Pure Pacific Music

Laurie Thain

Laurie Thain was born and raised in British Columbia on Canada's west coast. Immediately following graduation from the University of  British Columbia, Laurie's music career began. Her introduction to professional music was winning a Canadian National Talent Competition, the CBC National du Maurier Search for Stars. She went on to appear on national and provincial television and radio shows and to write and record four albums of original songs. After 23 years of singing, song-writing, recording and touring as a club, festival and concert performer, Laurie decided to step away from the spotlight for a change and a rest. She moved to Japan and proceeded to teach English to children and adults for ten years. While in Japan she began doing conference presentations for Oxford University Press in the area of using rhythm and music in the young learner classroom. While teaching in Japan Laurie initiated her classroom research projects and earned a Master’s Degree in TESOL specializing in Teaching English to Young Learners from Aston University in England.

 

Upon returning to Canada Laurie was contacted by Oxford University Press to write and produce the musical components for the new 5-Level global young learner series Oxford Phonics World. She and long-time collaborator Gord Maxwell formed Pure Pacific Music for Young Learners to address this important new creative work. They now specialize in writing and producing custom educational materials for young learners. Laurie is the Executive Director/ Writer and Artist for Pure Pacific Music for Young Learners. In 2016, Laurie Thain was inducted into the BC Country Music Hall of Fame.

 

Laurie's fields of interest are: using rhythm and music to teach English to young learners and teaching and researching the sounds of the English Language. She has published papers and book chapters and has presented widely on using rhythm and music in the young learner classroom and on her original phonics scaffolding system called "Circle Sounds". 

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View excepts of Laurie's Published Works, including Chapters, Papers & Presentations