Friday evening 22 August - Africa Jam in Athlone 19:00

Molweni nonke,

You are all invited to what we believe will be a wonderful cultural experience happening at the Joseph Stone Auditorium, Klipfontein Rd, Athlone, this Friday evening at 19:00.

Africa Jam, a group of youths from Khayelitsha , who perform in dance, song and drums ,mostly from the Eastern Cape and mostly in Xhosa, will be performing this Friday evening. We have become friends with some of the guys on the team and I believe it will be a great evening.

Tickets are R30 per ticket and will be sold at the door.
Sharp
Jacques

Sosebenza - Xhosa fun in the sun

Lucie McGregor sent a message to the members of Sosebenza Centre for Peace (MASI). maybe join this facebook group then i dont have to keep updating this ;)

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Subject: Come to Masi this saturday the 23rd of august!

Dear all,
Thanks to everyone who participated in the tree/plant-planting, recycling, gardenning and beaching last saturday!
Please come this saturday for another day of fun! With a focus on finishing the brick laying of the toilets; more gardening; help with lunch-making and maybe another visit to Fishoek beach (weather permitting!)
There will be a pick up from Jameson steps (UCT) at 10.
Call Ben for any more info on 0724752977.

Hope to see you there!
Lucie

Free Township tour this Sunday

I have always said that to own your Xhosa, you really need to use it, and there is nothing like experiencing a language in its cultural context. Rural village trips to the eastern Cape are great and a must, but the local townships also offer lovely opportunities to experience the culture, practice your Xhosa, and have fun doing it.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of one of my current students, Mike Gathercole from 2waytravel, we are offering an opportunity for all of you dying to use your Xhosa a little bit more. This Sunday, we will visit his church in Gugulethu, and then head off to Mzoli's for lunch. Bound to be fun.

Itinerary:

- Meet Mike at 9.30 at Montebello, Newlands. Please request map if you don't know it.
- Car pool and drive together. You are also welcome to go direct.
- Please contact mike@2waytravel.com or 082 940 7737 for directions.
- Church is 10h30 - 12h00, then Mzoli's for lunch, a popular spot.
- Bring R50 for lunch and maybe R15-R20 petrol contribution for whoever you get a lift with.
- Home by 15h00.
- All are welcome. Please RSVP and keep your commitment.

Email: info@learnxhosa.co.za

Free Audio Samples

Listen, download and share loads of free mp3 audio lessons on our other blog:  http://ubuntubridge.posterous.com/

These are some samples from my first audio CD:

A Basic Greeting

Pronouncing the X click

Saying Thank you

Xenophobia Crisis

My beautiful people. The horror of what is happening may finally bring us all together. Perhaps too we may collectively start taking responsibility for the current situation which allows our people to become so desperate that they resort to this madness. That is no excuse, but we must acknowledge it. We all need to give more, we need to do more, actively, not just pray, and pay tax grudgingly. and not just because we are afraid we may be next. people are desperate and this is evidence.

May the rich, black and white, stop fiddling like romans. based on the good i see in these times, i am hopeful.

one example may be www.thirdthursday.co.za of how poeple can give back in the long run, if it aint too late.

For immediate action, in Cape Town:
The TAC HQ in 122 Longmarket Street, Westminster house is a centre for food, clothing, blankets, toiletry donations in CT. call hennie on 021 422 1490.

peace, gratitude and blessings.
:)c

Saturday Xhosa practice

Greetings
This is one of the great opportunities to connect with a loving, and caring community of people who know how to have fun and get good things done. The kids are Xhosa, and i cannot emphasise how helpful it is for your Xhosa to spend a few hours with kids, practicing what you know and asking questions.

Ben Jochanan Getz sent a message to the members of Sosebenza Centre for Peace (MASI), on Facebook:
MASI is ON for tomorrow!!!! (It is usually every second saturday, so confirm via the cell numbers provided).
We have tons to do and need your HELP!
Come along for building, cleaning, lunching, recycling:)

Where: MASIphumelele near Sun Valley, Capri, Kommetjie) is on tomorrow - WE WANT YOU!

Either make your own way there OR get a lift with Christoph from UCT at 10am (meet him in parking lot between smuts and fuller - his number is 082 491 9124)

Big Love
BEN:)
072 475 2977

Weekend Xhosa Immersion Practice

Hola.

This post will be updated, but its presence signifies the intention to create weekly opportunities for you, the learner, to experience appropriate opportunities to practice your Xhosa with mother-tongue speakers.

The experiences will be:
- free
- close to Cape Town
- with Xhosa people who have time to listen to you and help you with your Xhosa by being patient and understanding
- mutually beneficial in that the people will really appreciate your presence
- cultivating ubuntu

That would mean visits to orphanages, creches, hospices, or volunteer based projects, where you can brighten someones life or contribute to a poor community, in return dramatically improving your Xhosa, consolidating what you learn in the lessons, and making you feel like you belong to a broader community.

Any of you, my students, who work in NGOs who are aware of an appropriate opportunity for interaction, please leave comments on this post, or email me details.

Blessings to us all.

Village Experience in April 2008

A group of adventurous Xhosa language learners spanning three generations and a 50% gender split successfully navigated the gentle rolling hills of the lali's (rural villages). Here is what they had to say:

"spending a week living and being in the village was incredible, i was completely amazed at how i was able to communicate and have real conversations with my family there - it has made me feel so much more confident in speaking and connected with South Africa and being South African. " Lori Miller (Zuzeka)

"Thanks so much for an awesome experience. I am speaking only in Xhosa to my manufacturing staff now, and it greatly increases my enjoyment of communication with them".

Ross Johnson

Haibo! Andiyazi! Audio CD description.

My audio Cds are mainly me doing the speaking, and they are designed intuitively, based on my learning and teaching process. Essentially, the elements of grammar and learning are explained as I do live in my class, and in the accompanying manual, so they can be listened to alone (e.g. in your car), or used in conjunction with the manual.

I always give the english first, followed by a gap for you to pre-empt the Xhosa, which then follows, followed by another gap for you to repeat the word. Its really well done and I have been complemented for years by native speakers for my 'sound', pronunciation and the way I speak the language. But that said, I have learnt as an adult, so I know what helps an an adult learner, the speed and clarity with which to speak, etc for your learning benefit.

There are times when lists of vocab are only said once, but you can always repeat the track, testing your self. Their are also tracks where the words are repeated numerously if thought appropriate and the tracks are numerous, so if you wish to repeat one, you don't have to listen to whole previous sections.

I believe it is the best learning tool for absolute beginners that there is, and it seems that almost all who have heard think so too, including teacher educators, other Xhosa teachers and people who have done other courses before mine and bought other learning materials before.

Anyway, there are some audio samples on the website: Audio Downloads, including the X click and the national anthem (me singing - now there's an ego shrinker if ever there was one). Otherwise you will just have to take a chance, or not. i do not know of any others like it.

I can also email the manuals to you before hand for you to peruse, and assess the content, which is also listed on the above linked page.

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