Penelope Flack

SLT, academic; vax+mask; interested in language learning disability, community based ed. & student success; 💉💉 #wespeechies; .#DevLangDis #SpeakUp4CommRights

[Brent Lindeque @BrentLindeque]

Living in South Africa is like being on a bladdy rollercoaster.

Things change here by the second.

And best we be ready for it.

One moment, you’re screaming, “What the heck! She won a Grammy”, and the next, you’re watching a video of a press conference screaming at Fikile Mbalula, who is waffling on about how André de Ruyter single-handedly brought loadshedding to South Africa.

Like, we did maths… and history, my bru. Andy Pants only took on the role of CEO 13 years after the power problems started.

2020 minus 2007 equals?

Ag, never mind.

The news is bleak. Or can seem very bleak. And sometimes you can’t even read it properly and only get the clickbait headline (which actually makes it far worse) because it’s behind a paywall or a very annoying, please sign up here thingy. So our brains see the worst of the worst and our opinions on things become facts (in our own minds). And all we believe is that there is more kak out there than good things.

But that’s not true.

I want to give you some perspective today. It’s not all bad. There is good out there. Sometimes, we just have to look for it a little harder. And I know what you’re thinking… Bafana Bafana, Tyla, Trevor Noah being the hostest with the mostest. Ja, we reported on that… but there were other really awesome things that have happened in the last week.

The Good Things Guy team publish between 10 to 15 good news stories every day. There is no paywall. You don’t need to sign up. It’s all free for you.

And it’s proper feel-good stuff.

To remind you of this, I’ve randomly picked 7 stories from the last 7 days so that you can see some of the good happening all around us.

Here goes.

Last week there was a massive fire in the Western Cape. It was absolutely tragic and scary but in the midst of the heartache, volunteers stepped up to do the most. South Africans from all walks of life stood together to fight the blaze. And then comfort those in need. Remember my favourite quote… in times of tragedy, look for the helpers. They will always be there.

A South African Extra Virgin Olive Oil earned global recognition at a prestigious awards ceremony in Madrid. Like, we won ONE OF THE TOP PRIZES! We are flipping champions!

Officer Shiven Latchman encountered a homeless man named Siyabonga Phewa in Durbs; he knew the ambitious young man had a future far brighter than the one he was living and became determined to help him get back on his feet. And then he did. This story will give you all the bladdy feels! Helpers all around!!!!

Another singer is making global waves! She’s Portuguese / South African and has sung her way to something called Festival da Canção. But here’s the cracker: if she wins the finals, then her next stop will be competing in Eurovision!!!!! Friends, her name is FILIPA and she will be the next champion that South Africa will be celebrating. WATCH THIS SPACE.

Then there was a story about a pup named Miley, who was bitten by a Boomslang and desperately needed anti-venom…. a group of heroes rallied together to get the medicine from the North West to the Western Cape in time to save her. Ummmm… that’s over 1,600 kilometres. And they saved her!!!!!!

HUNDREDS of schools (which means thousands of kids) are teaming up to change lives. They have pledged to collect as many bread tags as possible to not only help the environment but recycle to tops to make wheelchairs for those in need. Sometimes the smallest things are actually the biggest things.

Oh and then yesterday, I put a call out to help a friend who I have never met but have been connected to for a number of years. The outpouring of love has left me speechless. I can only imagine how Jacques must feel. He goes in today for another round of chemo. He has lost his ear, neck glands, and part of his eyebrow area. He now faces losing his eye. But I kind of think because of you, he is going into the hospital today knowing that there is a village behind him. Thank you for sharing your kindness… and Jacques, you got this boy.

Friends, it’s tough out there. The news can seem bleak but we must remember that there is another narrative. And that narrative is all about Good South Africans. And there are SO MANY!!! Kind people. Helpers. Healers. And the Heroes!!!!

There is so much love in this country.

But it’s also election year which means it’s only going to get worse. Our government thrive when we are divided. And so they do things to make us angry at each other. They throw blame around like they throw back Moët. And they will do everything in their power… to hang on to power.

Maar hulle weet nie wat ons weet nie.

We are stronger together.

Tell everyone.

Okay. Love you. Bye.

[NAPLIC @NAPLIC]

The 'interactive DLD toolkit' is a superb way to explain Developmental Language Disorder to others, as well as introduce support strategies. Based on @RADLDcam's original design. Please share #DevLangDis
https://t.co/gXEoHoit7J

[James Booth @DrJamesBooth]

Significant predictors of reading difficulties, such as rapid naming and blending in first language (L1), were found to aid in identifying bilingual children who have DLD.
https://t.co/EzwOoT3s4q

[Penelope Flack @flackp1]

@CityPowerJhb Block 2 on momentarily just after 6:00 and then immediately went off again. Is this the result of a trip nor another fault ?

[Mpumi Mohohlwane @Mpumi_NLM]

Intervening in Home Language benefits both Home Language & English but intervening in English hurts Home Language. Read our working paper ⁦@CGDev⁩ & a blog with ⁦@stephengstaylor⁩ ⁦@JacobusCilliers⁩ Brahm Fleisch https://t.co/2JiJq4erSm

[Gibson Ncube @gib_zzz]

I am so uncomfortable with Global North scholars who after two months of fieldwork in Africa speak so authoritatively about African lives and ways of being, and say almost nothing about their positionality. Something so extractive about all of this...
#ECAS2023
#restitution

[five from five @FIVEfromFIVE]

The latest edition of Nomanis has articles on orthographic mapping by @tiffany_peltier and sight word learning by Dr Linnea Ehri.

Access it here https://t.co/tUF6dxOxm9

[Brett Herron 🇿🇦🍉 @brettherron]

South Africa’s 18th Amendment to the Constitution has just been passed to include South African Sign Language as our twelfth official language.

Giant step for the rights of hearing impaired & deaf South Africans.

But, still lots to do to for disability rights in our country.

[Thinking Reading @ThinkReadHQ]

The ‘discrepancy’ model has been discredited for some time, but it’s still appealing to many as an argument for additional resources. Read more in our blog ‘Barriers to Success’ https://t.co/seiOALNodC (11 minute read).

#EduTwitter

[brett Fish anderson @BrettFishA]

When we fear being seen as racist or called racist more than we fear being racist or expressing racism in a variety of ways, then we continue to build walls which divide and seperate, instead of longer tables which invite...

[Carol M Vlok 📚 @CarolMVlok]

Shout out to all the doctors, nurses & HCW not participating in this strike! Who are working overtime, double shifts and going the extra mile. Those who aren’t going home in case they can’t get back into work the next day. There are many of you! I see you. I appreciate you. ❤��

[Jeff Wicks 🇿🇦 @wicks_jeff]

Striking Nehawu workers outside Stanger Hospital in KZN assault paramedics and attempt to remove a critically injured child from the ESV. Now they hold the ambulance hostage.

This here is criminal in every respect.

[Marc Mendelson @SouthAfricanASP]

Not ONE hospital in🇿🇦should be left without power & certainly not before each & every Minister & official in South Africa's Government has their residence removed from exemption to load shedding. That includes @PresidencyZA & @DlaminiZuma

https://t.co/HkGF947V58

[Prof Thuli Madonsela #KindnessBuilds @ThuliMadonsela3]

The President’s speech was encouraging. It had something for every social group,which is essential for social justice as fairness to all; it properly characterised our context which is a crisis akin to war. But it could have been clear on what we are fighting for #SONA #SONA2023

[Prof Thuli Madonsela #KindnessBuilds @ThuliMadonsela3]

The president should consider reassigning powers under the Disaster Management Act to the new minister, to avoid having the COGTA minister handling a crisis outside her remit and beyond the expertise of her team as happened during the height of #COVID19

[Ferial Haffajee @ferialhaffajee]

Comment:

Dear @SATourismOnline - in case you don’t know, you work for us, we pay your salaries. If you smoke 💨 out and target 🎯 the whistleblower of your hare-brained scheme exposed by @dailymaverick, we will stand with them. We love ❤️ whistleblowers! (RT if you agree)

[Songezo Zibi @SongezoZibi]

We aren’t struggling with tourists because no one knows we’re here. It’s because of poor governance. Crime, bad roads, loadshedding, collapsing public infrastructure. An expensive deal with an English club won’t solve those problems. Effective, clean gov will.

[Stephen Parker @ParkerPhonics]

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Reading Teachers

If you had to teach a child to read Morse Code, you wouldn’t hand her the text below and expect her to focus on its “meaning.”

Instead, you’d rightly first explain HOW the code works, and you’d provide lots of practice decoding individual words. 1/3