“This year, only half a box of books was left over after the Book Tsunami,” says Dr Vernita Beukes, Language Centre lecturer and organiser of the Centre’s annual Book Tsunami, held on Friday 6 September this year.
The Book Tsunami is a nod in the direction of British actress Emma Watson’s Book Fairy project, which encourages people to leave books in public places for others to find, read and return the favour later on. This year marks the third year that Vernita and other Language Centre colleagues have taken over the Neelsie Student Centre with books. “We unpack the books early, to surprise everyone coming for their first cup of coffee with a book.” Each year the Book Tsunami is held as close as possible to 8 September, International Literacy Day. This year’s theme was literacy and multilingualism.
“In this way, we’re giving back to the community and we’re celebrating a significant international day,” Vernita explains. Language Centre staff members are also involved in the community by International Literacy Day at pre-schools in Stellenbosch, Cloetesville, Ida’s Valley, Jamestown, Kylemore and Pniel. “We’re not sure who enjoys it most: the readers or the kids!”
The joy of reading is contagious. If you’d like to try it, you can contact Vernita to sign up to read to children, or perhaps you could benefit from collaborating with our Reading Lab. The Language Centre’s Reading Lab helps adult readers to read faster and smarter – it doesn’t matter whether the reading material is business reports, academic articles or text books. E-mail Marisca Coetzee for more information on the Reading Lab.
