Township ‘Centre of Excellence’ in South Africa will be funded by British Couple
"This gift will make a tremendous difference to the school. We have lots of different national languages and I know that the teaching of THRASS will make a significant difference to the learning of English in the region. As a country we have some major issues to tackle, including poverty and Aids. I believe that, if South Africa is to grow and deal with these issues, our children must be able to confidently communicate with the rest of the world," says headmaster of Masibambane College Darryl Geffen.
PRWEB) June 28, 2005 -- Alan and Hilary Davies, who run a publishing company
in Chester, have been working together to help thousands of children and adults
worldwide to read, write and spell in English using a program called THRASS
(Teaching Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills). In South Africa alone, the
Davies have personally donated £40k to train lecturers, student teachers and
teachers of the deaf and, in October, they will train the staff at Masibambane
College, a school in the Orange Farm Township, south of Soweto.
Masibambane College is located in one of the poorest and fastest growing
squatter camp communities in South Africa. After recently visiting the school
Alan and Hilary, impressed by the dedicated, hardworking staff, saw that
Masibambane could become a “Centre of Excellence” for the region. Along with
supplying a full range of teaching support materials and resources for more than
600 children, they will present two days of training and a further two days of
support, including a day of demonstration lessons.
Masibambane is a Zulu
word that embraces the idea of holding hands and building together. Many of the
school buildings have been funded by the city of Vienna, but more needs to be
done in guiding the school to achieve a high standard in reading and spelling
English.
Darryl Geffen, the headmaster of Masibambane College said,
“This gift will make a tremendous difference to the school. We have lots of
different national languages and I know that the teaching of THRASS will make a
significant difference to the learning of English in the region. As a country we
have some major issues to tackle, including poverty and Aids. I believe that, if
South Africa is to grow and deal with these issues, our children must be able to
confidently communicate with the rest of the world.”
In June, lecturers
and 130 student teachers at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits),
Johannesburg, attended a two day training course in THRASS and, in March, 80
teachers received free training and resources at Fulton School for the Deaf in
KwaZulu-Natal.
Alan Davies, a chartered educational psychologist and
associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, is recognized as a world
expert in the teaching of phonics and has been invited by OFSTED on two
occasions to speak about his concerns over the teaching of phonics in the
National Literacy Strategy (NLS).
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb255639.htm