Jolly Phonics Training

The last two mornings have been extremely busy! My colleague, Rachel, and myself have given two training sessions to the parents of our EY and KS1 children about how we use Jolly Phonics in our school.

I was amazed at the number of parents who attended! About fifty yesterday and around eighty today! Quite nerve-racking! However, we have our patter off to a fine art, as we are both Jolly Phonics Professional Trainers in Thailand.

Still, as prepared as we were, with our PowerPoints and video clips, you can never rely on technology! Yesterday went without a hitch, but today, the videos wouldn't play through the projector! Typical! So, I stood there testing are lovely mums and dads on the actions we had just taught them, whilst Rachel ran off to the ICT department to get someone to come and help out! I felt so stupid when the guy fixed the problem with the push of 2 buttons!!

Has anyone else had bad experiences when giving presentations? What is your back-up plan?

I am thrilled so many parents came. Hopefully, they will spread the Jolly Phonics word in Thailand. The Thai schools would benefit from the programme immensely. There is very little phonic teaching occurring in Thai schools. Many teach letter names not sounds! How on earth the young children learn to read and write in English with that is incredible. They have excellent memories. However, JP is very simple for teachers to use and I am sure if the Thai teachers heard about it, they would love it!

In fact, so sure am I about the possibilities Jolly Phonics could bring to Thai schools, after chatting with Chris Jolly, the publisher, and Sue Lloyd and Sara Wernham, the authors, there is talk of producing a bi-lingual Phonic Handbook with the lesson plans written in Thai!

If you would like information on Jolly Phonics, have a look at the Jolly Learning website. Rachel and I are available to deliver training courses for schools and parents in Thailand and S. E. Asia. Please e-mail me.

Deb