performing Arts; Family, Religious and Moral Education; Combined Science, require all-new reading material from Early Childhood Development (ECD) to Advanced Level.

Naturally, newly adopted languages like Swahili, Mandarin, French and Portuguese, meant to shape globally-minded millenials will also require new material and the current emphasis in content creation at the moment are the lower educational rungs.

Primary and Secondary Minister Dr Lazarus Dokora has insisted that the process underway is bent on making a new curriculum rather than making an old curriculum new, hence the need for entirely fresh content set to the dual design of building accomplished citizens while driving national development in the increasingly competitive global context.

This is good news for textbook writers who now can put their expertise to profitable use as schools nationwide are a guaranteed market. The ministry is currently vetting publishers’ proposals for rigour, relevance and contemporaneity.

If we are not way too optimistic, this phase of state-incentivised content creation may inspire signs of life reminiscent of the days of the Literature Bureau. Only, this latest renaissance is on the academically rather than creatively inclined.

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