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Challenges and possibilities in using The Victorian Curriculum F-10: EAL in a Year 7 science unit: A focus on word knowledge.

Challenges and possibilities in using The Victorian Curriculum F-10: EAL in a Year 7 science unit: A focus on word knowledge.

Summary

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.

Recording

Powerpoint and other Resources

Download (PDF, 1.22MB)

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AMEP Virtual Roadshow – Resources for the EAL Framework

October 12 from 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Summary

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.

Recording

Resources

Presentation

Download (PDF, 2.56MB)

Useful Video

AMEP Digital Literacies Framework: key principles

Useful links

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

EAL Framework 101 Session 3: Teaching a Unit (Adult sector)

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NGV Resourcing Events 2022

NGV Resourcing Events

Summary

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.

Colony to Nation for EAL teaching and learning (NGV Resourcing Event 1)

Recording

Please note that this recording will be made available until October 2022 ONLY.

Resources

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

EAL Meet & Teach with NGV (NGV Resourcing Event 2)

Recording

Please note that this recording will be made available until October 2022 ONLY.

Resources

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.

  • What do you see when you look at this work?
  • What does this art work make you think? Think about the way it was made, what it means, about the artist or their interests/passion/intention.
  • What does the artwork remind you of?
  • You could even connect it to the name of the artwork or when it was made.
  • What do you wonder about this artwork?
  • What language could we attribute to this artwork?
  • How would this painting have been painted – with what? how would the canvas have been situated
  • If this painting was a person, what would their personality be like?
  • What would life be like if you were in this painting? What can you see? What would you be doing? (Looking at the Haystacks image) What season would it be? What kind of farm is it? How might the farmers be feeling? What time of day is it?

Some teaching ideas and activities from the padlet

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EAL Framework 101 Session 3: Teaching a Unit (Adult sector)

Recording

Summary

EAL Framework 101 Session 3: Teaching a Unit (Adult sector)

September 14 from 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm, Virtual Event
On 14 September another successful EAL Framework 101 session was held with approximately 300 adult sector EAL teachers from across Australia zooming in to hear teachers from Victoria share their knowledge.
Anita Cameron provided a refresher session on good practice adult sector TESOL, engaging the audience to share what they do in their practice. Suzanne Gatz and Harleen Pala shared how they unpacked and designed delivery for a low-level speaking unit and Mary La Riccia shared how she and her colleagues collaborate to design formative tasks that map to a reading and writing unit from Cert III in the curriculum.
The quote of the evening was from Harleen, reminding us to always go back to the curriculum to guide our teaching – “The devil is in the detail but importantly the level is the detail”.
This session showed attendees how to incorporate the detail that exists in the curriculum into meaningful learning experiences for adult learners through “foraging, adapting and creating” resources.
Attendees really appreciated the speakers’ willingness to share.

Resources

Anita Cameron Presentation and Padlet 

Download (PDF, 592KB)

Suzanne Gatz and Harleen Pala Presentation and Resources

Download (PDF, 1.77MB)

Download (DOCX, 100KB)

Download (PPTX, 286KB)

Download (DOCX, 1.23MB)

Download (DOCX, 21KB)

Download (DOCX, 3.01MB)

Download (DOCX, 173KB)

Download (DOCX, 24KB)

Download (PDF, 107KB)

Mary La Riccia Presentation and Resources

Download (PDF, 788KB)

Download (PDF, 748KB)

Also mentioned:-

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EAL Frameworks 101 (2): How to approach delivery and assessment of a group of units

Summary

On 8 June, the second in VicTESOL’s popular adult sector EAL Framework 101 series was held. 328 attendees from all across Australia were able to learn from a range of presenters experienced in designing programs using Victoria’s EAL Framework curriculum.

Cathy Gill from Carringbush Adult Education presented on how their organisation plans and delivers programs to beginners. This was followed by Lyudmila Theodore from Holmesglen TAFE who spoke about Cert I and II levels and finally Frances La Riccia from Melbourne Polytechnic shared their delivery plan for a Cert III level program.

Attendees were very engaged with the speakers with lots of great questions that led to engaging discussion. Many thanks to the presenters who were so willing and open to share their experience and expertise with attendees. The final session in this series will focus on assessment…stay tuned for more details!

Recording

Presentations

Holmesglen

Download (PDF, 1.63MB)

Melbourne Polytechnic

Download (PDF, 968KB)

Carringbush

Download (PPTX, 702KB)

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Supporting young people from a refugee background in the education system

Summary

The VicTESOL professional learning event ‘Supporting young people from a refugee background in the education system’ offered participants valuable insights into working with refugee-background students.  Allison Greene and Madeleine Giummarra from Foundation House (Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture and Trauma) explored identifying and responding to trauma reactions and trauma disclosures with students, and how supports connected to the recovery goals can benefit children and young people.  Simone Cassidy and Bojana Popovic from Refugee Minor Program (Dep. of Families, Fairness & Housing) built on this understanding of the refugee experience by walking the audience through a case study, unpacking approaches and strategies that can support and empower young people within the education system.  Bojana and Simone guided the group in focussing on how we as educational professionals can work with students as they navigate educational pathways.  Allison and Madeleine also addressed the important and often under emphasised topic of self care.  They equipped the audience with a picture of what it can look like to become over or under involved within this area of work and how we can aim to achieve a balance in our work with students.  This event provided the audience with ideas that they could implement in their schools immediately, thoughts and considerations for future planning, and also ideas about how educational professionals can balance their involvement and be conscious of self care and caring for colleagues within our work.  VicTESOL would like to extend their sincere thanks and appreciation to Allison, Madeleine, Simone and Bojana for providing the opportunity for us to reflect on this aspect of our work within education.

Recording

Presentations

Foundation House

Download (PDF, 559KB)

Refugee Minor Program

Download (PDF, 554KB)

Resources

Foundation House

Download (PDF, 400KB)

Download (PDF, 3.53MB)

Download (PDF, 1.6MB)

Download (PDF, 356KB)

Refugee Minor Program

Download (PDF, 146KB)

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Primary EAL Assessment for New Arrivals

Summary In this informative and practical session, Rebekah Jones (Primary Curriculum Leader) and Barbara Dahlsen (Primary Learning Specialist) from Blackburn English Language School walked participants through a range of activities…

This content is available for VicTESOL members.
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Immigration Museum and VicTESOL: Integrating culture and language for EAL learners

On Thursday 19 May, Gurmeet Kaur, the Education Programs Producer at Immigration Museum, shared how the museum’s resources can be best used to engage EAL learners from primary to adult. Gurmeet introduced participants to a range of fantastic resources, both digital and at the museum, including migration stories, cultural stories, objects, timelines and personal stories investigating a myriad of Australian identities. Elsa Brissenden from Bethal Primary School detailed her own experience of taking primary new arrivals students to the museum and how this enhanced a unit of work on identity. Many of the resources highlighted are interactive and enable a high level of engagement. They also provide learners with an opportunity to connect their own story with similar stories of migration to Australia. Participants looked at a range of digital resources and discussed the rich learning opportunities for exploring culture and identity with EAL learners that these resources provide.

Presentation

Download (PDF, 1.44MB)

Don’t forget that teachers are eligible for membership with Museums Victoria.  This is a free online subscription service for teachers in Victorian schools and education institutions, as well as homeschool teachers designed to give you easy access to all Museum Victoria museums and education services in order to help you plan school group excursions to our venues.

For more information, go to the Museums Victoria website here.

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Looking ahead: an overview of the new VCE English and EAL study design and planning for Units 1 & 2 in 2023

Copy of Presentation

Download (PDF, 941KB)

Summary

A wonderfully thorough and informative presentation about the changes to the new English/EAL Study Design was offered by Kellie Heintz from the EAL Division of the VCAA.

She began with an important reminder of the eligibility criteria and Special Circumstances that determine whether students can be assessed in Units 3 & 4 before elaborating how the consultation process undertaken in 2021 together with key EAL principles informed the new Study Design. Many fundamental curricular and assessment differences for EAL students were higlighted, especially around the new Outcomes such as the Personal Response and Writing outcomes as a means to elevate student voice and agency. The role and types of mentor texts were considered as means to explore ideas and Kellie offered wonderful examples of how to plan for use of the Frameworks to inspire future planning. A fantastic resource overall that supports both EAL and English teachers in implementation of Units 1 & 2 in 2023.

Note: A complementary presentation that builds on this presentation and links to assessment will appear later in the year. Also, further VCAA resources relating to the Study can also be viewed below.

VCAA Resources

Click here to view on demand videos relating to VCE English and English as an Additional Language (EAL)

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Languages in Early Childhood Education: Launch of special TESOL in Context edition

Presentation PDF: Knowing who you are: Heritage language, identity and safe space in a bilingual kindergarten, Dr Kerry Taylor-Leech and Dr Eseta Tualaulelei 

Download (PDF, 1.24MB)

Languages in Early Childhood Education: Launch of special TESOL in Context edition

May 5 from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Virtual Event

Editors: Dr Yvette Slaughter, Dr Anne Keary, Dr Gillian Pennington, Dr Gary Bonar

The special early childhood edition of TESOL in Context was launched via a webinair on Thursday May 5th. The launch highlighted the wide range of work being undertaken into pedagogical and policy practices that see multilingualism (including home languages, English as an additional language and additional languages) as lived and dynamic.

An outline was given of the work of Prof Shelley Stagg Peterson, Yvette Manitowabi, and Jacinta Manitowabi who in their paper discuss The Niichii Project: Revitalizing Indigenous Language in Northern Canada.

Assoc Prof Caroline Cohrssen on behalf of the research team including herself, Dr Yvette Slaughter and Dr Edith Nicolas presented on Leveraging Languages for Learning: Incorporating Plurilingual Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education and Care. Assoc Prof Jane Page and Assoc Prof Janet Scull presented on behalf of the project team on their study into Mothers as First Teachers: Exploring the Features of Mother child Interactions That Support Young Aboriginal Children’s Multilingual Learning at Playgroup. The final presentation was about Knowing Who You Are: Heritage Language, Identity and Safe Space in a Bilingual Kindergarten which was presented by Dr Kerry Taylor-Leech and  Dr Eseta Tualaulelei.

The presentations raised key questions about how to grow strong social and cultural identities of children. The importance of children participating in early childhood programs that engage with the rich repertoires of languages of families and communities was a key take away message from this sharing of research in this emerging field.