In this paper the authors report on a literacy development intervention in a state, primary farm school in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN), South Africa. Volunteers, who named themselves the "Reading Grannies" were invited by the principal and teachers to model reading in English to learners and teachers who were non-primary speakers of English. The learners were to develop an ear for the language by listening to first language (L1) speakers' pronunciation, tone and expression and the teachers had to improve their teaching from the modelling. The main finding of the study is that the explicit teaching and modelling enabled the learners to understand English better and the teachers appreciated how teaching actively encouraged learners to read and facilitated their understanding of English.