Summary to come
In their session “Impacts of Trauma on Learning and Behaviour”, Allison Greene and Matt Roger from Foundation House presented insight into the practical strategies and theories to support students impacted by refugee experiences. Allison and Matt began by providing some of the theory around refugee trauma and then invited participants to investigate 2 fictional case studies of students from refugee backgrounds. In small groups, teachers discussed some of the concerns that were evident relating to the students’ learning, engagement and behaviour and then shared some possible strategies to support them in their transition to Australian schooling.
The provision of knowledge and practical examples provided by Allison and Matt, along with the reflective discussion, assisted educators to develop their trauma informed lens. The session allowed for participants to explore connections between trauma reactions and supportive responses, and consider how our various educational settings can be a restorative space for students and families from refugee backgrounds. Participants in the session were given some excellent resources to take away which included further strategies and support for teachers when dealing with students’ trauma reactions and disclosures. For further information, resources and professional learning educators can visit the Foundation House website at https://foundationhouse.org.au/.
Syke Playstead (University of Queensland) offered a highly insightful session into new ways for EAL teachers to consider the role of pronunciation in their EAL students’ lives.
Having contextualised her PhD study, she argued for an understanding of the purposes of pronunciation from a material economic, cultural discursive and socio-political perspective. She then linked pronunciation to the idea of what it means to live a good life.
In the workshop, participants then discussed in small groups how they perceived these ideas and many came up with new ideas about how our students’ social, family and working lives shape the development and needs of pronunciation – that the relevance of pronunciation may relate to notions of identity and that an accent may be more or less acceptable in certain contexts. By making students aware of how differing social contexts shape their accent , identity and language development was one strategy that arose from the conversation.
A very thought provoking session for all in an area that is understudied but that is so important to support and develop in our students.
Summary to come
On 17 November, presenters from Lexis Education showcased how they use a Systemic Functional Linguistics approach in their classrooms.
Payal Yadav detailed her experience in a New Arrivals primary setting, working with students with diverse language backgrounds. She outlined a unit of work using the description genre on the topic of animals with a range of highly scaffolded yet high challenge language activities to enable students to develop an understanding of how language works.
Imogen Lazarus presented on her work with secondary students and detailed her use of the teaching and learning cycle and explicit instruction about clause and phrase structures.
Both presenters demonstrated how they build students’ metalanguage both for learning English and learning about English. Drawing on students’ existing language resources to contrast English with their first languages was also highlighted in the session. Overall, this was a highly engaging presentation that enabled participants to learn from teachers experienced in this approach and offered a variety of practical ideas for how to develop students’ understanding of how language works using a Systemic Functional Linguistics framework.
Type
Dr Anna Filipi, Dr Minh Hue Nguyen, Angie Valcanis and Emily Smith shared their research, knowledge and experience relating to their research project ‘Challenges and possibilities in using The Victorian Curriculum F-10: EAL in a Year 7 science unit: A focus on word knowledge’.
The project explored the collaboration between EAL teachers and content teachers, eliciting valuable strategies to support the learning process for students. The research and teaching team presented their clear and concise findings, highlighting ways for teachers to become more linguistically responsive within the learning environment.
The presentation outlined strategies that can be implemented into teaching to support all students to meet the linguistic demands of a learning experience. Based upon five key principles, the research / teaching team have elicited 25 strategies derived from the analysis of the science classroom. The presentation provided the audience with classroom examples, clearly outlining how teachers can be linguistically responsive; demonstrating how complex and / or abstract learning material can be made accessible to all learners. It was evident within the presentation that implementing linguistically responsive instruction would not only support the learning experience for EAL learners but has the capability to enhance learning for all students.
Please click here for a summary of the paper titled: Students’ unsolicited initiations in a science classroom as displays of competence (published in Linguistics and Education), and email Dr Anna Fillipi at anna.filipi@monash.edu if you would like to read the full paper.
Over the course of 3 days and after two years of Covid related delays, people from across Australia came together in sunny Brisbane to share knowledge, learn and network with others in the TESOL community.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Pushing the Boundaries”, and the conference program certainly did this. There were at least two presenters who zoomed in, including the conference opening keynote speaker Professor Ee Ling Low, and a range of workshops which focused on everything from the history of EAL Policy in Australia, to the current situation for Indigenous and Torres Strait Island EAL/D students, to how drama can be used to assist EAL learners.
The conference also featured a workshop of ACTA’s Early Childhood Principles, a session on ACTA’s National Roadmap for EAL/D education in schools, and the launch of a book titled Decisions and Dilemmas of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education edited by VicTESOL’s own Dr Anne Keary, as well as Professor Janet Scull, Associate Professor Susanne Garvis, and Professor Lucas Walsh.
Victoria and VicTESOL were very well represented at the conference, with numerous speakers from our state being supported by VicTESOL, and a large Victorian contingency being present.
Congratulations to Conference Organising Chairman Gae Nastasi and the rest of her team on a very successful event!
We look forward to seeing everyone in Melbourne for the 2025 ACTA Conference…
VicTESOL Committee members, and teachers and academics from Victoria at the 2022 ACTA Conference in Brisbane
This in-class teaching and learning task provides an opportunity for students to explore and communicate their linguistic identities and language practices and the role these play in shaping their experiences as language learners.
October 12 from 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
At the recent AMEP Virtual Roadshow – Resources for the EAL Framework webinar, TESOL teachers from across the country zoomed in to hear Mary Wallace from LWA provide a detailed introduction to a range of future focussed resources that are being rolled out to support Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) providers deliver the future national curriculum for AMEP, the EAL Framework. She highlighted the key features of three sets of resources: a new series of booklets designed for pre-certificate level learners called English Ready; the updated AMEPOnline that will be available from Course in Initial EAL to Certificate III in EAL (Access); and the AMEP Digital Literacy Framework and Guide and companion Teacher Resources. All of these resources will be made available free of charge to teachers, regardless of whether you teach in the AMEP or not. These valuable resources, funded by the Department of Home Affairs, are a welcome addition to the suite of tools available to teachers of EAL in the adult sector.
AMEP Digital Literacies Framework: key principles
AMEPOnline (homeaffairs.gov.au)
Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) – Background (homeaffairs.gov.au)
Department accredited VET courses | Victorian Government (www.vic.gov.au)
EAL Framework “101”: A Beginner’s Guide to the Victorian EAL Framework Curriculum – VicTESOL
EAL Framework 101 (2): How to approach delivery and assessment of a group of units – VicTESOL
Two professional learning events for EAL teachers were held with a focus on works in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. These were on 8 and 15 September and took place online. Leah Santilli, Outreach Educator for the NGV, with assistance from her colleagues, Anna Zobel and Lily Feiner (8 September) and Tess Rangelov and Amy Duncan (15 September) showed us some wonderful works and discussed ways that they might be the focus of some engaging lessons with EAL learners, both school aged learners and also adults.
In the first session we saw some amazing shields from the NGV collection that were from various Australian Indigenous peoples. We discussed their creation and usage and looked closely at the patterns, colours and shapes of them, as well as at how they were displayed together in the Gallery. We took part in an activity involving drawing one of the shields that we could see and developing the language to describe it.
We then looked at a couple of works by Australian painter, John Glover: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/5631/ & https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/98550/. These works are featured in the NGV’s learning resource titled: Colony to Nation. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/school_resource/colony-to-nation/ . Adaptions of the materials from this learning resource for use with EAL learners were done in 2021 as part of a collaboration between NGV, VicTESOL and Blackburn English Language School.
For the first session, the Gallery staff were in the Ian Potter Centre at NGV Australia in Federation Square and “led us” virtually around the Gallery, showing us the works, and giving us a feel for what was going on – some visitors to the Gallery at the time took interest in what Leah was telling us and tagged along. In the second session, on 15 September, the Gallery staff spoke to us from the NGV International on St Kilda Road. Again, their excellent coordination and camera work gave us a feel of the activity in the Gallery. The focus this time was on more contemporary works: one by Lee Krasner titled Combat https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/5213/ and the other, Haystacks at Moret – Morning light https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/4366/ by Alfred Sisley. How we might lead our learners to notice things in these works and the ways that language might be developed around this were discussed with lots of opportunities for participants to make suggestions.
Overall, these two sessions were highly engaging and we thank the staff at NGV, in particular, Leah, for their great work and time in preparing and presenting to VicTESOL members and others. We look forward to future events with NGV.
Please note that this recording will be made available until October 2022 ONLY.
Overview of the Colony to Nation Resources, including EAL adaptations
First Contact: Draw a Shield Activity
See Think Wonder Activity
Compare and Contrast Activity
Changes to Australia’s Environment: Cause and Effect Activity
Please note that this recording will be made available until October 2022 ONLY.
Example Artworks
Questions you can ask about the artworks – Questions allow students to think out loud and elaborate on the ideas and questions of others.
Some teaching ideas and activities from the padlet
