Organiser: National Union of Educators

Wow! Staggering – can’t wait to try and start implementing some of these ideas, but funds are going to be a factor. Wish our government would come on board. Excellent course – dynamically presented.

The course was very interacting and innovative. It provided an alternative route to address learners’ problems. It is a must for teachers in the Foundation Phase. Teacher trainers need to be aware of it and if possible incorporate it in their teaching modules.

Excellent presentation - lots of new and interesting information. Could be offered over more days. Please consider it to get sponsors for teachers whose schools cannot send them on courses. THRASS addresses many of the language problems in South African schools.

Enjoyed course. Learnt lots. Realised my own knowledge was limited. Teaching phonics won’t be the same boring lessons again. I feel I need a lot more practical help/examples to feel confident enough to teach this exciting program successfully.

Inspirational – makes so much sense. What have we been doing for the past 100 years? Challenge to get other teachers to think out of the box. Found huge amount of information to assimilate in two days. Need to undo 40 years of thinking and learning in two days – taxing! Would like to have seen some sample lessons. Perhaps extend.

Excellent presentation! Very informative, relevant, considering and inspirational. I am motivated and feel confident to apply the principles in all the modules I teach. The most important concept I am taking home to colleagues, friends and students I teach is "celebrate". Thanks for a useful presentation and the lively manner in which you sustained my concentration Alan.

Fantastically informative. I am keen to start. It’s huge! I feel quite daunted by the amount of learning for me but together with my children we will get through it. Alan is so passionate about it I’m glad we all got to go on the course because that enthusiasm doesn’t always carry through with new knowledge to a second person. Thank you – I feel like a young teacher again – full of excitement and enthusiasm.

I was enthralled by the plethora of information and entertained by the very dynamic presenters! This system certainly answered a lot of questions about basic English teaching. My colleagues and I were constantly discussing ramifications and applications and are very exited. As someone who battles with spelling and writing (and has a child with similar difficulties), I can see the value of this.

Very informative. Very different from what I was taught at the Training College. I can’t wait to put it into practice. An excellent way of teaching phonics, language, spelling and reading. Thank you so much.

Refreshing, inspiring and extremely valuable. I feel enlightened and empowered, only frustrated that I can’t get going with immediately! Alan you are an outstanding presenter.

Very informative.

THRASS is indeed a paradigm shift. I can see the potential if introduced whole school. Training for Headteachers on managing and making decisions about resources would be helpful as teachers on their own are relatively powerless to implement whole school change. In South Africa I have a concern that the vast majority of teachers speak English as an additional language. Teaching requires a thorough knowledge of the second system and most teachers would require more than a two-day course to have the knowledge necessary to implement THRASS. I would like to see an obvious link to THRASS as part of a reading programme.

Excellent cannot wait to begin this programme in my class.

Mind blowing. Can never go back to teaching the old way.

Absolutely mind-blowing! Teaching literacy/phonics will never again be the same. Thank you for answering questions that always lingered in my mind and has been a mystery. It’s absolutely revolutionary! I never felt like falling asleep and have been "with you" all the time – well presented! A BIG THANK YOU!

I found the presentation very exciting because of Alan and Laola’s enthusiasm for the subject. Excellent audience participation. It seems as though all the skills that I do with the kids I see (I’m an OT) – are covered in this THRASS course. So basically you’re offering "therapy" to everyone – a strategy that can’t go wrong! Excellent concept. I’m very impressed with the detail and thoughts of the programme.

I gained insight into a valuable programme. I would need a lot more hands practical working myself to feel confident enough to implement the entire THRASS programme. It makes good sense to introduce graphs, digraphs etc. so children can be exposed to everything as is! English is a hard language to teach and learn, but can be made easier by using the best resources available.

I feel it is a wonderful system. It could really make a difference in a teacher and a pupil’s life. The course was well presented. It was intense and is really something to think about. I am glad that it is something that a concerned parent could use at home with their child. I am concerned that it may be difficult to implement as our system is "stuck" on the old. I would love to have some more practical help with using this in my class. It is and puts a new emphasis on educating teachers.

Very good – I have really enjoyed it. At times I couldn’t follow everything, but because of the repetition built into the course, things would become clearer. Well done and thank you. I am looking forward to learning more from the internet web site.

At last, a programme that helps the teacher in class with answers with the difficult questions asked by learners. Why can’t I spell it this way? And you try, sidelie the lesson because we did not know! This programme links all stages within a school; many schools are separated because of difficult viewpoints.

Alan kept my attention. He made the course interesting and amusing. Ideas are very good but then the whole school has to go over to it and this will happen slowly. Will like to use it in my vocab. period once a week. Little bit too much information being "squashed" into a little time. Excellent. Thank you!

Makes excellent sense! Thank you. I am eager to implement this method in my class and feel the entire school should "buy in" to this system.

It was great to find a reading and spelling approach that, within an hour had definitely convinced me that it could help all our learners despite their home languages. Thankyou for the input. I am looking forward to applying what I have learned next year at our school. God bless.

Very informative. This is what I call "the whole language approach". Course well presented. Will implement in classroom. A great way to teach phonics as opposed to one letter making one sound.

Very impressed with this fresh approach. Can see definite application for children with learning difficulties. Many of the dyslexic children that I work with will definitely benefit.

I have been doing similar work in the past but have needed to constantly look for the "missing bits". THRASS puts it all together for the first time! Thank you for a wonderful two days. I feel relieved to have something to turn to and empowered to go out there and conquer reading, spelling and handwriting. I’m interested in taking this further. Please contact me.

This was a great course. I am thrilled that THRASS has come to South Africa and hope that many more schools introduce this system. It is logical, fun and required children to understand only a few rules to enable them to read and spell rather than the other systems which have many rules and irregularities. It has helped my own children (both dyslexic and non-dyslexic) and hope that many more children in South Africa are fortunate enough to be taught the letters and sound of English in this way.

Appreciate the enthusiasm and energy from a passionate speaker! The reinforcement of content and concepts helped our understanding of the programme (and avoided a "mental meltdown" that was possible on a Friday after a busy week at school!) The practical and versatile pointers can already be applied, when I get back to the classroom which is great. The course material is of a high standard and I greatly appreciate the quality of resource materials. Thank you for being well prepared and sticking to the programme’s time schedule. It’s about time we discussed this at a whole school level and I’m excited about the prospects for our schools.

Excellent method of teaching reading and spelling. Wish I had it as a child! With respect to writing – bring in earlier with letter or alphabet recognition. If done kinaesthetically they will find it quicker on chart. Grouping of letters is important when learning formation. Would have liked to see a little more how you would have used chart if have a new difficult spelling word when in Grade 3 or 4 that has many digraphs and trigraphs in it. Thanks for a lovely course.

A wonderful way of teaching reading, spelling and handwriting. We will be bringing fun back into teaching English. Thankyou for such a well-presented course. Can’t fault it!

It was great to hear and see the THRASS program. I am amazed at this new concept of teaching handwriting, reading and spelling. I am looking forward to seeing the program put in use e.g. video make of course has been presented to Orange Farm. Am also embarrassed at having taught Letterland and have realised how inferior it actually is. Alan did a great job of presenting this course. His enthusiasm is boundless and is wonderful to listen to. Thanks for two great two days.

FANTASTIC! A lot of information in two days. Support and more training would be great.

Alan, thanks for being so dynamic. I BELIEVE IN ALL CHILDREN BEING ABLE TO READ. Unfortunately, the reality is that there is a great need to "FIX" this problem. I will share this with my colleagues and hopefully be able to encourage them to buy into this way of teaching. I have learnt a lot these past two days and will certainly attend future course. THANKS SO MUCH! Good luck for all future endeavours.

Wow! What an eye opener! I was unfortunately one of those who trained with the dinosaurs! – had no phonics training, therefore learnt so much. This sure will bring phonics teaching so alive! – can’t wait to try it out! I am sure this method will open up a new world to our L.D. who are so disadvantaged by not being able to read or spell. I sure hope I’ll be able to convey this as well as we’ve experienced. Will have to study the concept well not to spoil the experience. Our OT’s and speech therapists will really enjoy this. Thanks Alan – wonderful.

We have to do a 180-degree turnabout, but it has to be done! As an L-SEN schoolteacher I feel we will minimise traditional areas of problems which our learning-disabled children experience. A knock-on effect will be the children’s improved confidence. We would love to be a demonstration school for other L-SEN schools. Will definitely urge our speech and occupational therapists to attend the course. What about our GDE District Officials – do they know about THRASS? Thank you. It was fabulous!

What a super course. I now feel confident, when asked what view of reading/spelling I prescribe to, to say THRASS and proudly say what a great system it is! Alan Davies is wonderful. What a public speaker! Thank you for a great two days!

What a fantastic, innovative teaching strategy. It is a very exciting prospect to implement this. Thanks for equipping me with the tools to teach optimally, and help children learn from different backgrounds. Alan is a fantastic, enthusiastic speaker who kept my full attention for the duration of the course.

Brilliant! Fascinating – I tried it with my pre-school grandchild last night and he was thrilled that he could read! It worked – can’t wait to try it with our Grade R’s in Soweto where I’m sure it’ll be a great success. I was blown away by so many new ideas – loved the idea of only pointing out the small error.

A wonderful approach to the teaching of literacy! Finally, I know where those spelling and reading errors come from and how to help the children overcome them. I would appreciate a more detailed implementation of grass roots level, i.e. Gr 1, 2, 3 – specially useful for Grade progression. Thanks.

Alan you were extremely motivating and convincing! I’m sold on the ideas but here is my wish list: - A more detailed implementation programme showing grade progression and implementation within the foundation phase (the "THRASS 15 minutes a day" may be the answer!?). A more affordable version. Thanks for a well planned, interesting thought provoking, paradigm shifting experience.

THRASS is (finally) the answer to the many years of illogical English teaching, which dis-enfranchised so many. The course was presented very well. The dynamism of the presenters contributed to the amazing contents of the course.

A fantastic course and I feel privileged to have been one of the teachers to have gone on the course. It now enables us as teachers to give children the whole picture and betters skills with which to teach phonics. Not only are we now able to teach children to spell better but we are also incorporating so many other skills e.g. spatial awareness, sequencing, patterning, memory etc. without realising it.

A well presented course. Most dynamic speaker. Learnt a lot about sounds, analysis etc. Look forward to hopefully implementing this programme from the foundation phase upwards. Thankyou.

I found the THRASS course very informative as well as enjoyable. Much of what I learnt I am taking back with me with great excitement and enthusiasm. I did, however, find the amount of information quite daunting and at times I was left with some questions as to how to bring across to the learners the "whole" programme and where to start.

A wonderful concept. However, much time will be needed to be more familiar and confident with the programme. Many questions .. Will be spending much time on the site on Internet. Thank you for this new innovative way of dealing with phonics.

Think it was a very good course and an excellent approach to learning phonics. Think it will help tremendously with language impaired children. Excited to use it with them!

This has been a superb course. I have finally realised why children spell the way they do. It has been good to see a new approach to spelling, which is not threatening to learners. I think that given this new approach there will be children who will be glad to see the choices. It has also been great to have been able to do this course as a whole school. I look forward to implementing this next year!

Pleased we are going to do this as a whole school. I feel that that’s the only way to do this. Pleased my children will be taught this method. Makes a huge amount of sense. Even happier that they haven’t been exposed to "Letterland" yet. Great potential, sometimes a little confusing, but I’m sure all will be OK. A very entertaining and enjoyable course. Lucky to be at a school that is offering this new method.

I enjoyed the course and learnt a great deal. Sounding out words and having spelling choices would have certainly benefited me and my children, as my spelling has never been good. I will certainly make use of this system even though I do not teach English.

This was a great course. I am a second year teacher and it really has helped me to understand phonics in depth. It has also encouraged me to get enthusiastic about teaching phonics, handwriting and spelling in a fun way. Great to have the opportunity to learn these great things.

Thanks Alan for a most informative course, and most dynamic presentation. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to implementing it in all Grades next year. The approach just makes so much sense and I know it will make all aspects of language come alive to our learners. All the effort that has gone into this programme and all the resources are appreciated! I am inspired to start trying it in Afrikaans too!

Leant a lot and enjoyed myself. Thankyou.

The course was superb. It gives us new dimension on teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spelling skills. It is more advanced compared to the old phonics. I believe children are going to learn better and develop good skills through learning. I believe there will be a good success to all the schools who are going to use these methods.

Excellent presentation. A wealth of information imparted. Very excited to implement the approach in 2006 – wish us luck! It can only improve the levels of reading and spelling.

A worthwhile course that has changed my way of thinking. Even went home Friday night and tried it on my own children. Feel inspired and want to go back into the classroom a.s.a.p. and implement the programme. Thank you so much for your energy.

Very exciting. A good product to help many learners and educators in Literacy. Both learner and educator friendly product. Thankyou.

Excellent – most informative. I am currently working in an Intermediate Phase department at my current school. Have not worked with phonics before and as an adult I had to "THINK" carefully. Well done and thank you Alan. A privilege to have you present at course.

Enjoyed course. Covered all aspects really well. In some areas it would have been better if the group could have been split into Foundation Phase teachers in one group and others (intermediate phase, high school) as it moved a bit slowly, if, for example, one was fine with articulation. Thank you for a fantastic teaching tool.

Thank you so much for a most exciting breakthrough in English literacy teaching. You, Alan, have kept it very up beat and humorous! I certainly will go back and promote this programme and would love to pilot it with one group vs. our phonic programme! (Letterland). Thank you so much.

It was wonderful to hear Alan himself presenting the material that he has developed. It makes such sense and I cannot wait to start using THRASS! Thankyou.

The course was very informative, an eye-opener. A lot of valuable information and useful techniques were conveyed. It has personally empowered me and given me confidence with phonics. It was time well spent. Thankyou.

Very interesting. I am now able to teach phonics to my class.

Very informative and well run. I feel more qualified to teach in a class of widely differing abilities and language abilities.

Excellent! Really feel it is the answer to a lot of issues and problems. A huge task now falls on me as an educator to motivate my superiors/school to investigate it further so that it can be implemented a.s.a.p.

Very interesting. Great to think that as a high school teacher, who has not been trained in the teaching of phonics – I now have an understanding of the basics, as well as the tools to do something about it.

S-U-P-ER-B!

A truly worthwhile experience and time well spent. After attending this course there is NO WAY that our school can combine teaching phonics the way we have. I will make it my mission to set about a process of change that will make a world of difference to our learners. Thank you for making this course so interesting and the wealth of knowledge you shared with us proved the value of making the change!

I really enjoyed the course. It was very informative and I learnt a lot. This method will definitely make a difference in the learners’ reading and writing abilities. I am very keen to try it in my class. Thankyou.

Super Alan! Thank you so much! Very overwhelming, especially since I’m a SP teacher and my "phonics knowledge" is rather limited! Look forward to seeing the results in the Senior Primary, as our school has already committed to beginning the THRASS programme in 2006. Thank you for excellent presentation, not to mention the entertainment.

Overwhelming! I look forward to the "15 minutes a day THRASS". I have been using a keyword system which has worked. THRASS will extend this. A thorough, comprehensive programme. The Guide is fabulous. Extremely well set out and well explained. Alan, you are so entertaining. You remind me of John Cleese! Your passion is so evident and certainly infectious. Look forward to starting THRASS. Thank you! Please can you publish in South Africa to make your wonderful resources more affordable?

As a senior primary teacher this course has been a complete eye-opener! After teaching for 15 years, I at long last feel confident enough to help children, who struggle in this area, and with limited knowledge of phonics having not been junior primary trained, and with limited knowledge of phonics. A truly beneficial course for every teacher in every school.

I was struggling to help learners who had fallen behind with spelling. I am really delighted to walk away from the THRASS course with a wealth of ideas on how to help learners reach their potential! Especially how to help them improve their self esteem which is a big issue at this age.

The course has been an eye-opener to me personally and professionally. Hopefully we will be able to implement it in our school a.s.a.p. Thankyou.

I think that weaker pupils would have an opportunity to experience success, thus boosting their self-esteem. Multi-sensory approach is excellent thus accommodating all children with different learning styles. Excellent resources and assessments. Glad that this programme moves away from so much written work.

Really worthwhile course. Enjoyed it and completely agree with it. Looking forward to using it.

A very informative and forward thinking programme brought to life by a very enthusiastic teacher. Feel that the implementation of this is exciting but will involve a paradigm shift for many of the teachers as well as parents. I look forward to finding out more and experimenting with new teaching techniques. Thank you for enriching my own and my pupils’ time in the classroom.

A very well presented course from a dynamic and passionate man. Makes me want to move back to teach older kids! Hope school can implement it successfully. It will be good to all be doing the same.

Has been extremely helpful and has opened my eyes to the different ways we can introduce phonics to children. The course was stimulating and exciting. Thank you very much.

Very enlightening! Extremely helpful in terms of understanding phonics as well as how to implement it. Is a highly recommended course for all grades and all children (all abilities). Looking forward to implementing it. Thankyou.

Some excellent spelling techniques. Refreshing and new ideas.

Thank you for an informative course. You have supplied a lot of useful information to be implemented for all age groups. Lots of food for thought.

Great course. User friendly product. Can’t wait to implement it at school. Thankyou.

I found the course to be extremely interesting. I am, however, anxious about how to implement it in our school. We need a repeat of this course so that other members of our staff could attend.

Thank you for a fantastic course. It brings on a new meaning for reading and writing. I’m sure that many aspects of this course will be implemented in my pre-school and special needs classes.

Excellent presentation! Very well explained – A programme we will certainly follow at our school.

Excellent course. Good Programme. It will definitely help children to read, write and spell better as they will be able to use the various choices that they have. Definitely worthwhile.

Excellent approach to the teaching of language. Hopefully it can be implemented with the support of the whole school. Need more time on the articulation of the phonemes. This approach would definitely become a pre-requisite when choosing a school for my child. Thank you for a well planned, well organised and enjoyable course.

Excellent, I can now help my own LETTERLAND son. However, I feel that more support and or time should be spent on analysis and synthetic approach concerning phonemes. I am a THRASS supporter!

Very informative, thought provoking material. Made a lot of sense and motivated me to change my teaching methods in remedial work after 30 years! Enjoyed presenters style and humour – kept lectures alive. Looking forward to trying out THRASS.

Seems so obvious – what took so long for someone to devise this system? Looking forward to experimenting with THRASS in the classroom. Like the flexibility of THRASS. Alan, excellent presenter. Maintained audience attention made it fun and humorous, so confident and enthusiastic.

This was a fantastic course. Alan is an enthusiastic facilitator and he helped us to ‘see’ different approaches to teaching Literacy – which were never ‘really’ considered before. I love the practicality of this phonics programme and am certainly very excited to share this with others. Thankyou for this worthwhile experience.

Inspiring. Two days – very crammed maybe a three-day course. There is so much to take in.

I’m extremely impressed and very enthusiastic about implementing what I have learnt. Alan is very dynamic and inspiring. Good luck for the future.

A wonderful challenge to take back to my own children and pupils. Thank you for giving us a mind-boggling course – but one that I can go and use immediately to remediate and teach English. Best of luck for the future development – look forward to the ‘15 minutes a day’ with THRASS.

Fantastic – Alan you were so practical and gave us hands on ways of implementing THRASS – I can’t wait to implement this in my school, convince the rest of our staff and get the Governing Body to fund training and resources. Thank you so much.

Worth every minute and every penny. A revolutionary course. Thank you, Baie dankie, Mille grazie. We can’t wait to implement THRASS.

Thank you Alan for a dynamic course and your wonderful sense of humour. As a remedial teacher as well as Head of Department, I see the need for this programme. I have seen Phonagraphix but it is not a patch on THRASS. Now I want all staff to do the course. Thank you.

I realise that Letterland does not work but I did not know what to do about it. I enjoyed the course especially the way it was presented. I feel a bit bombarded and overwhelmed with information. I am looking forward to doing THRASS with my granddaughter.

Given me a new perspective to teaching reading and spelling skills. THRASS has given me a great deal to think about. I feel very positive about THRASS. Thanks.

A wonderful, refreshing outlook on phonics. There is hope for many learners who can now apply a more lateral/creative thinking approach to learning. There has been masses of new information, now I have to play and assimilate all this new information. As you mentioned – all the structure of the course results in a new freedom in language use! Thanks to all of you.

Very good presentation of the course. Can help all the learners now to understand phonics better. The course also helps with the integration of Handwriting Skills and Reading which are very important skills to our Learners. Learners will also enjoy this course. THRASS is a good programme.

The course makes good sense! Children are not stupid – they know there are 26 letters in the alphabet – they also know what they are called! At long last we can stop muddling them up!

THRASS has a great many wonderful ideas. I do believe teaching children this way will improve knowledge and spelling as well as reading and writing tremendously. I enjoyed the course thoroughly but money will be an issue and the entire foundation phase needs to implement the programme. I do hope I will be able to use some of the ideas within the classroom. I would love to implement.

Makes a lot of sense and I can see it working well but all equipment is needed which works out to be very expensive to provide for whole of foundation phase. Will be able to make good use of it with my remedial pupils (one on one). A much more approachable method to sounds which will make more sense to pupils and should help pupils struggling with reading and spelling.

We were not aware that the course was for a particular scheme. We thought it was a general course on how to teach spelling, phonics, writing and reading. The scheme is excellent and hopefully the school will be able to buy into it. Certainly the heads of department should be exposed to the course.

Enjoyed the course and know that this approach makes good sense. Just a pity that to implement it there is quite a large financial outlay. We were unaware of this when we signed up. I am now really keen to get it going and really hope that we will be able to persuade our head teachers to allow us to implement it. It is a logical, ongoing process that will allow learners to progress at their own rate.

I feel like I have a foundation to work from after this course. I have something to work from and a ‘platform to build on’. Enjoyed the second day discussions! Hope our whole school will soon make THRASS part of the school policy. I’m very excited! Thank you for a great course and great eats!

As a High School teacher I come across a large number of pupils who have problems with both spelling and reading. I do believe THRASS will be beneficial in helping the pupils understand why they are making these mistakes and make the correcting of these problems far easier to understand and remember. The course was very thorough, covering lots of information effectively in a short time, it’s easy to understand and gives me hope for solving the senior pupils’ bad spelling habits! Thanks.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Have struggled to teach spelling. While I try to correct and assist poor spellers, I feel that I now have a useful (truthful!) approach. Felt course was geared at primary schools and would’ve enjoyed a clearer instruction (ideas) for high school. Will look out for the Orange Farm video.

More information needed on reading comprehension in THRASS course. I am really impressed with spelling skills that we can use with learners. An enjoyable course. Thankyou.

It was an informative course. I really enjoyed it since I am a Zulu speaking person and English is my second language. Now I know how to pronounce some words correctly, although I am still not sure about the vowel chart, second row and second block, but I really enjoyed it!

Excellent! Starting with no knowledge and now feeling absolutely confident. Back-up materials are excellent. Very informative, but also lots of fun – stories and anecdotes really added dimension

THRASS was an outstanding course. It has been very worthwhile! I have gone away with a lot of new ideas to "empower" the kids I teach! I look forward to teaching this "method" in the classroom! I am a first year teacher, and wish I had had this training before I entered the classroom. Alan’s presentation "skills" very entertaining and kept me focussed throughout the course.

A dynamic facilitator who made the course well worth it. An eye-opener as far as teaching phonics is concerned! Would be great to implement in all schools – now just to get that interview with the Education Minister and convince her! Uniformity in our education system will definitely be a plus for literacy in South Africa! It should not only be made available/affordable to the so-called "advantaged" – everyone should be given the chance to "THRASS it"! Thanks for a memorable 2 days!