About Us

Education is the most powerful instrument for changing lives. Currently, in South Africa, we are faced with great educational challenges. The vast experience of Hough & Horne in providing functional literacy resources and training, combined with Kaleidoscope’s adult learning focus and NQF accreditation, provide the ideal platform for solutions in education practice.

"Unique South African challenges need unique South African solutions"

Every day, millions of South African workers transfer from their natural language environment to an English workplace where they are expected to cope as mother tongue speakers.

In South Africa, where less than 10% of society are English first language users, a poor command of English and lack of basic literacy skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) makes it difficult to cope at minimal survival and social levels.

The unintended result of this dilemma is a never-ending loss of important profit drivers:

production is impacted when communication is broken;
miscommunication, frustration and friction, lead to loss of time, production and money, and reduce profits;
development programmes yield little return on investment with literacy levels of learners often too far removed from the level of offering;
recruitment strategy and traditional selection criteria does not provide enough suitable candidates.

The name 'Kaleidoprax' is a combination of two concepts: 'kaleidoscope' and 'praxis'.

A 'kaleidoscope' is a tube with mirrors and pieces of coloured glass at one end, which shows coloured patterns when you turn it.
The word 'praxis' means 'doing, acting, action, practice'. It also refers to a practical exercise.

In combination, as in 'kaleidoprax', it refers to the varied collection of products and programmes we bring to the table to bridge the English Functional Literacy gap. Our logo symbolises this interaction.

The Kaleidoprax Institute focuses on measurement and improvement programmes of English Literacy skills and is ETDP SETA accredited.

Meet the Team behind Kaleidoprax

Together we can do great things
- Mother Teresa

Zerelde Uys

Managing Director
& Consultant

Zerelde is a South African consultant in bridging the gaps in English Literacy. She finds unique solutions for the challenges experienced by South Africans who are second-language users in the workplace – language transferees.

With the standardised English Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA), she enables employers to determine the ‘literacy comfort zone’ of their workforce and promotes finding solutions to identify strengths and weaknesses for development in Language Transferees. Solutions are focused to optimise communication and participation in an organisational context. ELSA is an excellent predictor of trainability outcomes in a formal training situation where English is the language of learning, and also serves to ascertain and verify cognition and proficiency in English skills of new recruits.

She has a passion for efficient design and development of learning experiences and has invested 20 years of experience in training towards developing unique solutions to unique South African challenges.

Zerelde holds a B-Com (Law) degree from the University of Pretoria and she continued her personal development through further studies in the field of Training and Development, obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Tertiary Education with Unisa after which she studied with North West University. She has enrolled in a Masters of Innovation and Technology programme with the Da Vinci Institute and is hopeful to complete her studies with a valuable research contribution.

Krista de Nysschen

Krista de Nysschen is responsible for all ELSA scoring and reports. She has been in the engine room of Hough & Horne for almost 15 years and understands the inside-outs of the administration of ELSA blind-folded.

Krista’s passion is her horse, London, as all who sees her on Skype can testify to.

ELSA scoring

Talita Uys

Instructional Designer /
Content Developer

Talita Uys is a Graphic Designer and a qualified high school teacher.
She believes that creative, quality education is the key to a better future and takes great pleasure in the acquisition of skills and knowledge.

She attributes her current competency, as an online learning developer and instructional designer, to the years she spent in a classroom teaching Engineering Graphics and Design.

Talita did not take her decision to explore other opportunities outside of the traditional school system lightly. She is grateful to have found a space in which she is able to apply her knowledge of learning theory and learning styles with such creative freedom.

Theunis Horne (30 Oct 1935 - 8 July 2010)

Theunis Horen, Developer of the ELSA (English Literacy Skills Assessment), Kaleidoprax, Hough & Horne

The Test Developer

Theunis, CEO of Hough & Horne, described himself as a professional educator-cum-communication skills consultant.

In 1983, after what he described as a "26-year apprenticeship in the teaching profession and educational publishing", he found his niche and all the job-satisfaction he was craving for in the Education, Training and Development (ETD) in the private sector.
He created, designed, developed and networked when he was not consulting, marketing, training, researching or entrepreneuring.

ELSA (eight clones), LITERATI (an indigenous, pre-ABET literacy board-game), and Hands-On English ( ABET I-IV) are some of his better-known brainchildren. He holds a BEd (Natal) and an MEd (Potch), and had a passion for "finding ways and means to lessen the trials and tribulations of language-transferees."

He also believed that 90% of ETD's woes – nationally – can be related to the imposition of ETD on learners/trainees/students who are not linguistically ready.

Not only was he the father of many brilliant concepts and ideas that led to wonderful solutions in the world of education and training, but he was a father to many in people development. Theunis was extravagant in sharing knowledge and experience, and more so in imparting his positive spirit in facing all challenges.

Many will testify to his incredible sense of humour, more so to his ability to always leave one with that ‘feel-good’ about oneself.

Some articles on his Legacy:
Institution specialises in the training of adults - Creamer Media's Engineering News, 20 June 2003, Zeena Isaacs

Shock findings on basic skills – News 24 Archives, 27 July 2005, Alet Rademeyer

Fun-literacy-programme-teaches-feedlot-workers-to-Read-and-Write-in-80-hours.pdf
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Farmer's Weekly, 24 August 2001

Anglogold-letter-of-thanks-to-Hough&Horne.pdf
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making-literacy-dreams-come-true.pdf
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Northern News, 07 April 2006, Erick de Jager

The Support Team

You don’t build a business. You build people, and people build the business
-Zig Ziglar

Inovizion Business Consulting

Gina Mostert

Inovizion is a strategic consulting and coaching practice.
Gina became my business coach, tutor and friend in February 2013. She has managed to change the way I view my business altogether – as a small business through the lens of any full-scope operator, allowing me to discover strengths and weaknesses I didn’t even know of – but making complete sense in the design of the Kaleidoprax turn-around strategy. She has become invaluable as my part-time Strategic Director!

The Design Factory

Nadia Kruger, out soured designer at Kaleidoprax

Nadia Kruger

Nadia is our out-sourced designer and adds incredible value to our brand rejuvenation process. She brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the look & feel of our projects and it’s great to brain-storm in her team.

EOH Human Capital Solutions

HCS is a key distribution partner of the ELSA.
It is an HR, consulting psychology and remuneration consultancy and the perfect match to support ELSA and add value towards unique solutions for unique South African challenges.
Listed company EOH is one of the largest ICT services providers in South Africa and provides the technology, knowledge, skills and organisational ability critical to Africa's development and growth.
The Team of Industrial Phycologists and Human Behaviour Specialists have become more than our clients. Their support of the ELSA have added academic substance, keen enthusiasm and a deep belief in its ability to add value to our society.