Literacy training for educators
Customised training for literacy support staff, tutors, teachers and parents
Building success in supporting older children and teenagers with literacy
If you’re involved in helping teens and tweens with their literacy needs, then I can provide personalised literacy training for you.
I currently offer two training courses, and these can be held:
Online via a live session
In-person, so long as you’re within approximately 2 hours’ travelling time from Cardiff.
Course L1
LIfTT – An introduction to key concepts and implementation
This course will help you to implement LIfTT effectively in your setting, and ensure that you are confident at teaching the core content in LIfTT.
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Full day (5–6 hours, plus breaks)
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School staff, tutors, literacy coaches, home-schoolers or parents who would like to improve their understanding of the core content of the LIfTT intervention, and who would like guidance on the best ways to implement LIfTT within their setting.
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Why the literacy needs of adolescents are special
What LIfTT is and how to use it (structure, timetabling, planning, resources, homework)
How to assess students for literacy within the LIfTT framework
How use the LIfTT planning tool to interpret data and create an Intervention Plan
How to use the Teaching Manual to plan lessons
The key concepts within each content area in LIfTT, including:
How to teach phonics to teenagers;
How to use word sums and morphological matrices;
The logic of English orthography;
The basic story of English and how it has affected spelling;
Multisyllabic words and how to decode them;
How to develop fluency and comprehension;
Teaching vocabulary with Greek and Latin origins;
An explicit approach to teaching punctuation.
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Yes, I’ll customise the training to your needs. When you make your enquiry, please let me know:
Your setting
Whether you teach one-to-one or in small groups
What you perceive to be the main difficulties of your student(s) (if you wish, send an anonymised sample of their work or data from their assessment)
Your experience (if any) of teaching literacy.
How much does it cost?
In-person
£240 fee for one person, plus £60 for each extra person within your setting (up to a maximum of 6 people).
Mileage over 20 miles from Llantrisant is charged at £0.45 per mile.
Online via a live session
For schools or other education centres:
£200 for one person, plus £40 for each extra person within your setting (up to a maximum of 6 people).
For individuals (tutors, home-schoolers, parents):
£200 for a one-to-one full day training session.
If you’re willing to share the session with other participants, I may be able to offer a reduced rate. If you are interested in a shared session, please let me know when you get in touch.
Course L2
Spelling strategies for secondary English teachers
English teachers are often seen as responsible for improving spelling within their school, but frequently lack training in this area. If you or your department are unsure how to teach spelling effectively and efficiently, this course will equip teachers with a range of practical strategies to tackle different kinds of spelling error.
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2 hours
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English teachers at secondary school.
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The kinds of spelling errors that are often made by secondary students
Why English spelling isn’t ‘crazy’ or ‘full of exceptions’
An introduction to useful tools in phonics, morphology, orthography and etymology to help students understand why words are spelled as they are
How to choose the most effective strategies to help students to spell specific words
How to integrate spelling strategies into vocabulary teaching
How much does it cost?
In-person
For schools or other education centres only:
£200 (a maximum of 12 participants)
Mileage over 20 miles from Llantrisant is charged at £0.45 per mile.
Online via a live session
For schools or other education centres only:
£200 (a maximum of 12 participants).
Testimonials
“Very useful and informative – I enjoyed working with ‘real’ spelling errors from pupils!”
“Very interesting session! I loved the participation! I will definitely try to incorporate morphological matrices and mnemonics into my teaching. Excellent training – thank you!”
“Helpful ideas to use in the classroom. I will use the strategies when introducing new vocabulary related to the learning focus. The training included a good level of participation and active learning.”
“Practical, useful and engaging – thank you! It has enabled me to start matching spelling strategies to specific students’ needs. It was excellent – a highly valuable training opportunity!”
“It was very useful to gain a more thorough understanding of the range of strategies available to us. I particularly like the etymology. The active elements of the training definitely helped to solidify understanding. I will certainly be integrating some of these strategies into my teaching, and starter activities may be a great way to begin. I will be doing further reading as I found it very interesting.”
Customised training
I’m currently developing more training courses, and will post them on this page as soon as they’re available.
Alternatively, if you have particular training needs on any topic mentioned on this website, please get in touch and I’ll do what I can to assist you.