THRASS TWO-DAY CERTIFICATE,
GTG, SOUTH AFRICA, SEPT 19-20, 2008

Organiser: NAPTOSA

Fantastic! This has been a wonderful course and a lot of things make much more sense now. 

Excellent, wonderfully presented. A course every Educator should do! Thank you, Alan, for being such an innovating catalyst in education! I enjoyed every minute of this workshop. 

Extremely interesting, stimulating and entertaining. 

Excellent course. Needs to be implemented nationally through the Education Department. 

Most enlightening. Having taught English in different grades throughout my 34 years of teaching, this explanation of phonics was like a breath of fresh air! 

Fantastic! What an eye opener. Enjoyed every second of it. Hope this will become compulsory in all schools. 

What a wonderful two days! I have been filled with a new zest for teaching. 

Mind-changing. Thank you for making phonics alive and useable in a very hands-on experience. Looking forward to applying on a daily basis. Wish I was equipped with this 16 years ago! 

Alan is an excellent, lively presenter who knows his field excellently! A course every primary school MUST attend, not should attend! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! 

What can I say but; - it all makes so much more sense! Thank you! Watch us in Pretoria! 

Very informative – every teacher needs to attend. Please get GDE backing! 

Awesome! Thank you so much. Continue to enlighten the world! 

Wow! Dynamic; rejuvenating – feeling refreshed but exhausted. Would recommend to any educator who wishes to strive for better things! 

Extremely stimulating course. Have learned a lot of valuable information. Well presented and enjoyable. Can’t wait to start the programme at our school. 

I really enjoyed the enthusiastic way in which you presented this workshop. Alan, I’ve really learned a lot. Can’t wait to start using it in class. 

Excellent, enjoyable, informative! 

Excellent; informing; eye-opening and has really made a great difference to me as an educator. I am looking forward to implementing all the information that I have gained and putting it into practice with my learners and parents. And to top it all use it (THRASS) to my own children! 

Thank you for helping me to become a better, better teacher. 5 = Excellent. Presenter - 5. Course – 5. Venue - 5. Food – 5. 

A delightful two days. Such an exciting new method which would be extremely beneficial to children. Great to see how much fun can actually be had. Very entertaining! 

Very informative. Thanks for a fantastic eye-opener. THRASS is like a breath of fresh air. 

Very good. Excellent presentation. A great new insight in the teaching of phonics, spelling and reading. 

A fantastic course presented with such passion and enthusiasm that I could only stay awake!  

Very informative, developed new insight and methods in the teaching of literacy to young children. 

This was wonderful! 

Alan is very energetic, enthusiastic and thorough. 

Presenter very vibrant. Knows what he’s doing. 

Excellent. Very interesting. The presenter was energetic and brought concepts across in a fun manner, which will be able to be done with learners. 

Interesting. 

Very interesting approach to phonics – much that I feel could be used with my TEFL qualification. Enthusiastic, dynamic. inspired resources and yet simple enough, and well enough demonstrated to make it immediately applicable. 

Very informative, interesting and exciting. Totally agree to use THRASS to teach children literacy. 

Highly informative. 

Thoroughly enjoyable. Very informative. Changed my outlook. Will implement it. Definitely better than the ‘system’ we currently use. 

Very good! I did learn a lot. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed. Everything went well. I’m really pleased with your work. I’ve gained a lot. I’ll also teach my own children at home. 

Very informative reference to phonemes and graphemes. 

Literacy problem – SOLVED! 

Well! I enjoyed it. Now I understand why Lauren Hill released a CD titled “The mis-education of Lauren Hill”. Some things are a bit unclear but with practice comes perfection. 

Excellent. Have learned a lot and am excited to teach the learners that English can be fun.  Thank you for sharing. 

Very good. I enjoyed everything. Alan’s really excellent. 

Very innovative and interesting. Truly revolutionary. I really enjoyed the course thoroughly and my pupils will definitely benefit from the course.  

Very good! 

Very good and entertaining! Makes me very eager to start teaching THRASS. 

Thank you very much for a wonderful course. It is very interesting and learnful. Enjoyed very much. 

Most inspiring. 

Excellent! Inspiring. Can’t wait to start. 

Very overwhelming. Inspirational. Wish I could have learnt to spell like this! 

Very inspiring and a good wake up call! No more contrived garbage! 

Excellent for Foundation Phase. All schools should be teaching this way. We will attempt to implement at Gr. 8 level and let you know how it goes. 

Excellent Foundation Phase course. Should be compulsory in all schools. Usefulness more limited at high school level. Personally found it enlightening. Gave me hope for my high school learners. Hope to have some learners who have gone through this particular course, at our school, eventually. 

Very positive. Fantastic program and course – brilliant! 

Very enjoyable and lively presentation. Informative with ideas on how to use/alternate activities. 

“Worth giving up a Saturday for”. Beneficial. Phono Visual Methodology definitely works. Last few stages were a bit rushed – the crux of the transition to reading. Course could be condensed with fewer anecdotes, resources presented – but then less entertaining! [“But ALL the anecdotes have good teaching points!” Alan] 

Made me think about sounds and methods I have used and taught, and feel guilty about teaching individual sounds. Lots of fun was had and very interactive. 

Most enjoyable. 

Enjoyed practical application. Really do believe THRASS will help learners and myself a lot. 

Very informative and enjoyable. Excellent presentation of valuable information. Thank you so much! 

I’ve really enjoyed myself and learnt a lot. 

Fantastic. Can’t wait to “jump right in”. You are a real inspiration. 

Informative. 

Alan Davies is an excellent entertainer. Good presentation. 

Alan Davies, your presentation was excellent. I have learnt a lot. 

Very interesting and informative. Definitely addressed and solved some of my phonics teaching issues. I would have liked a bit of “history” and background of the development and successes of Alan and the THRASS program. 

Excellent. Enjoyed it very much. 

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Given me a new lease on how to teach phonics and reading.  

Really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. 

An excellent workshop. Need more time.

An excellent course. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Highly informative. It was great. We enjoyed it. 

Excellent. Really learnt a lot and am looking forward to sharing what I learnt with the learners. 

Very interesting. Well done! 

Very informative. Thank you for a great workshop. It was really an eye-opener. Learned a lot and will apply it in the future. Excellent! 

Worthwhile. New skills were attained and I am looking forward to integrating them into what I already know about THRASS. 

A very informative course which opened avenues for phonics teaching in remedial classes. I loved it! 

Well done Alan. I really enjoyed your lessons. Remember I am already over 60 and I can still cope. Keep it up! 

Informative, interesting, left the course feeling motivated and inspired! Alan is enthusiastic and passionate about his work, hence we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Very informative. Would help with non-readers/weak readers at our school. 

Most informative. 

Thank you for your interest and it was informative. We gained a lot. 

Very good and informative. As a suggestion, perhaps divide the course up to specialise in specific grades, e.g. Grade 0 and Grade 1 together – giving more teaching ideas and focussing on specifically what we need to teach our learners. Thank you. I learnt a lot. 

Very good literacy programme for Age 3+ and foreign students. Feel that THRASS course should be separated into Foundation and Senior Phase programmes. 

Excellent workshop and presentation. Full of fun and energy. Learnt a lot. Love to go to next level. 

Brilliant, exciting. Full of fun and laughter. Learnt a lot! Excellent presentation of all stages. Lots of energy! Will never again tell children lies, make up stories of letters. Would love to attend more THRASS courses! 

Admired your enthusiasm. Encouraged to try and portray some myself. Also reminded how important it is to praise learners and highlight their positive contributions and correct the negative in a way they will be able to understand. Enjoyed! 

Interesting and informative. I enjoyed it. An eye-opener.  

Very informative and enlightening. Hope to make a difference in the lives of our children to become literate. 

I enjoyed it very much. 

I have learned a lot in this course. I think my old style of teaching has been developed. 

Very insightful. Learnt many things – thank you! Alan demonstrates examples beautifully. Keeps you interested. Very inter-active. Brilliant resource packs handed out. 

A wonderful course; an eye-opener to me being a first year Junior phase Educator. I personally think our learners will benefit fully from the programme. I believe that handwriting, reading and spelling is the key to everything. Thank you to THRASS and Mr. Davies to save so many young and old lives! 

Thank you so much Mr. Davies and THRASS. God bless you. I learnt a lot from known to the unknown. Gained new skills of spelling, new and exciting ways of teaching letters. Gained a new way of teaching an outcome to children. Lecturer very good and has an excellent method of transferring information to one another. 

An informative course. As a therapist, I will integrate the THRASS in my intervention. I understand which aspects in perception need to emphasise in order to prepare learners for reading lessons. 

Thank you – this is a great challenge. The know how always gives me more confidence to teach. I am very sure that the learners will benefit a lot and they will for sure enjoy the learning much more, and less boring with the songs and games. I see this as an adventure coming up. 

Quite informative. Can really help with beginner children, as with older children the damage is already done. It has been a great help for course. I teach students doing phonetics. 

Very educative, fruitful, motivating. Facilitator: energetic, motivator, enjoyable. I do hope that next time the number of days will be increased. 

Excellent! Very informative. Lots of valuable information. Very motivating. This way will definitely help us as it is the children’s 2^nd/3^rd language. Alan – you are a wonderful motivator. 

I found the course challenging, motivating and very exciting. My LSEN learners can be empowered with the key to successful reading and writing. What a wonderful vision! Alan Davies is truly a remarkable presenter. 

Fantastic course that will help with reading and handwriting challenges. Learners who could not benefit from remedial teaching especially Grade 7, 8 and 9 will definitely benefit. 

Very well presented. A life-saver and surely will bring lots of changes in many children’s lives and will change the way they see themselves, families, and the world at large. They will in turn create a very safe world to live in. 

The course was so educative and fruitful. I have learnt a lot and my wish is that all the schools be workshopped. Our facilitator – well done! 

An eye-opener. I was given the wrong information for the years of my schooling. Really encouraging  to know that we can make a real difference now in addressing the serious but not unsolvable problems we are experiencing. A very big THANK YOU! 

Alan Davies, Wow… Both days have been GR8! Enjoyed it to the max. 

Excellent course, incorporating key auditory concepts such as memory, sequencing, analysis and synthesis from early ages. These are concepts I am drilling to kids (older kids) in therapy because they have missed these concepts and skills in the foundations of reading and spelling. 

An excellent course. I enjoyed every minute of it. I will teach my children with pride, knowing that I’m doing the right thing! 

I enjoyed the lessons. Alan, you did well. You are a good presenter and I hope that each and every school in South Africa will implement THRASS.

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