Community involvement

One of the highlights on the calendar of the Department of Afrikaans is our annual Spring Seminar for Afrikaans teachers that takes place in October. It is at the same time our most important community activity. The seminar was the brain child of a former head of department, Prof. Rena Pretorius, and has been presented for more than 20 years. The past few years the venue has been the auditorium on the Groenkloof Campus of the University of Pretoria.

 

Afrikaans teachers from several high schools and even primary schools from Gauteng and more than one neighbouring province attend the seminar to converse and attend sessions on different aspects of the teaching of Afrikaans as home language or additional language. Presentations are inspiring but also eminently practical. The seminar is evaluated extremely positively each year and it has been described as an annual highlight for many teachers. More than 200 teachers have attended the seminar for the last number of years. The day’s activities usually end on a high note with an appearance by a celebrity in the Afrikaanse film, television or music world. The past few years our guest speakers have been Leon van Nierop, Sandra Prinsloo, Chris Vorster, Nataniël and Coenie de Villiers. In 2011 we were treated to a performance by Chris Chameleon.