Workshop teaches learning through play

Teachers Somaya Gameeldien, Mogamat Taufeeq Amardien, Levina Bailey and Faidah Abrahams, were among those who received the training.

Grade R teachers at Manenberg primary schools revisited their childhoods at a workshop about learning through play.

The 21 teachers, who took part in the workshop at Silverstream Primary School last Thursday, each received R8 000 worth of Lego from ORT SA Cape, an educational NGO, to take back to their classrooms.

ORT SA Cape trains and supports teachers in disadvantaged communities across the Western Cape. It ran last week’s workshop as its Mandela Day project.

“We have an established relationship with the Lego Foundation (through Care For Education) and train teachers, practitioners and facilitators in disadvantaged communities to use Lego resources… in their classrooms,” said Karen Kaimowitz, ORT SA Cape’s chief executive officer.

Ms Kaimowitz added that the training was all about exciting the teachers.

“By using the Lego blocks, children learn through play, and it also engages thinking, problem-solving and they are exposed to a resource that is fun. The benefit of it is that it makes a positive difference in early literacy and numeracy skills,” she said.