THRASS
UK has already been extremely successful at securing
international sponsorship for its THRASS synthetic phonics
programme and related resources. And now the company has
been successful yet again with its new THRASS SING-A-LONG
Family Reading Project that was launched at the end of last
week.
2007
was extremely successful for THRASS UK, with the highlight
of the year the corporate sponsorship of the THRASS
(Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills) synthetic
phonics programme by Absa Bank, a member of the Barclays
Group, in South Africa; THRASS and Absa Bank launched the
THRASS Absa TalkTogether Project in July. But now 2008 looks
set to be even more successful. Absa Bank and Pritt have
just become the founding principal sponsors of the THRASS
SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project in South Africa and major
construction company, Murray & Roberts, is set to become an
associate sponsor of the Project in early childhood
development centres in Soweto and elsewhere.
Absa Bank firmly believe that increased collaboration
between the private and public sectors is key to creating
sustainable programmes that increase literacy in South
Africa and it is for this reason that it last year joined
forces with THRASS UK. The THRASS Absa
TalkTogether Project is a unique educational partnership
that is aiming to revolutionise the teaching and learning of
language in South Africa through partnerships between
primary schools, universities and other organizations. The
project is also aiming to provide a platform to celebrate
South Africa's eleven national languages, through free
interactive software and printable calendar charts.
To
date, over 4,000 teachers and student teachers in South
Africa have earned the THRASS Accredited Certificate, with
approximately 500 having been sponsored by the THRASS Absa
TalkTogether Project.
And now Absa Bank has just announced that, through the
TalkTogether Project, it is intending to introduce THRASS to
1,000 schools during 2008 using the THRASS SING-A-LONG
Family Reading Resources.
The
THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project, which was
launched to a standing ovation at Holy Rosary School,
Johannesburg on 31 January, revolves around 44 songs that
teachers and parents can sing with children to explain the
44 sounds and 120 main spelling choices of English, with
each song focusing on one of the 44 sounds and its main
spelling choices. The songs are featured throughout all the
THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Resources, which currently
comprise a 96-page hard back book, an interactive book and
audio CD, each with vocal and instrumental tracks, and a
colouring book; a sheet music book will be available later
in the year. All the resources are really easy to use and
parents, grandparents, pre-school staff and teachers can use
them to teach speaking, listening, reading and spelling
skills. Older children can also use them to teach their
younger brothers and sisters.
The
THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project is the brainchild
of British educational psychologist, Alan Davies, an
expert in synthetic phonics who has pioneered the extremely
successful THRASS synthetic phonics programme. Alan worked
with a truly international team – a music specialist in
South Africa, an artist in Australia, and a computer
programmer and Alan’s wife, an experienced teacher and
teacher-trainer, in the UK - to develop the resources that
make up the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading Project and so
they should have a truly international appeal.
Janine
Plunkett, who wrote the SING-A-LONG songs and worked with
Alan Davies to develop the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading
Resources, wanted them to be an education in music and it
was for this reason that she decided to write the songs in
different musical styles. They all have really memorable
tunes and provide a good introduction to a large number of
different musical styles and dance rhythms from around the
world, such as African Round, Blues, Charleston, Hawaiian,
Irish Dance, Jazz, Ragtime, Reggae, Twist and Waltz. And
they all have wonderful imaginative titles such as “The moon
fell out of the sky”, “A great big gorilla” and “You don’t
get pandas in Africa”.
Janine
and Alan didn’t want parents and
teachers just to sing the songs with children; they also
wanted every teacher, every parent, every grandparent and
every member of pre-school staff to move to the music
with children to help them read and spell. But they
appreciated that singing and moving to music do not come
easily to most adults, so they created MOVE-A-LONG WITH
SING-A-LONG one-day workshops for parents and teachers, in
order to give them group experience of singing, dancing and
performing actions to the 44 songs. They will be running
THRASS MOVE-A-LONG WITH SING-A-LONG workshops in the UK,
South Africa and the Caribbean, and a MOVE-A-LONG WITH
SING-A-LONG DVD will be available later in the year.
Both THRASS UK and Absa Bank would welcome new partners
seeking to adopt and include THRASS into their corporate
social investment plans or participate in the THRASS Absa
TalkTogether Project and the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family
Reading Project.
The THRASS extensive picture-based training website for
schools and parents with easy access to a wide range of
resources and support materials and extensive evidence of
the widespread success of THRASS is at
www.thrass.co.uk/teaching.htm
For information about the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading
Project, visit
www.thrass.co.uk/sing-a-long.htm
For information about the THRASS SING-A-LONG Family Reading
Resources, visit
www.thrass.co.uk/list2008.htm
For
more information about the THRASS Absa TalkTogether Project,
visit
www.talktogether.co.za and
www.thrass.co.uk/talktogether.htm
For
details of THRASS Professional Development Courses that are
held regularly in the UK, Europe, West and Southern Africa
and elsewhere, visit
www.thrass.co.uk/courses.htm
Issued by: THRASS UK News Media Centre
www.thrass.co.uk/nm.htm
Mike Meade, Media Director, +44 1829 741413 Mob: 07970 151
738
mikemeade@thrass.co.uk
Chris Griffiths, International Development, +30 266 203 1207
chrisgriffiths@thrass.co.uk
