SHARON BURBIDGE

I was first introduced to Jo Jingles back in 2000 while living in Windsor, Berkshire where I took my then 2 year old son, Harry, to a local class. Harry loved his class each week but I think I loved it more!! Music has always been a very big part of my life and when I was moving back to Northern Ireland I decided to buy a franchise and bring the very first Jo Jingles classes back home.

Combining my marketing degree with my experience in theatre, dance and drama I felt Jo Jingles was the perfect job for me and believed it could be a huge success in Northern Ireland.

Eight years on I am working along side my first class teacher, Debbie, who joined me in January 2001 and who is now my partner in the franchise. I still love teaching classes and believe that Jo Jingles has something very special and valuable to contribute to a child's early years.

DEBBIE MARRS

I attended the very first Jo Jingles class in Northern Ireland when I took my son Robbie along to see what this singing and dancing experience was all about. By the end of the first class I knew I had found a very special activity that I would be able to enjoy with him and also bring many of the songs and actions home to be enjoyed in the house. I was so hooked that after 6 weeks I asked Sharon if she would consider taking me on as a class teacher.

Thus I went from a background of lecturing honours level chemistry to singing nursery rhymes with children. And I know where I had my more appreciative audience! How lovely it was to see very shy children blossom and gain confidence while encouraging the more exuberant children in the class to take turns and share in a calmer way.

Six years on I am now Sharon's business partner and we very much enjoy working with a great team of class teachers – Sharon L, Bethel and Vicky. We all contribute to running our classes with mums in various venues and working in private day nurseries and nursery school units.

THE JO JINGLES EXPERIENCE.

Our area offers classes over 4 age ranges – babies (6 months – approx 12 months – depending on walking skills), 1 - 2 yrs, 2 - 4 yrs and 4 - 5 yrs.

Our classes are designed to match the language skills and physical development skills of the children attending the classes. Thus when playing our instruments with 1 - 2 year old children we concentrate on the correct holding of the instrument and playing to the beat of the music. In the older age groups we will introduce the concepts of loud and soft playing and fast and slow playing and longer and more complex songs may be included where the beat may change within the song.

In terms of the physical development in the 1 - 2 yrs we concentrate on getting them to walk, march or dance to the beat of the music and we also ask adults to lift and swing/fly the children to music.

For the 2 - 4 yrs we introduce skipping, hopping, jumping, galloping, jogging and of course more complex action and story songs We also have a wider range of additional props for this age group to use.

Making the classes FUN – that is the main emphasis of Jo Jingles – but there is a hidden agenda in terms of educational themes, language skills and physical movement.

Further information on Jo Jingles can be found at www.jojingles.com.