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Welcome back to THRASS GOES LIVE! and the next stage of our exciting journey
from MPUMALANGA to MILTON KEYNES.
Follow our journey by tuning in to our regular videostreams from locations in
South Africa and the UK. See how quickly children learn as they use THRASS and
see how impressed the educators, student teachers and Government Ministers are.
We rejoin a group of student teachers from the University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, and Dr Jean Place on their two-week tour of primary schools in the
UK. The student teachers have all completed a THRASS two-day course and wanted
to see how THRASS was taught in UK schools. The group are now on the last stage
of their tour at Oxley Park Primary School in Milton Keynes.
THRASS Open Day – 29 June 2006
On THRASS Open Day we see the teachers and children all dressed up in wonderful
costumes as various THRASS characters. During the course of the day there are a
series of THRASS demonstration lessons: children acting out a picture from the
Picturechart and then locating the picture on the chart; children extending
their vocabulary using the Picturechart; children using the THRASS Phoneme
Machine on an interactive SMART Board; children themselves giving a
demonstration lesson using the Word Level Workchart; and Alan Davies giving a
lesson using the Phoneme Machine on a SMART Board (the full version of this
lesson will be available for download).
Cathy Higgins, the Headteacher, and Jane Ralphs, the Deputy Headteacher, explain
how THRASS is used in the school: although 15 minutes a day are set aside for
THRASS, it is totally integrated and is used in all curricular areas.
Various visitors to the Open Day tell us how impressed they are with THRASS,
with its versatility, with the interactive and multi-sensory approach it
involves, and how successful it is for teaching dyslexics and children with
special educational needs. One visitor also tells us how exciting she found the
THRASS two-day Certificate Course.
The children put on a special performance of a THRASS song that their teachers
have brought back from the Masibambane township school and present Alan Davies
with a specially commissioned painting of one of the pictures that was taken on
the UK educators’ tour of South Africa.
And finally we see the student teachers experiencing something that many of them
have never experienced before: real snow at the Milton Keynes Snowdome! They are
having a fantastic time tobogganing.
The Last Day of the UK Schools’ Tour – 30 June 2006
The last day of the tour just so happens to coincide with an England World Cup
match day and everyone is very colorfully dressed for the occasion. The student
teachers are reflecting on what has impressed them most during the tour: they
are amazed at just how much the children get out of THRASS and by the bonding
and real friendship that exist between the children and the teachers; and they
are really impressed by the classroom management skills of the teachers they
have seen in action. One of them describes the THRASS Phoneme Machine as the
greatest thing there could ever be for teaching children for whom English is a
second language.
Having just completed their THRASS two-day Certificate Course, the student
teachers have now found it incredibly helpful to actually see THRASS being
taught and admit that they previously didn’t really know where to start.
We also see Cathy Higgins, the Headteacher, and Jane Ralphs, the Deputy
Headteacher, giving Dr Jean Place, Principal Tutor at the University of the
Witwatersrand, a tour round the school grounds – the children’s workshops and
their fantastic play areas. So much has changed since her last visit and the
student teachers’ visit and the Open Day have made Cathy and Jane realise just
how much they have achieved in the past year.
The student teachers have really enjoyed staying with their host families and
doing things such as riding a bike and walking to and from school. And the host
families have enjoyed it too and are really sad to see them go. It’s a most
emotional farewell for everyone.
We would like to express our thanks to the headteachers, staff, governors,
parents and children for all their help with the student teachers’ tour.
If you would like to view the videostreams from the two days, click on the links
below the pictures on the left.
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