Yolanda Soryl - trainer

An inspiring and motivational speaker, Yolanda's training delivery is grounded in her extensive teaching experience and best practice. She is deeply committed to supporting children to achieve the greatest success in reading and writing.

Yolanda achieved ‘Advanced Skills Teacher’ status for excellence in teaching for her work with New Entrants in London’s East End. Her previous experience also includes teaching at all levels in the Junior classes including teaching in a bilingual unit and as a Reading Recovery teacher. Yolanda is also trained in First Steps and Multilit. She has worked with Under 5's in a kindy, an Early Childcare Centre and as a teacher at Kohanga Reo. Much of her experience has been in lower socio-economic schools, and working with children who have English as an additional language.

Yolanda’s management experience includes Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal, Senior Teacher and as chairperson of an Early Childcare Centre. She has worked on secondments to the Support for Learning Service and in an advisory role to support struggling teachers. An Early Literacy advisor for the Literacy Team for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Yolanda later worked as an Independent Early Literacy Consultant in the Borough and in schools both in and outside of London. Yolanda has trained several thousand teachers and teacher aides in phonics in the UK, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Fiji and Hong Kong.

Now returned home to New Zealand, Yolanda currently teaches part-time in Christchurch. She is a registered New Zealand teacher.

To see Yolanda teach on You Tube

Letter/sound correspondences www.youtube.com/watch?v=P13PA1uFMBI

Blending and segmentation www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwJlPD_tXeM

Early Words www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbUrvZkRTnI

Qualifications

• New Zealand: MA Hons (Canterbury), Dip Tchng (Christchurch College of Education)
• UK: PGDip Ed (Institute of Education, London), member of Reading Recovery Teachers' Network

Publications

• Author Tower Hamlets Early Literacy Support (2001) A programme targeting the children not succeeding in literacy after one year at school who are not offered Reading Recovery. This programme is now in its 8th year in Tower Hamlets and is taught in over 60 schools in the Borough.
• Editor Early Words - An Early Reading Programme (2001) and rewrote it and published as Early Words (2010)
• Training manuals for Phonics Training, Early Words and Tower Hamlets Early Literacy Support.

To contact Yolanda: yolanda@phonicstraining.co.nz

Judith Bremner - course administrator

Judith handles the administrative side of phonics training, organising all the courses, publicity, enrolments and queries about the training.

Judith also has her own business making literacy teaching resources for schools (Literacy First Resources). Commissioned by a school to create some phonics resources after attending Yolanda’s training, Judith was then asked by other schools to make these resources available to all teachers and now includes phonics resources in her range.

Judith is a qualified teacher aide and has worked as a school librarian in schools in North Canterbury.

To contact Judith: judith@phonicstraining.co.nz

Sharon Hartley - accounts

Sharon is the accounts person who makes sure all the invoices and bills are sorted. Highly efficient and organised, Sharon is the person to talk to if you have any queries about payment.

When she is not sorting out the accounts for Phonics Training, Sharon is kept very busy caring for her two young sons.

To contact Sharon: accounts@phonicstraining.co.nz