GAUTENG BRANCH
The Gauteng branch of LITASA is a vibrant and well-supported community of literacy specialists. We host workshops in Johannesburg and Pretoria but welcome any interested people from across the wonderful province of Gauteng to join our events. You can contact us on gauteng@litasa.org.za. We would love to hear from you!
NEWS
The Gauteng Branch invites you to their AGM.
The AGM provides an opportunity to engage with members of the literacy community, share resources, and plan the year ahead for the Gauteng Branch. As we prepare to host the 2026 LITASA Conference, this AGM serves as an important springboard for a significant and exciting year ahead.
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Date: Saturday 21 February 2026 | Time: 10:00 am - 13:00 pm
Venue: Regenesys School of Education | To RSVP, click here
​Speaker biography:
Born in Zimbabwe, Elinor Sisulu has woven together the threads of history, literature, development studies, and feminist thought - drawing from her training across institutions in Zimbabwe, Senegal, and the Netherlands - to shape her singular voice.
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Her pen first captured hearts with The Day Gogo Went to Vote (1997), an award-winning children's tale that danced with the spirit of democracy. Later, she turned to the intimate architecture of family memory, crafting a biography of her parents-in-law, Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime, a work that earned her the prestigious 2003 Noma Award for publishing in Africa.
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For years, Elinor has been an architect of literary possibility, nurturing the growth of books and readers alike. This devotion found expression in ventures including the Puku Children's Literature Foundation, where she has served as both board member and Executive Director. There, she dreamed Pukupedia into being, an ONIX-based portal celebrating children's books across all South African tongues. Under her guiding hand, Puku received the 2021 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, and the work continues: building living catalogues of children's literature in the nation's indigenous languages.
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Her journey has been marked by recognition: an honorary PhD from the University of Pretoria (2016), the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Artes et des Lettres from France (2020), the Chairperson's Award from the South African Literary Awards (2023), and the 2024 Nick Perren Lifetime Achievement Award from the Publisher's Association of South Africa; each honour a testament to a life spent in service of stories and the children who need them.
![Literacy in the Age of technology webinar poster (3)[76].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ef2f7c_69ea7726695647fcb31618fd08a992e9~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_600,h_600,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Literacy%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20technology%20webinar%20poster%20(3)%5B76%5D.png)
Literacy in the Age of Technology
Webinar
Date: 29 May 2025 | Time: 17: 30 pm
The Gauteng LITASA branch is hosting to a Webinar on how technology is shaping literacy in today's world and we would love to see you there!
Speakers - Adele and Malcolm Mooi are a mother and son duo and co-founders of the Dr CL Smith Foundation and Isithombo. Adele is principal of Little People Preschool, and winner of the inaugural Shelley O’Carroll Literacy Award. Malcolm is a social entrepreneur and founder of Zibuza.net, a learning engagement platform with over 37,000 members. ​
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Register on Eventbrite for free to secure your spot and receive a link for this seminar!
GAUTENG BRANCH AGM
Varsity College, Room LR 17, Waterfall Campus, Midrand
Date: 15 March 2025 | Time: 10:00 - 12:00
You're invited! The Gauteng Branch of LITASA is hosting its AGM on 15 March 2025 from 10:00 – 12:00 at Varsity College, Room LR 17, Waterfall Campus, Midrand.
Keynote Address: Investigating the Reading Levels of Pre-Service Teachers: Implications for Teacher Preparation
Speaker: Dr. Ilse Fouché, Senior Lecturer at Wits School of Education & C2 NRF-rated researcher
Dr. Fouché specializes in academic literacy, student preparedness, and language assessment in higher education. Join us for this important discussion on how future educators' reading levels impact teacher training.
📅 Save the date & be part of the conversation! #LITASA #TeacherEducation #AcademicLiteracy
Gauteng Annual General Meeting (2024)
20 March 2024 Virtual)
RSVP here
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LITASA & Centre for Evaluation & Assessment
Hybrid Seminar (in person & virtual)
24 August 2023, 9am - 1pm, University of Pretoria (Groenkloof campus)
The Literacy Association of South Africa and the Centre of Evaluation and Assessment will host a seminar on Utilising results from PIRLS 2021 with a focus on teachers this Thursday 24 August 2023 from 9: 00 am to 13:00 pm at the University of Pretoria. This is an in - person and virtual event.
The Centre for Education and Assessment (CEA), based at the University of Pretoria is a National Research Centre for PIRLS in South Africa and manages the study with the help from the Department of Basic Education.
As a sector convenor, LITASA endeavours to involve teachers in the interpretation of the PIRLS data to ensure educators can make an informed contribution to the national literacy dialogue. This seminar is the first of a number of activities by LITASA, creating a platform for educators, researchers and the broader literacy community to foster valuable dialogue on the best use of the data collected by PIRLS.
The seminar will be delivered by Dr. Karen Roux with inputs by Prof. Funke Omidire (CEA Director) & Nadeema Musthan (LITASA National Chairperson).
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To RSVP Email: info@litasa.org.za (light refreshments will be provided)
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SHAKESPEARE RAP COMPETITION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
18 FEBRUARY
Our Gauteng branch's AGM, held on 18 February, was a virtual meeting that was well attended. Two speakers presented masterfully. Dr Sibusiso Clifford Ndlangamandla from Unisa presented on Challenging English-only in Higher Education: Norms and Trans-languaging in online multilingualism. Casey Eslick from the University of Pretoria presented on The importance of phonological awareness and speech perception in noise skills to improve English second language learners' classroom participation.
FAKE NEWS WEBINAR
19 JUNE 2020
The branch hosted an exciting webinar on ‘The Fatal Attraction of Fake News’. Guest speaker Prof Remi Raji-Oyelade, from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, presented on the influence of fake news, with a special focus on Africa during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Based on this presentation, we created a step by step guide on how to detect fake news. You can find this guide here.