The following trainings are regularly provided by Let’s Grow Together! to those working in the Northwest area of Cork City.
Further details regarding the trainings below along with information about additional training opportunities are announced in the news and events section and through our social media channels.
Learning Language and Loving It™ - The Hanen Program® for Early Childhood Educators
Upcoming Training
The next programme is starting on 21st September 2022 and running until March 2024. Places are limited so please Call Grace or email grace@letsgrowtogether.ie or call Jennifer or email jennifer@letsgrowtogether.ie to register your interest
What is Hanen Learning Language and Loving It?
In any preschool classroom, the needs of children can be very diverse, and some can be much harder to engage and teach than others. This makes your job as an early childhood educator difficult when you’re trying to make sure that every child in your classroom is given the best possible opportunities for learning.
The Learning Language and Loving It Program was designed to provide early childhood educators with practical strategies for helping all children in the classroom build language and social skills, no matter what their learning and communication styles are, and even if they have special needs.
The Learning Language and Loving It Program provides you with practical, research-based strategies for:
- Promoting every child’s language development using natural everyday activities, routines and play
- Becoming attuned to children’s interests so you can follow their lead, which is known to foster language development
- Adjusting the way you talk to help children develop more advanced language skills
- Promoting interaction among the children themselves
- Facilitating language-learning in pretend play
- Fostering emergent literacy skills
Program components
- A Hanen Certified speech-language therapist leading the program to a group of up to twenty educators;
- 7 intensive group training sessions (17.5 hours in total) in which you learn through a variety of media and by interacting with your fellow educators;
- 4 individual videotaping and feedback sessions for each educator (educators’ interactions with children are videotaped by and reviewed with the group leader); and
- User-friendly resources to support your learning.
ABC and Beyond™ – The Hanen Program® for Building Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Settings
Upcoming Training
No upcoming dates scheduled. If you are interested in this training please call Grace or email grace@letsgrowtogether.ie or call Jennifer or email jennifer@letsgrowtogether.ie to register your interestWhat is Hanen ABC and Beyond?
Hanen’s ABC and Beyond programme is designed to help educators of preschool children (ages 3-5) promote the emergent literacy skills that all children need to develop in order to learn to read and write successfully.
By taking the latest research in early literacy development and ‘translating’ it into practical, immediately usable strategies, ABC and Beyond makes it easy for educators to build literacy naturally into every part of the day.
Participants learn the most effective ways to promote the following six building block of literacy:
- Oral language
- Vocabulary
- Story comprehension
- Language of learning
- Print knowledge
- Phonological awareness
ABC and Beyond strategies can be easily integrated into everyday conversations and literacy activities, meaning that educators don’t need to carve out any new time in their day. Each strategy is designed to make literacy-learning a fun and natural part of every child’s day.
The ABC and Beyond Program teaches a variety of practical, easy-to-remember strategies, such as:
- Shoot for the SSTaRS – an acronym for teaching new vocabulary by Stressing the word, Showing and Telling the meaning, Relating the word to the children’s experience and Saying the word again.
- Use E’s and P’s – refers to eight ways to extend the conversation to encourage the use of decontextualized language (Explain, talk about Experiences, talk about Emotions, Evaluate, Pretend, Predict, Project, Problem-solve)
- POP – an acronym for Point Out Print, a strategy that encourages teachers to make print explicit.
The ABC and Beyond Program provides ample opportunities for educators to practice literacy-promoting strategies in the classroom and to get feedback from the Program Leader on how well strategies are being applied.
Program components
- A Hanen Certified speech-language therapist leading the program to a group of up to twenty educators;
- 4 intensive group training sessions run monthly (12 hours total), in which you learn through a variety of media and by interacting with your fellow educators;
- 2 individual videotaping and feedback sessions for each educator (educators’ interactions with children are videotaped by and reviewed with the group leader); and
- User-friendly resources to support your learning.
Community Infant Mental Health Training
Upcoming Training
- Expressions of interest for this training can be sent to info@letsgrowtogether.ie or call us on 0216010656
What is the Community Infant Mental Health?
The Let’s Grow Together Infant Mental Health is the first step into the world of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health for those work work in our community.
The training allows people from a variety of backgrounds, including Gardaí, teachers, public health nurses, speech and language therapists and many more, to come together and wonder about the early relationships that babies and young children experience.
The training covers areas including: brain development, attachment, emotional regulation, reflection and how to implement changes in our interactions to support positive outcomes for babies and families.
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Training for the Early Years
Upcoming Training
Please call Kathleen or email kathleen@letsgrowtogether.ie if you would like to register your early years setting for this training.
What is the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Training for the Early Years?
This training takes a whole center approach and involved 4 x 2 hour sessions as well as mentoring sessions to help embed the learning into practice in the setting.
The training is open to all early years and early starts in the Northwest area of Cork City that are working with Let’s Grow Together.
The aim of the training is to translate the science, knowledge and research of Infant Mental Health (IMH) into an accessible training programme which will build core competencies and skills in the everyday practice of Early Years Practitioners working with young children. Early Years Practitioners are a key influential adult during this time of a child’s life as all children can avail of the Early Childhood Care and Education free preschool scheme for up to 2 years. Practitioners that have a core understanding of infant mental health and can support children to reach their social and emotional developmental milestones are less likely to experience school problems later in life (Raver, 2002). IMH training provides a pathway for practitioners to build a range of competencies that will allow them to meet the social and emotional needs of the children that they work with. Positive early childhood experiences promote strong emotional health, while negative experiences can adversely impact brain development, with serious lifelong consequences.
Aims
- The overall aim of the training is to develop an early year’s training model which will provide quality improvement across a range of areas in the ELC sector.
- Developing, support and enhancing the quality of staff-child relationships and interactions in ELC settings through the application of the I-AIMH Competency Guidelines and incorporate principles of Infant Mental Health in the ELC sector.
- This new and innovative IMH training, guided by I-AIMH Competency Guidelines will support early years’ practitioners in the development of their knowledge, attitude and skill development in this pivotal period of early development.
- By building core skills, knowledge and capacity building in early years’ practitioners, this training will support/ enhance understanding of social and emotional development and the important role of relationships in facilitating development in the early years.
- The mechanisms through which training and workforce capacity is delivered will provide insights to the supports early years’ practitioners require to integrate and implement new skills and practice into their daily practice
Upcoming Training
- If you are interested in this training please call Tracie or email tracie@letsgrowtogether.ie or call Suzanne or email suzanne@letsgrowtogether.ie to register your interest
What is the Peep Learning Together Programme?
Who for:
Peep Learning Together Programme Training is for practitioners who work – or plan to work – with mams, dads, carers and babies or young children, to contribute to:
- strong parent-child relationships
- increased parental knowledge and confidence in how to support their child’s learning and play in day-to-day life, from birth to school
- children’s personal, social and emotional development, communication and language, early literacy, early maths, and health and physical development.
Aims – the training equips practitioners to:
- engage and support parents to build on what they already do to enhance their child’s early learning and development, through talking and playing as part of everyday life,
- explore practical ideas, strategies and resources, using the comprehensive and flexible Peep Learning Together Programme,
- deliver universal or targeted sessions with parents and children together, to meet local needs – in one-to-one, group or drop-in sessions; indoors, outdoors or virtually,
- contribute to a smooth transition to preschool or school if appropriate, helping families to feel ready for preschool and school,
- gain a practitioner accreditation unit (optional, see below: level 5 in the Republic of Ireland).
Ongoing support – after the training (provided by Peeple in the UK)
- online access to the whole Programme, including 74 child development topics, session plans, handouts etc. (Trained practitioners can also opt to buy a printed Programme Folder containing all the topics.)
- a range of other post-course delivery support
- Optional: Practitioner accreditation unit – £40 + vat per learner, including downloadable portfolio, support sessions, assessment and certification.
