Sounds for Hope US
By Alice Moore
Every day in the newspapers and on the news we see concern for students who are distracted and unable to concentrate on their studies at school. At the most extreme, students are suffering from ADD, ADHD and other disorders where they are being medicated to help them focus and learn effectively which is only one solution to putting our brains in a balanced state.
We all know there are many reasons for these disturbing challenges and many side effects to the solution of medication, although necessary in some cases, this is controversial and not an option for everyone. Fortunately educators all over the world are passionate about additional solutions for this!
Tripura Foundation is a part of that solution. Through our cutting edge science based education: Phonemic Intelligence, we are changing the way teachers, families and students experience learning and education all over the world. I have had the amazing opportunity this year to work with Tripura Foundation and to pilot Phonemic Intelligence programs in the US.
In my hometown of San Francisco, we have been piloting our programs at several public schools and after school programs where students and teachers are challenged with overwhelm, anxiety and frustration about achieving all that they need to do in a given school day. In addition students face serious financial and emotional pressures that interfere with the ability to succeed at school.
Before our pilots, teachers say: “There is no time, no time to do all we need to do, we just cannot add another lesson.”
These feelings of constant overwhelm and anxiety, create a stressful environment for learning, for the teachers and the students.
We have a solution to support our teachers to create healthy environment for learning.
We encourage the teachers to put the core technique as a priority, setting a specific time each day to practice, so it’s just part of the routine. It takes less than 10 minutes. The results of this structure and continued practice are beneficial and essential for success and progress.
After a few weeks of regular practice teachers report that they now look forward to practicing the brain strengthening core technique and if they forget for some reason, the students are the first to remind the teacher: “Hey, we need to do our brain exercises!”
At Spring Valley Science Elementary School, in San Francisco, 2nd grade teacher Courtney Cook reports that her students become calm, focused and ready to learn after they practice the less than 10 minute core technique of Phonemic Intelligence, a simple brain strengthening exercise using vocalization of sounds and hand gestures. Her daily practice happens after recess. “It regroups them after they have been outside playing, gets them focused and ready to learn”
No one can deny the change everyone feels in the room from after the exercise. Students are smiling, energized and ready to study. It just makes sense!
To learn more about our pilot programs in the US, contact us at: www.phonemicintelligence.com
