Teacher Khosi in Wales and London!

by Khosi Mofolisa | Aug 3, 2022 | Education

Wales Teacher Placement Programme 2022

This is Teacher Khosi, the Literacy Officer for Dolen Cymru Wales Lesotho Link. My duties among others are to liaise with Jolly Learning to support Jolly Phonics interventions in Lesotho, this include developing audio lessons and digital resources in addition to the Pilot programme, to support local phonics coordinators to assess and lead effective literacy and learning in their schools. It is also to develop digital capacities to help manage online learning platform to ensure project sustainability. It is also my duty to monitor progress and report to Dolen’s Education Officer through agreed means and adhere to deadlines set. 

I have been successfully doing these tasks through the assistance of my line manager and I am definitely enjoying working for this organization as it gives me necessary support to effectively deliver my tasks

An opportunity to go to London to attend Jolly Phonics Conference, to visit several schools, as well as paying a visit to Flying Start organization in Wales, was granted to me as Wales Teacher Placement Programme funded by The British Council, Wales. This was the best moment ever in my life. It was one of those unforgettable moments in one’s life. Getting exposed to different cultures, norms, and life styles has absolutely enlightened me and made me appreciate the diversity. 

I enjoyed travelling for twelve hours on a plane, travelling via a tube (underground train), getting lost and found along the way. 

Some famous places that Teacher Khosi visited in London were Tower of London, Tower Bridge and London Bridge. Tower of London was founded towards the end of 1060 as part of Norman Conquest. The tower has been used for different purposes, however, today, the Tower is one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions. Tower Bridge and London Bridge have experienced my feet walking on them. All these have contributed to the happiness package I have. 

Each year, Jolly Learning, an independent publisher of the leading literacy programmes, Jolly Phonics, Jolly Grammar and Jolly Music, held a three-day conference whereby trainers and partners from all parts of the world come together to present and discuss the mile stones with Jolly Phonics, the impact the Jolly Phonics made in their schools and/or in their countries, discussing about new innovative ways to deliver the programmes. I had a chance to watch all the speakers’ presentations. I got an opportunity to listen to the keynote speaker Mr. Nick Gibb, the UK recent Minister for Schools – he highlighted the importance of synthetic phonics teaching approach, and that, over 30 years, Jolly Phonics has proved to be the most effective teaching approach. The Minister quoted the book “Why Jonny Can’t Read, And What You Can Do About It”, which stipulates that a child struggles to read and write because they are not taught phonics, instead, they are taught “Look and Say” method, which is really difficult for children. 

One of the things I appreciated much, and learned a lot from, was to work together with the fellow trainers sharing some activities that can made Jolly Phonics teaching fun, interesting and more meaningful. There is a lot to write home about.

In Wales

I spent a week in Wales whereby I visited Flying Start, Cardiff, a government programme which works with children aged two to three, who are from disadvantaged families. Teacher Khosi got a chance to sit down with the Flying Start staff, sharing with us how they operate. The Flying Start highlighted their three key measures being: 

1. A high quality environment for children 
2. High quality people that work with children, and these all sum up to;
3. A high quality experience for the child. 

One of the quotes they stated was that,

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men” 

Visiting Schools 

I managed to visit a number of schools in Wales. Being with teachers and children, participating in the class activities, and learning that in Wales, schools put children at the centre of whatever is being done was indeed fascinating. All the child development stages are being monitored and assisted. There is adequate indoor and outdoor play and learning equipment for children. Children with additional needs are given exclusive attention. 

Children are taught about their rights from the early years of their lives and this gives them confidence for the rest of their lives. Well-being is being implemented in schools which has proven to be the best solution to the long existing challenge. 

Project Management with Dolen’s the Education Officer

Learning from experienced Project Manager was really enlightening. I learnt about how to create a conducive environment for the people I work with, how to be an effective team play, how to get feedback from people I work with. Planning, implementation, assessment, and evaluation of the project were topics covered. ICT skills were also highlighted 

Hub Cymru Africa and Literacy training 

I learned that Hub Cymru Africa is a partnership across civil society, bringing together charities, individuals and partners across Wales and Africa. They believe in solidarity. 

The Dolen volunteers went through with me the Talk for Writing teaching from educationalist Pie Corbet. That is, the teacher tells the story accompanied by actions, using body gestures, facial expression, and voice changing, as to make the story interesting and lively. Teacher does this for several times, then asks children to follow him/her when telling that story, bit by bit. Teacher should emphasize repetition in the story. The teacher draws the pictures of the characters down and learners relate the story looking at the pictures. Children can also be asked to draw those down, colouring them according to their colours stated in the story. All these help children with comprehension.

Teacher Khosi

by Khosi Mofolisa | Sep 21, 2021 | Education

I am Khosi Mofolisa, known as Teacher Khosi. I am a qualified primary school teacher. My first teaching experience was at preschool; this is where my potential was unleashed. It came to my realization that teaching foundation phase is so close to mind, and I did whatever I could do to help the development of the young learners. The was a growing thirst in me to help children read and write from the early years of their lives. I found on google that the is a programme called Jolly Phonics, which is the effective approach to teaching children reading and writing.

Luckily I found an offer to do this course online, and before I could fully implement it to the school, I move to Thaba-Tseka district with my family. Now my new home had challenges as I knew no one to share my knowledge and skills with. Surprisingly I found a child of my neighbour doing some Jolly Phonics letter sounds and and actions. I was so curious to know how she got this, she told me about the Welsh teacher at their school who teaches them. I made arrangements to meet her.

From that time on, she has been inviting me to schools she visits, and introduced me to teachers. I started to volunteer at one school teaching grade 2 learners Jolly Phonics, that gave me an experience. Dolen Cymru Wales Lesotho link supported me with some materials and skills to carry on with my volunteering.

Eventually I signed a contract with Dolen to be a Literacy Officer, to liaise with Jolly Learning to support Jolly Phonics interventions in the country, including developing audio lessons and digital resources, support teachers with methods and strategies to teach English literacy in their schools. 42 letter sounds radio show were recorded and aired to reach teachers, parents and children in Lesotho.

What is Jolly Phonics?

Jolly Phonics is the medicine that cures illiteracy, and any child gone through this programme, excels, not only in English literacy but in other subjects. Jolly Phonics teaches the 42 letter sounds, and each sound is introduced with a story, an action, flash card, letter formation and a song. It is fun, child-centred approach and multisensory; children love it! 

Radio shows

Jolly Phonics radio shows aired on Radio Lesotho and it had more listeners than we had anticipated. Vision Street, a local company that offers services in photography, video, audio recording, film and television pro has done a great job to help with the recordings and editing of Jolly Phonics radio shows. 

Every week I made a summary of lessons played during that week, the summary was in the form of videos to reinforce what was learned. The videos were shared via Whatsapp, Facebook pages, Twitter, and on other platforms. They had more views. Almost everyone that knows me says when they meet me, “Teacher Khosi I heard you teaching on radio,” one would say, “Hi this is Teacher Khosi! Welcome to the Jolly Phonics show when you can learn the skills needed to read and write…” 

My former English teacher said to me, “Khosi now you are a teacher! I saw you on Facebook teaching us. We struggle here, secondary students cry when they are asked to read a paragraph, they can’t decode words. I think this programme can be great for them. How can you help us?” I used to visit reception schools, and when I entered two schools respectively, teacher asks children, “who taught us Jolly Phonics on Radio Lesotho?” with all excitement and joy, they say “Teacher Khosi!” then teacher says, this is teacher Khosi. All their faces were full of joy and asked to read some letter sounds and do some actions. It was so impressive to see the impact of Jolly Phonics radio shows. We are getting radio shows surveys from people from different districts. We are expecting to receive more. And they are all positive. “Yes Jolly Phonics is the future; all learners should be taught Jolly Phonics.” 

You can listen to the radio shows here

In the future I would like to do a lot of educational videos to help teachers with varies approaches to teach English literacy and recruit more teachers to become effective Jolly Phonics teachers .