THRASS TWO-DAY CERTIFICATE,
BIRMINGHAM, JULY 6-7, 2006

Why was this not taught to me earlier? Brilliant course. Alan knows his subject well and can deliver excellent teaching sessions. I will be using this with my own child as well as with my older students.

A thoroughly enjoyable informative course. Looking forward to implementing it!

Fantastic course content. Very informative and interesting. Extremely inspirational.

Learnt loads to take back and work with the children. Always wondered how I learnt to read and write! The course was full of information, put over in a fun and easy manner.

Excellent course. Some great ideas to use across the whole key stages.

Interesting ways of teaching THRASS to all children of different ages. Good ideas for assessment.

Lots of super ideas and resources to use in the class for teaching children these strategies. It helped me to understand more about my own reading and spelling and how we can use this to help the children.

An excellent course. The 10 stages are new and gives a great foundation for implementing THRASS in school. Very glad that Alan showed the ‘pit falls’ in other schemes. Very interested in Phoneme Machine (and how cheap it is!). This course has really gripped the staff and got us ‘talking’ about phonics etc. Hoping to have one approach (THRASS) going through our school very soon! Thank you!

Really great. Can’t wait to get started with my son and hope he will start the next school year with new found confidence!

I found this very enjoyable – many thanks for such a lot of information in such a short time. Very keen to share this with my grandchildren as well as our KS1 children in school.

Very informative. Lots of exciting ideas to use in school. Good resources. Excellent presentation.

Extremely enjoyable and informative course.

Found this course interesting and will be looking forward to using the games on the internet. THRASS will be very useful for early learners like children from abroad, and also for special needs.

An intensive two days work covering a wide range of uses and applications giving a great deal of material for thought. A very enjoyable series of sessions. Interesting and engaging presentation inspiring some changes to the/my approach to teaching English.

Excellent. Really good content, liked the simple resources. Whole idea is brilliant. Makes sense! Really looking forward to trialling it in school before implementing it across the whole school next September. Really well explained. Loved the way it made explicit links with spelling, writing, reading and handwriting. Changed my whole view on many elements of teaching literacy not just phonics.

Thorough overview of THRASS programme. Gained deeper understanding of the English language. Enthused to use the charts more in the early years, using dance and drama. Re-assured that early years practice such as reading stories, poems, nursery rhymes and learning to name letters (not sound them out) is the right way forward.

Excellent! Clear, well structured, well resourced and pitched at right level. Made sense of reading and spelling: a real eye-opener - for children and adults of all abilities including English additional language.

Informative course; enjoyable. Looking forward to using THRASS in the future. Thankyou.

An informative course. Feel more confident about using THRASS now having found out about teaching strategies and assessment focuses. Alan made the course lively as well as entertaining.

Very inspiring. Enjoyed the vigorous pace and interactive instruction – a 3-day course perhaps?

Very interesting and informative. However, a lot of information to grasp in two days. Very happy with resources given, also, with information available on the internet. I definitely agree with your teaching and I will take it on board and hopefully learn more via internet and resources given during the Summer break. I feel it is important that I understand this way of teaching thoroughly before I teach children – practice makes perfect. Thanks for teaching THRASS.

I really enjoyed the course really well. It was very useful and Alan explained very well and made sure we understood. It all made sense. I hope we will put all the information given into practice.

An interesting and inspiring course. I will definitely be implementing THRASS in Reception class. Alan provided lots of examples of how to teach THRASS which would be enjoyable for all pupils. My confidence has definitely grown over the past two days. Alan also demonstrated a variety of ways to assess pupils using THRASS.

Very enjoyable and very interesting. Looking forward to using it in class.

We were “lost” as a school and unsure which direction we should go in as regards spelling and handwriting. THRASS has presented a logical framework for us to work with. It makes so much sense!

A clear overview of THRASS methodology and how it can fit into a school approach.

A good insight into THRASS with great ideas on how it can be used in school.

Very interesting. I thought Alan made THRASS easier to understand. Although we have been using THRASS in school, I did not realise the many uses for the scheme, i.e. spelling and handwriting etc. I am very keen to use the scheme especially the Phoneme Machine as I feel the hearing impaired children can definitely benefit from it.

An excellent and informative course that convinced me of importance of THRASS approach. Very well presented in an interesting, honest and humorous style. Excellent to have resources – the handbook is very important and useful. Good modelling of teaching sessions. Obviously an element of commercial ‘selling’ but honest about it and many resources free or cheap. Hope the school takes a ‘whole school’ approach to this. Thank you and well done.

I have learnt a lot and you have explained this very well.

I have now got a very good understanding of THRASS and I will look forward to using it in Reception.

Excellent. Well presented. Phonics does make sense when you hear Mr Davies talking. I am looking forward to working with THRASS, with children who have great difficulties with English as a second language. I hope that this time next year there will be success stories. Will let you know!

An extremely interesting course – utterly believable (seeing as it is the truth!) Good to see it is a program in continuous development. Phoneme Machine – absolutely fabulous. Content excellent and would have liked a few more tips for teaching it to /working with older children – seemed mostly geared towards young children (up to 7/8). What about 10-13. A little rushed at times though appreciate a lot to get through in just two days. I am inspired and very excited about this – I hope to keep in touch and will be following your program closely. My hat goes off to you for a revolutionary approach to communication skills – BRAVO!

Super ideas for teaching THRASS. Enthusing. Developed own areas of insecurity/subject knowledge gaps. Good to see the variety of resources available and how they can be put to use.

A wealth of information given with numerous practical ideas for implementation in the classroom.

Very useful and I have gained a lot of information. However, I feel that I would have benefited much more by either watching you teach a demonstration lesson, or us watching a demo video lesson. I’m one of those people who learn by seeing the theory in practice. Also, the course would have been more interactive by giving us different activities to model to others, or teaching/modelling different aspects of THRASS. A very intensive course and nice to see someone so passionate about their subject.

This course has been very interesting and I now have an increased confidence in teaching and understanding THRASS. Alan provided lots of realistic examples of implementing the programme.

Course was very useful, some very groundbreaking ideas. We will be inputting it in our school and course has clarified how to teach the program. Found two days very intense; would have worked better if a little more practical/interactive rather than so much theory. Would like to see demonstration lessons to show how to put theory into practice. Alan’s passion was very inspiring!

Learnt so much! – clarified a lot of half-understood knowledge - had learnt from training decades ago about the 44 sounds of the English language – so it makes good sense to start there for initial teaching. And thanks to Alan for his energy, patience and enthusiasm. Hoping to continue to develop some studying in this area … and to get involved with THRASS both nationally and internationally.

The course was delivered in a very professional and interesting manner. Many new ideas were introduced to us to enable quality teaching and support in literacy etc.

Thank you for de-mystifying this phonics teaching thing for me. I feel a lot more confident to work with the pupils now on this vital skill, and also, in supporting my colleagues in school. It’s a shame they aren’t all here to be enlightened. Will definitely do the e-mail course. Love the resources. Thanks.

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