Extremely informative and interesting. Opened my eyes to a completely different way of approaching English. Brilliant tuition throughout by Jean. Very impressive.

Stimulating and interesting. The information given was very useful and was presented in a way that conveyed scope for adaptation, to suit individual pupils in the school. Jean clearly has a passion for the teaching method and this was evident in the way she taught the course. Overall, I was impressed and would recommend this course to others.

Enjoyable. Like the clear materials. Jean made the course fun. Feel that the CD and music is much too fast for our learners. Is it possible to have a CD at a much slower speed?

The course was structured in a way which broke down the subject matter into easy and coherent blocks, which really helped me to grasp the various concepts. The course was engaging, interesting and relevant. It has helped me to understand the subject and I feel a lot more confident and better equipped to now teach the children. The pace at which the course was taught was also good.

Informative and well-organised. Could have been a bit more constructive, maybe some roleplay (tutor-child sessions) could be included. Very good approach in terms of breaking up the points of learning. Definitely more appropriate way of teaching compared to traditional methods.

An enjoyable course. Lots of reinforcement of ideas. By the end of the course, we were all familiar with the charts. Possibly a few more references to the “Teaching THRASS” text book would be helpful. Jean was happy to pick up on any questions asked. It would be great to have more ideas on how we could use these materials with our autistic children. Thank you for a useful two-day course.

Very good. The teaching was fun and interactive, so it did not become boring. I think it would have been helpful to have an overview of what we were going to learn in each section.

Overall the course was very informative. I learnt a lot and have changed my view of language as a result. I did feel, however, that the structure could have been better, more to the point, and a little faster pace. At points it felt like we were the school children, instead of teachers on a course. Everything was explained very well and clearly, and I’m sure I will find the content of the course very helpful. Definitely a better way of teaching than the traditional methods.

Good, useful information about understanding which phonemes are found in the English language and how they were formed. Well-presented information with opportunities for participation and questions. Presentation was a bit simple for an educated adult audience and materials could have been covered in a few hours, leaving time to brainstorm about how we can adapt these materials to the children we work with. Jean was very friendly and helpful throughout.

Very informative and interesting and challenged a lot of knowledge that I had been taught in the past. As the course went on, we kept going back over areas that we have already covered, which helped me understand it better. Especially as for some subjects you needed more knowledge in order for past things to make sense. I also enjoyed the little games we did, as it helped bring up areas that were a little confusing, so we could discuss them.

Well-presented with many resources and examples given. At times, too much time was spent on certain areas, where it was not necessary. Clear explanations were given throughout and any questions were always answered thoroughly. Less time could have been spent on going through the resource list and only using a few examples for every topic covered.

Useful, interesting and presented well, with lots of resources. A lot of time was spent covering areas which possibly won’t be relevant for our children. I think once implemented THRASS will be brilliant, but I’m unclear on how to start it at the moment! All questions were answered clearly.

Overall, the course was very interesting. It is a well thought-out programme and the resources were useful in presenting the ideas in an interesting way. I think THRASS will be useful in our teaching on a more simple basis and I am pleased that I took part in the training. In places, I found the course a bit repetitive, but overall it was a good course.

Really enjoyed the training – very informative and taught me a lot about the English language. Although I found it repetitive at times, I think it may have been important to ensure a sound understanding of the THRASS system. I thought it was particularly good how we were taught, applying the system to our own names, etc. Even though not all of it is appropriate to the level of understanding all of our children have, it was helpful to know for ourselves, but it may be helpful to target a lower functioning group as well.

An overall well-presented and enthusiastically taught course. Helped with the initial basic values of the course and expanded upon these ideas over the two days. Questions regarding individual thoughts dealt with well and so all concepts fully understood. I do feel that, although it is good to understand resources, it was possibly unnecessary for a section of the course to be regarding this. I do feel it will be a massive benefit to the children I teach.

I really enjoyed the course and found it very useful. A list of the International Phonetic Alphabet would have been very useful. I felt that some information was repeated over and over again, so there were times when I was a little bored. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot!

Very enjoyable course, informing and good food for thought. Raps are too fast – especially for use within SEN. Good ideas for general use of resources and good range of visual resources. I’ve learnt a lot and will certainly feel more confident when discussing phonics in class in the future.

The course was very interactive and fun, a great way for us to learn about it and be able to put it into practice. I felt there could have been more reference to the Teaching THRASS guide to progression and assessment, as we went through the stages. Jean was a great consultant to teach this, with a good balance of fun and theory – kept us attentive and focused!

Very interesting and great to go through lots of practice sessions to understand how consonant/vowel phonemes work with the picturechart. It would have been good to have more relevant examples for children with autism, but feel we will still be able to adopt examples for our pupils. Great mix of fun activities and theory to keep our focus!

The course was very valuable, as I previously had some incorrect views on phonics, which have now been clarified. Some of the games and songs will be very useful to me during class time.

I really enjoyed this course. Well-organised, very informative, well-presented. Gave me lots of ideas for work with children. Great opportunity to learn how to teach young children with special needs.

A very enjoyable course. No criticisms whatsoever!

A very informative course, taught in a fun and enjoyable way. Well-organised and presented. Good ideas for lessons and more fun activities for teaching.