Testimonials

What school administrators have to say …

Liisa’s leadership has transformed the literacy practices at our school. She has inspired and supported our teachers, tirelessly providing knowledge and resources. We are seeing significant improvements in our children’s learning, but more importantly we are more skilled at assessing and monitoring the improvements than we were before. She has been extremely flexible and responsive to ensure that professional development was job embedded and just in time learning.  

Nancy Steinhauer – Principal at The Mabin School  

Liisa Freure is an outstanding educator with a passion for learning and teaching. Over the course of a two-year literacy training program, Liisa provided direct instruction to our staff, supported teachers through their lesson planning, observed language lessons and provided individual feedback. Her instructional lessons displayed a wealth of knowledge in the areas of reading and writing that was fundamental to us developing a strong literacy program for our young learners.
Her demonstrations, exemplars, and activities made deep connections in learning for both the teachers and the students. Her breadth of knowledge and passion was contagious and invigorated our staff to take her teachings and put them into action. Liisa was able to take complex topics and present the information in a digestible, friendly and open manner. Her approach was welcoming and warm. She provided constructive feedback while holding firm to the philosophy and respecting each individual for the qualities that they bring to the classroom.

Alana Hepworth – Director of Student Services at Matthews Hall

Thank you so much for a really wonderful session today. I can say that the four hours flew by!

Lynda Watters  – Principal, Junior School 
The Bishop Strachan School  

We really enjoyed having you visit us earlier this week. Thank you for inspiring us and helping us continue down this journey of learning more about our fascinating language 🙂

Rachel Hughes – Vice Principal, Junior School
-The Bishop Strachan School

From people who have taken our training…

As a school, we wanted to update our literacy curriculum and be responsive to the Right to Read report. A few of our teachers had trained with Liisa over the summer, but we needed every single teacher from each division on board to truly make a meaningful impact in our school approach. Through working with Liisa over the course of the entire school year, we are building deep understanding and growing our collective teacher knowledge. We understand the why! We appreciate her experience, coaching, hands-on activities, and virtual models for independent learning. Liisa is both responsive to our questions as they arise, and also fantastic at modelling lessons for us with our students. She is prepared, detailed oriented, and a true expert! We loved the fishbowl activity where she taught a morphology lesson in various grades, and allowed us to watch and reflect. Rather than simply a crash course in structured literacy, with Liisa we are working on developing tools, updating curriculum practices, and sourcing new resources for our school.  

Jillian Green, Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Coach at the Mabin School 

I took the first of many classes (both in-person and online) with Liisa several years ago and it opened up a whole new world for me, even though I’d already been trained in O-G. She takes a much broader scope and really has a tremendous understanding of language, where words come from, and how to support children in learning what seems like a ‘too complicated’ language (but really isn’t if you understand it!) This year my whole school is training with Liisa, and I’ve realized that she has also continued to learn and has so much more to share. It’s like I’m learning all over again!

Carolyne Cybulski, JK teacher at the Mabin School 

I just want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for helping me discover a whole new world! I am being very honest when I say that this course is life changing, not only as an educator but as a human being. 
 
I’ve been talking about the life lessons I’ve learned this summer to so many people, including my dentist, doctor, colleagues and family. They’ve all said, in one way or another, that they can see the fire in my eyes and they can feel the passion I have for the new knowledge that I’ve acquired. I can’t wait for September  Thank you, Liisa, from the bottom of my heart. 
 
I will be looking at taking more of your courses in the future. I can’t wait!

Candida Altobelli – teacher

I would strongly recommend taking courses with Liisa Freure at Fundamental Learning. Liisa supports her participants in exploring the interconnections between phonology, morphology, syntax and etymology by layering historical perspectives with current research. Liisa introduces you to a wide variety of reputable, credited sources with extensive references which allows you to take a deeper dive into the many facets of literacy instruction. Liisa’s courses are a wonderful blend of critical theoretical knowledge as well as the practical techniques needed to meet every student at their level. Liisa is passionate about every student’s right to learn to read and, throughout her courses, Liisa has empowered and encouraged me and other participants to be a part of honouring that right.

Julie Sorhaitz – Speech-Language Pathologist

Liisa’s training and guidance in morphology has made me think critically about the literacy skills that we are building in our early learners. Her focus on structured literacy has been a huge asset as we work on redeveloping our literacy program in Grade 2. 

Pamela Lo, Grade 2 Teacher at The Mabin School  

My Grade 3 students really struggled with spelling this year. They are great readers but I wasn’t sure where to go next with them to close the spelling gap. Liisa has connected me to resources, ideas, activities, assessment tools to grow my practice and support my students. Also, she has helped me feel confident as a teacher with my own background knowledge and lesson delivery.

Rhamiya Thirunavukkarasu, Grade 3 Learning Strategies Teacher at The Mabin School

I am so glad I registered for Liisa’s OG training; it showed its worth in gold starting on day one! Despite having previously completed OG training years ago, I found I became much more formally acquainted with the English language and was able to begin ironing out all its “irregularities” and my own previously developed misconceptions. Liisa trains with such a passion; I couldn’t help but develop a keen interest in furthering my informal education to support this learning (e.g., buying recommended resources, locating podcasts). I will definitely keep in touch to complete the OG practicum one day and to register for Liisa’s other training opportunities, including Structured Word Inquiry! Thanks again, Liisa!

Ally – teacher

The content in this course should be a mandatory component of teacher’s college! This course really brings a critical eye to how you analyze a text and its appropriateness for a student’s reading abilities. Wishing I found this course sooner. Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from Liisa and continue on in a practicum under her mentorship. Thank you! 🙂

Melissa Papaioannou – teacher and tutor
at Centre for Diverse Learners

Thank you for your dedication to the field. I have now been been working on dictation with my youngest son. We had a great conversation about the word usually — and how it is a word that is “used” often. He had written yousely. Yesterday, I was driving my eldest from camp and drove around a hubcap and we again had a conversation that we would have never entertained had I never taken your course. Thank you for opening my eyes into this new way. I am also grateful that I can apply my knowledge to help my dyslexic daughter. I now know that I need to keep encouraging her to keep up her b and d writing practice and not be so reliant on the technology which is the easier fix for school but not a practical solution for her long term:).

Vanessa – teacher and parent

This training has changed the way I think about words. Having taught a structured literacy program based on O-G for years, I thought I had a decent grasp of what these courses would include. However I was blown away by all that Liisa had to share. Your courses have been life changing, and I so look forward to continuing to learn from you and enhancing my literacy intervention services.

teacher

This training unfurled in a way that I had not quite expected. It was inspiring to say the least. It made me feel that every person has hope in reaching their potential, that English language is not random, and that spelling and reading are not insurmountable barriers. Since I have experienced children with reading disabilities and children with dyslexia, I feel that I now have tools, which if implemented with care and compassion, can bring change. I am very grateful to Liisa whose knowledge, commitment and infinite patience during the sessions, has opened up a new world for me.

– teacher and parent

I would definitely recommend this course to parents and educational professionals. Though this course is demanding, it provides an alternative approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling. The miracle is it offers a method where all people can learn to read. It should be required training for all teachers of young children to provide early intervention.

Maureen – retired principal

I am a high school English teacher with over 30 years experience in the Waterloo regional district school board.  I came to this course looking for ways to support the underachieving students who somehow made it to high school without basic literacy skills and I am leaving with so much more than that.  Not only do I feel like I finally have knowledge and tools to help my low students, but you have opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at language.  How did I not know that our English spelling system could be understood by morphology and etymology?  I haven’t been this excited by anything since I saw my first live Shakespeare play.  And speaking of Shakespeare, I can’t wait to share the old Shakespeare pronunciations with my students who will surely appreciate the bawdiness of it all! “There is no darkness but ignorance.” – William Shakespeare

– high school teacher

This course was amazing! Honestly, I have been missing the passion in my teaching practice and this ignited it again. It was so wonderful to be with like minded people who share a passion for similar things. I really liked the etymology piece and I am looking at words a whole new way.

– teacher

I highly recommend this course to every teacher. It uncovers all the mysteries around “literacy” and gives the teacher direction. The O-G Approach is for ALL students, not just those who are struggling. Liisa is so passionate and enthusiastic about it all, that you can’t help but come away totally motivated and eager to try out everything.

Sharon – teacher

This was by far the most enlightening professional development/training I have ever experienced in my career as a teacher. I wish that I could go back and do it all over again after learning everything that Liisa taught me!.

Jennifer Broughton – teacher

Teaching is a process, and this course has truly taught me this by outlining an approach that is diagnostic and prescriptive. My TESOL training did not introduce this concept (a critical point in teaching), nor did it adequately provide enough hands-on ideas for how to teach certain things. This course did and I’m very grateful for that.

TESOL teacher

Taking the Orton Gillingham Associate Level training course has completely transformed my teaching practice. I now see spelling patterns everywhere I look! Growing up and being taught to read with the whole language approach, I never realized how much of the English language is actually predictable and decodable. I am currently teaching my daughter, who has a Learning Disability, using Orton-Gilingham techniques. The multisensory, systematic approach to language has resulted in tremendous increases in her confidence and her ability to decode and write independently. All teachers should have this training!

Lee-Ann Lear – teacher and parent

I feel as if I have been “spoiled/ruined” (haha!) in the sense that my awareness has been piqued. I no longer consider the materials I was using until now to be indicative/ supportive of my students’ needs. I am already reflecting on my current practice more critically and am more sensitive to the academic and emotional demands of my students both in our one-one sessions and in the classroom. I now realize where the many “holes” in my practice as an educator lie, and am now really excited to strengthen those areas with the new strategies I have learned through O-G training. Part 1 has truly taught me to examine/reflect upon where I am taking my students within a given session and how to include supports/appropriate scaffolding in order to get them to where we want to go. I have also gleaned, however, that their learning/progress as learners is not simply a destination but rather a journey on which we are embarking on together.

Teacher

I would highly recommend this course! If only this was an AQ course for teachers! Liisa is so passionate about what she does and it shows when she’s teaching.
I have taken AQ courses with _____ that usually leave me disappointed because the courses are all about reflections and personal experiences and nothing that will really help me while in the classroom. I loved that this course had real content, was super informative and I learned something every hour! I liked that it had nothing to do with how we felt. Every minute of this course was purposeful and well thought out.

Lisa T. – teacher

This was the most comprehensive and useful course I’ve taken. It met my needs perfectly. Liisa’s passion for the subject matter made the course engaging and highly informative. Although there was a lot of material to cover, I was sorry when it ended. I now feel confident to begin applying what I have learned and the incorporation of the multisensory approach, means that I will remember what I have learned. Thank you so much, Liisa!

Linda Halberstadt teacher

I would absolutely recommend this training. The material is challenging and the course is intensive but fascinating and useful. It gave me more meaningful insight into teaching literacy, dyslexia, and life than a whole year at teacher’s college.
It was a pleasure to be part of the class.

Karen Gordon teacher & parent

I would absolutely recommend this course. Many sources have indicated that one of the strongest indicators of a student’s success with reading/spelling is the knowledge and skill of the teacher. It is unfortunate that all teachers do not have this training in their backgrounds. Thanks for being such an enthusiastic teacher, and for sharing your vast knowledge with such dedication and patience..

Sheila Rowe – Speech / Language Pathologist

This course was set up perfectly. The instructor was highly engaging and passionate and provided lots of opportunity for discussion. I’ve been to many a PD course and for the amount of information in this one, it was structured and explained VERY well. I think it was due to instructor’s passion, humour, and good nature. It’s nice to see an instructor , teacher, parent with her WHOLE heart in it! I will bring back rave reviews to our school admin. in hopes that they can send a representative teacher from EVERY grade, to be trained!

Teacher