Jolly Phonics brings its teacher training initiative to Jammu to strengthen early literacy

• Founder Chris Jolly’s 10-city India tour aims to equip educators with practical, research-based methods to make English reading and writing more engaging for children.

JAMMU: Jolly Phonics, an internationally recognised English literacy programme developed by Jolly Learning Ltd., UK, conducted a teacher training workshop in Jammu on November 13 at Abhinav Theatre, Resham Ghar Colony. The workshop was part of the programme’s 10-city India tour, designed to help educators adopt structured and engaging methods for teaching English reading and writing.

Founded by Chris Jolly, Founder of Jolly Learning and publisher of Jolly Phonics, the initiative brings together educators and certified Indian trainers to demonstrate how systematic synthetic phonics can be applied in classrooms. As part of the November tour, Chris Jolly is visiting India to share insights into the approach and the challenges of teaching English.

Commenting on the importance of teacher training, Chris Jolly, Founder of Jolly Learning and publisher of Jolly Phonics, said, “Helping children learn to read and write confidently begins with giving teachers the right tools and practical strategies. Through Jolly Phonics, we aim to make English literacy engaging and accessible by using a structured approach that connects sounds with letters through stories, actions and activities. We hope these training sessions will help educators bring greater confidence and enjoyment to the learning process in their classrooms.”

The Jammu workshop was led by Ruchika Khajuria and Shefali Juneja, who guided participating educators through practical techniques for teaching letter sounds, blending sounds to read words and segmenting words to develop spelling skills.

Empowering Educators with Practical Teaching Methods

Ruchika Khajuria is an MBA, an Accredited Jolly Phonics Trainer, a Literacy Mentor and the Founder of Caren-N-Berry Academy. She works to empower educators with effective literacy practices through innovative teaching approaches, with a focus on building strong learning foundations and encouraging a love for reading among young children.

Shefali Juneja brings 21 years of professional experience in education, training and communication. She is CELTA-certified, a NABET-accredited Train-the-Trainer professional, an SQA-accredited soft-skills trainer and an NLP practitioner. A Jolly Phonics specialist and communication coach for multinational companies, she has also served as a school Principal and Academic Head and authored English learning resources. She currently leads Training and Growth at SAAR Education, focusing on strengthening educators’ literacy and communication skills.

The workshop demonstrated how systematic synthetic phonics combines letter sounds with actions, stories and multisensory activities to help children understand the relationship between sounds and letters. Teachers explored practical ways to incorporate these techniques into classroom instruction and support children's reading, writing and spelling development.

Supporting Early English Literacy

Founded in 1992, Jolly Phonics follows a structured, multisensory approach to early literacy. Research cited by the programme suggests that children taught through this method can learn to read twice as fast as those taught through traditional methods, achieving a reading age up to 12 months ahead after one year.

The Jammu workshop formed part of Jolly Learning’s broader efforts to support teachers across India through practical training and classroom-focused resources. The 10-city tour covers Jammu, Srinagar, Karnal, Delhi, Patna, Ranchi, Kolkata, Raipur, Guwahati and Lucknow.

Workshop Details

• Date: November 13, 2026
• Venue: Gurjar Desh, Charitable Trust, Sunjwan, Jammu
• Trainers: Ruchika Khajuria and Shefali Juneja
• Registration Fee: ₹999 (inclusive of GST)