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Dyslexia Action Week – teachers praise Neil Mackay workshops + extra places created due to popular demand!

 
 


After just three days, Dyslexia Action Week is already shaping up to be an outstanding success, with our powerful new dyslexia song and our nationwide workshops driving huge awareness and media activity, including TV One, Breakfast and TV3 coverage, as well as numerous radio and print interviews! You can see some of this here.

We are also getting incredible feedback from teachers for the workshops being run by international dyslexia expert Neil Mackay. Comments include ‘best workshop ever’, ‘truly inspirational’, ‘full of easy strategies we can immediately implement” and ‘my eyes have been opened’.

There are still a very limited number of places available for our morning and afternoon Palmerston North workshops tomorrow Thursday 18 June! Plus, due to exceptional demand in Auckland, we have now secured extra seating at our Auckland venue and have some extra places available for workshops on

 
Saturday 20 June and Sunday 21 June (two workshops per day)! Please contact info@dfnz.org.nz immediately if you would like to secure a place in Palmerston North or Auckland.

The feedback we are getting shows Mr Mackay has real value to offer in providing realistic solutions to real life classroom issues – with commonsense advice as to how the learning environment can be radically improved by treating dyslexia as a learning preference, and adjusting teaching styles to suit.

Mr Mackay was also interviewed for a pioneering article in this month’s North & South, released on Monday. This eight-page story is a ‘must-read’ and may well be the most comprehensive and perceptive analysis of dyslexia ever undertaken by media in this country. The journalist, Caroline Courtney, has done a fine job of both identifying the issues and outlining solutions, noting that dyslexia brings valuable strengths in terms of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Look out also for comments from our Chair of Trustees Guy Pope-Mayell.


In other news, our brand new dyslexia song, specially written by top Kiwi musician Don McGlashan, has been tremendously popular and is already receiving great radio airplay throughout the country. Free downloads of this amazing song are available from our website – and can be used to inspire all sorts of creative classroom activities – click here.


Called ‘The Closer You Get, The Bigger I Look’, the song was inspired by Don McGlashan’s family experience with the challenges of difference. “As a parent of two unconventional children, I know how it feels when the world is quick to judge someone you love. Rather than write something that asked for help or patience, I thought something defiant, a ‘don’t judge me before you know me-type song would be better,’” Don says.


Also new on our website is our Inspiring New Zealanders page which has some very personal and moving stories around dealing with dyslexia and forging ahead to success. Featuring interviews with people from all walks of life, from boxing coach Billy Graham and Weta Workshop founder Richard Taylor through to Body Art Awards creator Mem Bourke and TV presenter Sian Jaquet, this is very inspiring reading indeed! Click here to check it out.

Finally, if you are not already part of our revolutionary 4D | 4Dyslexia programme then we would urge you to take another look at this! It is designed to provide simple classroom changes which both fit with the expectations of the new national curriculum and will drive the kind of measurable progress required under the Government’s Crusade for Literacy and Numeracy.


Created with Neil Mackay’s help, the programme is also set for an exciting evolution later this year – building in feedback from New Zealand teachers through the current series of workshops, as well as developing a Virtual 4D School that will demonstrate dyslexia-aware best practice. Find out more click here.

 


Kind regards


The DFNZ Team
Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand

www.dfnz.org.nz
www.4dschools.org.nz


 


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