LEARN ZULU with
ZuluMitesWhy LEARN isiZulu?
When it comes to choosing which African language for you/your child to learn, it would be wise to consider that isiZulu is spoken as a first language by over 20% of South Africa’s population and is the most widely spoken second language in the country. From a social perspective, the ability to speak an African language has several economic, cognitive and educational advantages – most especially when learnt in the formative years (birth to 6yrs). We believe that an investment into learning an additional African language is one of the very best decisions you can make in the life of your young child!
Our Methodology
When it comes to language, ZuluMites is based on the philosophy that language is part of life and cannot be taught in isolation. Our methodology focuses on the speaking and listening component of a beginner’s Zulu journey – and we engage children by (1) giving them a context in which they can use the language, (2) making Zulu learning fun and interactive, and (3) focusing on practical themes that are useful almost immediately. We believe that learning Zulu starts right in the toddler years, and we utilise well trained Zulu-speaking teachers to execute a full immersion environment, suitable for both the home and school environment.
Behind the scenes
Our Story
The Bailey Family are behind both the first trilingual preschool in SA (2013) and the birth of ZuluMites (Pty) Ltd in 2016.
As both educators and Linguists, they devoted many years to researching the best way children learn additional languages – and were frustrated with the lack of good teaching programmes available for young children to learn an African language.
Their extensive teaching experience in both SA and abroad, led them to develop a unique way of training their own teaching staff, and developing an activities-based programme specifically geared towards teaching young children Zulu.
Post COVID, the company was forced to scale back to only an online offering which is available both locally and abroad.
Meryl & Kyle Bailey with children: Zipporah (10yrs), Titus (8yrs), Manasseh (6yrs) and Hosanna (2yrs)
Testimonials
They say language is caught, not taught and the manner in which the Zulumites team enable children to “catch” a language is phenomenal.
Being multilingual in South Africa is no longer an option and it’s a gift we are glad to have given our child. Thank you to the ZuluMites team in partnering with us to raise a multilingual, culturally adaptable next generation!
The Moloi Family (2020)
Each week, the lessons are presented with child-friendly themes together with a variety of fun teaching props, all of which are condusive to optimal learning. ZuluMites are continuously striving to improve and they have willingly looked at our suggestions and recommendations. I highly recommend ZuluMites to any school for fun, educational Zulu lessons” – Head of Academics Junior Primary, St Teresa’s School (2020)
It is with pleasure that we can say ZuluMites has been a wonderful addition to our school’s curriculum. Our children look forward to the lessons with enthusiasm and the teachers are professional.
Principal, Centurion Montessori (2019)