Keynote Presentation: Responsive Mediation and Shifting Novice L2 Teacher Instructional Stance

Prof. Karen E. Johnson (Penn State University, USA)

Keynote Response, Panel: Sustaining EAL expertise: voices from leadership

Chaired by:  Assoc. Prof. Russell Cross
Panelists: Evangelia Kontos, Assoc. Prof. Janet Scull, Amelia Gedye, Michelle Andrews
Discussant: Prof. Karen E. Johnson

Unpacking of Keynote and panel sessions

Facilitated by various VicTESOL Committee members

Growing Together and Sustaining Practice

Simone Cassidy (Department of Families, Fairness and Housing), Merrilyn Gaulke (Bendigo Crusoe College), and Belinda Gillie Kemmer (Bendigo Crusoe College)

The new EAL Framework Curriculum – Adult sector

Nadia Casarotto (Victoria University), Margaret Corrigan (Carringbush Adult Education), Angela DiSciascio (Gordon Institute of TAFE)

Digital Literacies in EAL SIG: Teaching and learning EAL in the age of generative AI

Dr Katrina Tour (Monash University), Associate Professor Melissa Barnes (LaTrobe University), Dr Alexia Maddox (La Trobe University), Dr Shem Macdonald (La Trobe University) and A/P Mark Pegrum (The University of Western Australia

Unlocking the Power of Early Language Learning: A Closer Look at Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care

Prof. Heidi Harju-Luukkainen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and Nord University, Norway)

Organisations at the 2023 VicTESOL Symposium

VicTESOL were pleased to showcase the above organisations at our 2023 Symposium. Please click the images on either side for further information on ESL Reads, LWA and LMERC, and the resources they offer.

Professional Identity in TESOL? Finding Common ground

Prof. Ben Rampton (Kings College London), Dr Mel Cooke (Kings College London)

Panel of Experts: Finding the Common Ground

Chair: Assoc. Prof. Russell Cross (Melbourne Graduate School of Education)

Panelists: Rebecca Paic (Catholic Education Commission Victoria), Angela DiSciascio (Gordon Institute of TAFE), Mairead Hannan (Collingwood English Language School), Peter James (Richmond West Primary)

Discussants: Prof. Ben Rampton (Kings College London), Dr Mel Cooke (Kings College London)

Unpacking of Keynote and panel sessions

Facilitated by various VicTESOL Committee members

Learning Through Languages: Plurilingual Pedagogy in the English Classroom

Michelle Andrews (Preston North East Primary school), Hien Webb (Collingwood English Language School), and Assoc. Prof. Marianne Turner (Monash University)

Impacts of Traumatic Refugee Experiences on Learning and Behaviour

Allison Green and Matt Roger (Foundation House)

Reframing Early Childhood educator professional learning needs in culturally and linguistically diverse early childhood contexts

Dr Yvette Slaughter (Melbourne Graduate School of Education), Dr Gary Bonar (Monash University), Dr Anne Keary (Monash University)

Panel of Experts: The ACTA EAL/D Roadmap

Chair: Margaret Corrigan (Carringbush Adult Education)

Panelists: Facilitated by: Margaret Corrigan
Dr Michael Michell (University of New South Wales), Mark Melican (Blackburn English Language School), Assoc. Prof. Rod Neilsen (Deakin University)

LWA and Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC)

VicTESOL were pleased to showcase the above organisations at our 2022 Symposium. Please click the images on either side for further information on LWA and LMERC, and the resources they offer.

VicTESOL Symposium 2019: Sharing multiple perspectives on TESOL

Introduction – Dr Shem Macdonald

Keynote Speaker: Dr Marianne Turner, Monash University

Exploring the ‘SOL’ in ‘TESOL’: Leveraging and developing students’ linguistic repertoire

Panel of Experts: Plurilingual perspectives and their implications for teaching

  • Dr Shem Macdonald – VicTESOL – Moderator
  • Dr Marianne Turner – Monash University
  • Dr Julie Choi – University of Melbourne
  • Dr Howard Nicholas – La Trobe University

An awareness, understanding, acceptance, and embracing of the plurilingualism of learners in TESOL programs can positively shape how we teach and how they learn. The fact that plurilingualism features prominently as a new strand in the Draft English as an Additional Language Curriculum as part of the Victorian F-10 Curriculum suggests that this claim bears some weight. However, do we, as TESOL professionals, have a clear idea what plurilingual perspectives are and what their implications are for teaching language?

To explore this question, we invited several experts in the field of TESOL/Applied linguistics to a panel discussion to share their perspectives on plurilingualism. We asked them to outline some of the implications of such views for how  teachers of EAL might approach their planning and teaching.

Early Childhood & Primary


Kate Plant, EAL leader, Newbury Primary School

Establishing an EAL program in a mainstream primary school


Fiona Ackerly, Susan Govett, and Brooke Henderson with Margaret Nutbean

Teaching Young Children in English in Multilingual Contexts (TYCEMC)


Adult & Community

Jodie Whitehurst, Williamstown Community and Education Centre

Using Drama Techniques in the teaching of adult EAL


Across the Sectors

Steven Quinn, Carwatha Secondary College

Talk with the hand: Gestures in EAL


Nathan Chong, Brunswick English Language Centre & Clare Blackman, Blackburn English Language School

Flash Presentation and Round-table Discussion: Using Technology in the EAL classroom


If you are having difficulty downloading any of these files, please email plcoordinator [at] victesol.vic.edu.au to receive the file via email.

Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC)

LMERC is a DET lending library and resource advice service for a wide range of educators across all educational levels and sectors in Victoria. LMERC provides free postage to government schools outside of the metro area.

The collection focus:

  • English as an Additional Language (EAL)
  • Languages
  • Cross curriculum priority areas (with emphasis on Aboriginal and Torres Strait histories and Cultures and Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia)

Core functions:

  • Provide specialised resources in all formats for loan (12 week for teachers,  6 weeks for students)
  • Inform teachers about new resources at LMERC and online at the library and through the LMERC newsletter (4 issues per year)
  • Provide presentations to pre-service teachers and other groups about LMERC and resources

LMERC – Level 1, 189 Faraday Street, Carlton – 03 9349 1418

LMERC information – Introduction to LMERC video – LMERC catalogue – Subscribe to the LMERC newsletter

VicTESOL would like to thank the Department of Education & Training Strategic Partnerships Program for supporting the VicTESOL Symposium.