In July 2009 Alan and Hilary Davies, with the permission of the Zimbabwe Government, presented two-day THRASS workshops in Harare and Nyanga.

The video opens with Willy Dhlandhlara of the Solon Foundation telling us how brilliant the last few days have been. A lot of teachers have been seen assuming new roles, being reinvigorated and almost being born again and a number of them have told him that they didn’t know teaching would be so exciting.

We then hear from some of the delegates attending the first THRASS SING-A-LONG workshop at Ariel School in Ruwa, Harare. Phoebe Musakan, Materials Production Officer (English) from the Ministry of Education feels that the workshop has been quite an eye-opener, a very inspiring course and a very educative one that will help the children to pronounce their words well. She would like to see THRASS cascade to all schools and teacher training colleges in Zimbabwe.

John Sithole, Acting Deputy Director, Education Technology Centre, Ministry of Education, feels empowered and believes THRASS is a good programme that should be rolled out in quite a number of schools, if not in all schools. Language is difficult to teach and a programme such as THRASS gives the teachers confidence to teach the children.

Other delegates are also really excited about THRASS, which they describe as a brilliant programme, a dream come true that can be used with pupils all the way up to university. They feel that the last two days have been empowering and thrilling because instead of doing things the same old way they have seen everything being done with creativity, innovation and a lot of energy which can make learning far more interesting. They are sure that the children will love the opportunity to be active that the SING-A-LONG songs offer them.

Rhodes Hotel in Nyanga is the venue for the second THRASS SING-A-LONG workshop but first there is a visit to two local schools: Zuvarabuda and Mount Melleray, so that Alan and Hilary Davies, and local education officers can see how the teachers have been getting on with help from the Solon Foundation. At Zuvarabuda Primary school we see children singing ‘Ring the bell’ and then working with their Picturecharts to identify the graphemes and words that they have encountered in the song. Their teacher tells us how much she likes teaching THRASS and how exciting she thinks it is; everyone in the school likes it. She received her initial THRASS training at a two-day workshop funded by the Solon Foundation where she received the SING-A-LONG CDs and DVD, and the THRASS Picturecharts and grapheme charts to use in her school. She particularly likes singing the songs and dancing, and so do the pupils.

The head teacher at Zuvarabuda Primary School tells us that until THRASS was introduced the children couldn’t read but now they can and they are very interested in THRASS. The teachers are learning by attending demonstration lessons which they then discuss so that they can improve. As far as the future is concerned, he wants to see if the children in his school will be able to read.

Andrew Chigumira Deputy Provincial Education Director, Manicaland introduces the second THRASS SING-A-LONG workshop and encourages the delegates, many of whom have been travelling since two or three o’clock in the morning, to make good use of the resources that the Solon Foundation has provided - along with the workshop resources donated by THRASS UK. We then see Alan Davies working with the teachers using the THRASS Picturechart to identify letters, sounds and words that they have encountered in the first six SING-A-LONG songs.

Ambrose Nyagwaya, Education Officer Nyanga District, thinks that THRASS is a very interesting and innovative programme and has learnt a lot from it. When he came through the education system he wasn’t exposed to this kind of technology and feels that the children involved are privileged to be exposed to it at such an early age. Patrick Ditima, District Education Officer, Nyanga District, hopes that THRASS will be extended to other schools so that more people can benefit from it.

Among others attending the workshop is Caroline Mati, a lecturer at Marymount College, Mutare, who thinks that it has been the most thought provoking exercise she has gone through recently. She has been made to think and reflect on what she has been doing and has realised that what she has been doing has not really been up to it.

Two teachers from Zambia invited to the workshop by the Solon Fondation feel that they have learnt so many new things that they will be able to implement when they return to Zambia. Other teachers also tell us just how much they have learnt at the workshop: they can now pronounce words that they were previously pronouncing incorrectly; they now feel empowered and they have learnt what fun activities they can do with the SING-A-LONG; they feel happy, exhilarated and excited and are sure their children are going to benefit.

The video finishes with children from Mubeena Ebrahim School in Harare singing ‘Riding along in the bus with you’ in their morning assembly.

THRASS UK would like to express its thanks to all the learners, teachers and educators involved in the video, to all those who helped provide generators when there was no electricity, to Eliada Gudza and Justin Mupinda of World Links Zimbabwe, and to Willy Dhlandhlara of the Solon Foundation for their help with all the organisation.

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THRASS in Zimbabwe July 09

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THRASS in Zimbabwe July 09

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