“Nina on guard”, “Nina at the beach rescuing someone in distress”, “Nina guarding her mother’s car” and “Nina sipping puppucinos” are just some of the delightful stories written by 12 Grade-6 students of Dr Marilyn Holloway’s English enrichment class.
The English enrichment classes at Overberg Primary School were started 12 years ago for Grade 6 and Grade 7 learners. “Apart from grammar, which I believe underpins everything, I decided to get the learners to write, but I wondered how I can make this cohesive,” Holloway said. “Also, how do I turn this into a group effort, a class effort?”
She discussed this with her sister-in-law Maureen Verster who, at 71, is an elite marathon runner. Nina the Dachshund, the main character in all the stories, was adopted by Verster after she was rescued by the Cape Dachshund Rescue Society. She loves posing for photos and Verster has many photos of Nina. When looking through these photos with Holloway the idea for the stories was born.
“I selected 12 photos, took them to school and put them upside-down on my desk and told each learner to take one, which would form the basis of their story. I also told them a little bit about Nina, how she was abandoned when pregnant, found by a good Samaritan and taken to the rescue society and eventually ending up with Maureen who rehabilitated her,” says Holloway.
Each learner was given a week in which to write the story. Holloway corrected minor spelling and grammar mistakes and asked the learners to rewrite where necessary.
“The stories are absolutely delightful and we decided to put them into a book with the photographs, Nina’s background and so on,” said Holloway. “As every story ended with Nina celebrating something or being courageous I decided to call it Medals for Nina.”
Verster offered to come to the school with Nina so the learners could meet the main character of their stories. She also presented each writer with one of her marathon medals. The writers and the rest of the class had the opportunity to ask Verster questions about Nina as well as about running.
“The medals are something tangible, something they can show for their effort,” said Holloway. “I am absolutely stunned at how very good the stories are. We have a lot of fun and laughter during the enrichment classes, but we also do a lot of serious hard work and the learners know what my expectations are.”
The book will be presented to the writers at the school’s year-end award ceremony.
