THRASS TWO-DAY CERTIFICATE,
ESSEX, JAN 17-18, 2008

Wonderful course – very clear, easy to follow and understand, very informative and will be well used and received in school. At last I have found a phonics programme which makes sense!

I have been teaching for over 30 years and yesterday the penny dropped. It all became clear. I will be feeding back to my colleagues and recommending THRASS is used in our 15-minute phonic slot. It was informative, lively and not to be missed.

This was an excellent course. As a teacher of 15 years, I have always struggled with teaching phonics and then trying to apply it to reading and spelling and finding that it just doesn’t work! This gives me the “answer”. As I heard my own son read last night and watch him struggle to give me sounds to work out unknown words, it all was very clear what is wrong with a “traditional” approach. There is a lot to take on board, but very, very good!

What a fabulous and well-presented course! You have made so many things clear and have given some useful ideas which will definitely have a huge impact on our whole school. A lovely, positive and enthusiastic presenter.

A very intensive, interesting and highly rewarding two days. Have been given a host of new ideas to take back to school to tackle the old problems of spelling and sounds – sorry, phonemes! Have learnt a great deal even after many years of teaching – and the Phoneme Machine is the most useful piece of equipment I’ve seen. Excellent.

Clear, concise. Good presentation. Positive presenter, ‘upbeat’. Good examples, Detailed. Plenty of opportunity to explain/ask questions.

Really interesting – loads of information and explanation, lots of ideas and practical activities. The challenge is to persuade the rest of the staff that this is the way forward – NLS words and all that. Very much like the linking of reading, spelling and writing in one package. We would like to see THRASS in action in a school – it would help our case (particularly in mixed age groups).

Well presented and a lively presentation. Lots of opportunities to ask questions. Logical answers to all questions. I now feel re-invigorated to continue my teaching to my poorly motivated students.

Really enjoyable. It is so worthwhile. I really feel I can start my class with the right foundation for reading and spelling later on. Hilary is a wonderful, energetic trainer with so many ideas.

Coming from a Special School setting, I think this is going to be brilliant for motivating older children especially with the raps and the Sing-a-Long book. A fantastic two days. Hilary was lively and infectiously enthusiastic. I can’t wait to try THRASS at school.

Informative and very detailed. There were sufficient resources supplied and the Phoneme Machine was excellent! Questions were answered and the course was made fun and interesting.

Very helpful - provided a much more structured format for my work as a home tutor. Useful to have an ordered process to work through with a set of clear targets to monitor the children’s progress.

Useful and lots of information. I feel more confident about approaching the teaching of THRASS Good resources were provided and the Phoneme Machine was well explained although it would be nice to be able to put our own words in.

Great information. Now feel confident to put programme into action. Has increased my subject knowledge also.

Very useful and informative. Many useful activities for use with our SEN Secondary students that they will not only enjoy but will learn from. Good pace to take in all information. Good resources.

Really informative. Looking forward to using the programme more effectively back in school.

A wonderful and enthusiastic speaker! Many useful tips and strategies to use. I would have liked more time on the last session of Day 2 as more time was devoted to the phonemes. Last session was very rushed but overall a brilliant and useful two days. The new ‘Sing-a-Longs’ are fab.

It will help me to teach my EAL students.

Informative. I have found out a lot about THRASS and feel I will be more confident in presenting THRASS in class. I would have liked some more practical activities though.

Excellent. The second day was extremely intense. Thank you for advice, support, listening and a sense of humour.

Really enjoyable. Very useful. Just finished a degree in English and Education Studies so I’m sure this will be fantastic for me for when I go on to train as an English teacher. Fantastic course.

We covered a lot! I have been introduced to THRASS before and didn’t understand it! However, Hilary has been enthusiastic and passionate in her teaching and I feel excited and confident to explore this further.

Interesting – lots to think about, a lot to take in. Lots of practical ideas and good use of the software. Presentation was good and Hilary clearly knows her stuff. Pace was perhaps a bit fast at times and some time to work out how we would do this in our school would be good. Some chances to discuss with others how they do THRASS would have been useful. We have challenge of mixed age groups and multiple intakes – some ideas to help please.

An inspiring and thought provoking presentation. A good fresh way of looking at spelling/reading which our children badly need. So many are struggling – so lets give it a good go! Our school is 95% African and they will love the Sing-a-Long songs. Our children have limited vocabulary and are challenging. They come in from Nursery two years behind in Speaking & Listening. Clearly Alan is dedicated to the whole concept. It’s going to be a while before I fully grasp it all – but I’m open to try. Your input was lively, fun and enjoyable.

Very informative. As a secondary school S.E.N. teacher I found it very focussed on Primary students. Although this was not irrelevant some of the activities/resources that a lot of time was spent on (e.g. Sing-a-Long book) were not really suitable for 11+-age range. Lots of very useful ideas.

Quite a lot to take in! Presented really well, always available to answer questions. I want to go back to school and try it all out.

Very useful and interesting. Hilary made the THRASS program clear and showed us useful ideas that we could take back with us. We were also given very good resources.

I now have a better insight into the THRASS programme. I would have preferred a more hands on/activity based two days rather than ‘sat’ on the whole. I will feed back to the rest of the staff.

Very informative course with some great resources. A programme that is very manageable. Hilary is very passionate about THRASS and this is reflected in her presentation.

Very informative. Will be of great use to the boys at our special chool. Extremely understandable with a good and enthusiastic teacher.

Good resources available. Scheme seems very useful and good way of making sense of English language. More hands-on opportunities would have been useful. Especially examples for use with children who are already familiar with chart, phoneme positions etc – how do you then use it to increase spelling/reading accuracy etc. Chance for those already using to share their ideas would be useful. Video clips of THRASS being taught?

As an overarching scheme I think THRASS will be valuable. I enjoyed the discussions and investigation into academic aspects of language. Session was relaxed and informal. However, it was quite didactic, opportunities for group work would have been welcomed. There were long periods of inactivity (on our part!). Would have been good to see video of how children respond to it.

The course was informative, detailed and opened a lot of doors for me in terms of phonics and the teaching of reading and spelling. It has given me a meta-language structure and a clear route to follow when working with teens and adults in a FE setting, something we are really in need of. Could you develop some materials for adults?

A super two days. It has given me lots of ideas where to go next as we are already doing THRASS in school. A good combination of practical and information.

A really good course. Have got lots more ideas to take into the class and now looking forward to teaching THRASS. Was really good to gain more ideas of how to use resources.

I found the course informative and useful. I will be adapting some things to make it more appropriate for adults but it would be wonderful if there was a set or resources for adult learners.

I have learnt loads. Very informative with lots of ideas to share with other teachers from my school.

Return to TOP

Back           Next