Nakedi was enrolled at Nirvana Primary (Sepedi) where he was introduced to Xitsonga, an additional language. The reports at Nirvana showed that he was an excellent achiever. When we transferred him to Noord Skool they reported that the child was apparently three or two grades behind the grade in which he was enrolled.
Because Nakedi is a genius at home — based on his conversations and the way he was able to explain complex phenomena — we thought that it must be a language problem and we decided to enrol him at PEMPS although it is still an English medium rather than a Sepedi school.
PEMPS complained about the same problem. Amongst other things they said he couldn’t read nor write at the appropriate level. We were just baffled. We ran out of ideas. It was his Grade 3 teacher, Ms Hermaan, who began to suspect that the child had an eyesight problem and recommended that we do an eye test. At this stage, we as parents admitted the child was underachieving. We took Nakedi for an eye test and indeed he was found to be ill-sighted. He was given a pair of spectacles.
The first day he wore them in class he reported to me: “Dad I have seen a miracle, I saw the teacher’s hand move up and down on the board and I saw nothing. At that time, I had put my spectacles down. I put them on and I realised that the teacher was drawing lines.”
So, we needed a catch-up program. A friend recommended Edublox and here we are: Nakedi is almost where he should be in terms of grade. I am sure now that he will soon begin to surpass his peers in class.
* Firstly, his handwriting has improved so tremendously that you may think someone is writing for him.
* Secondly, he can read intelligently to a point where he understands what he is reading.
* His spoken language is intelligible and makes a lot of sense. He speaks English which is the language of teaching and learning at about 60% of his mother tongue.
* Although he never had problems with Mathematics he has sustained his performance.
Although there has been an improvement he is still shy. He also needs physical training to improve his suppleness.
Thomas Mabitsi
Nakedi’s 2017 report. His mark for English improved from 56% to 75%!
Thomas Mabitsi Nakedi's father
