Liisa Freure, Founder of Fundamental Learning
Liisa is a frequent speaker at local, national, and international conferences, including the Orton-Gillingham Academy, the Learning Disabilities Association, and the International Dyslexia Association. She is frequently invited to present and consult with schools, school boards, clinics, organizations, and professional groups on a wide range of literacy-related topics.
An Ontario Certified Teacher with a Master’s in Education and over 30 years of experience, Liisa brings deep expertise to every engagement. She is an Accredited Training Fellow with the Orton-Gillingham Academy and a Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist, with a strong foundation in Dyslexia, Orton-Gillingham, the Science of Reading, and Structured Literacy. For more than a decade, she has also pursued advanced study in linguistics, the history of English, and Structured Word Inquiry. She served on the board of IDA Ontario for 14 years—including two terms as President—and currently contributes to the IDA Fact Sheets Editorial Board.
Liisa has developed a range of high-quality products, resources, and training materials designed to support learners of all ages and stages. Her work is grounded in the goal of helping students build a deep and accurate understanding of how English orthography works. She presents this content in ways that are intellectually engaging and respectful of every learner’s capacity—regardless of age or experience—fostering curiosity, confidence, and meaningful learning.
Liisa offers keynote addresses, interactive workshops, and customized professional development tailored to the needs of your group. Whether you’re seeking a one-time presentation or long-term support, she brings clarity, depth, and passion to topics related to language, literacy, and learning.
Past Conference Presentations:
What’s Coming Up!?
Consulting and Professional Development
“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
Alana Hepworth
– Director of Student Services at Matthews Hall
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.
WORKING WITH TEACHERS AND CLASSES
Liisa visits a grade one class
I had the privilege of working with a fabulous teacher, Tracy, and her wonderful grade one class over the course of the 2022-2023 school year. Together we explored letters, letter formation, graphemes, phonemes, morphemes, spelling patterns and generalizations, and the History of English. We used use word sums and word matrices to help understand the structure of our amazing language. A favourite activity was finding new spelling patterns on packaging! They truly became Word Collectors and detectives.
Here is a short clip of us talking about mistakes. This was just before we began a sorting activity with the word family <play>. I wanted everyone to feel comfortable making an initial hypothesis, but also be open to the idea that learning involves making mistakes and that is okay!
You might be wondering about my shirt and the black cape. The teacher had introduced me as a “Word Superhero” so I played along and wore my cape for fun, but I wanted them to know that learning is messy and creative and fun – hence the shirt 🙂
A Teacher’s Reflection
Liisa was a “Word Superhero” to my class and she will always be a “Word Superhero” to me!
After my first class with Liisa, I said, “I will never look at words the same way ever again.” And I never have. Her passion and knowledge of language is infectious. I am so grateful my students had the opportunity to work with her. Through my O-G Classroom Educator training Liisa inspired me to challenge my students to be “noticers” and “wonderers”. That is exactly who they were. This allowed for various entry points for all learners and for me to meet everyone where they were. That same curiosity that I was fostering with the students, was being fostered in myself as well.
I have taken many of Liisa’s courses and each time I continue to deepen my understanding of English and how it works. Liisa’s knowledge of the content is broad, deep, and far reaching, but she is also able to embed it in practice that shows HOW to teach it to students at whatever level they are at, even at the earliest stages. I feel so much better prepared by all that I have learned with Liisa through my Orton-Gillingham training and the various workshops. The realization of how empowering the knowledge is gave me the motivation to share what I have learned and the confidence to move into a Reading Intervention role. Liisa’s passion is truly infectious. I am forever grateful to my “Word Superhero”!
Tracy Nick – Gr. 1 teacher – Toronto District School Board