CHESTER TEACHING
METHOD BRINGS LITERACY TO SOUTH AFRICA
Thu 18th October 2007
Chloë Fussell,
Reuters
CHESTER, England, Chester Wire
An innovative way to teach children to
read and write, devised by a Chester psychologist, is bringing
literacy to townships in South Africa.
The THRASS (teaching handwriting, reading and spelling skills)
method was launched at the George Randell primary school in Eastern
Cape province, the fourth to join the TalkTogether programme in
South Africa, on Thursday.
The school will receive training for its staff, classroom resources,
and support from trainee teachers at a partner university through
sponsorship from South Africa’s Absa bank.
“This TalkTogether project is not only a model for change in South
Africa but also for the African continent and the rest of the
world,” THRASS developer Alan Davies told Chester Wire.
The THRASS programme teaches English learners the 44 different
speech sounds and 120 spelling choices in the English language,
unlike traditional methods that teach that each letter has one
single sound.
Alan Davies began to develop the programme in the late 1980s when
his own two children were learning to read. “I didn’t understand how
I myself learnt to read,” he said. “What I thought was stupid is
that children are taught that one letter is one sound.”
Since then the THRASS method has enjoyed huge success. “We’ve
probably trained about 30,000 teachers,” said Davies.
Particularly popular in South Africa is the THRASS rap. Learners
sing letters and simple words set to tunes, accompanied by
traditional instruments. “In townships, kids get the marimbas out,”
said Davies.
THRASS is already used widely in Britain, as well as in Holland,
Germany, the Caribbean and, increasingly, South Africa.
Source:
Reuters.
Right Click
on the hyperlink. Select Save Target As. Specify where you
would like to store the file on your hard drive.
DOWNLOAD PDF
13KB
Portable Document Format
Return to Top |
