This workshop was based on the premise that digital literacy is vital for living, learning, and working in contemporary Australian society and therefore needs to be a key feature as both a support and an outcome of any relevant EAL program. The session detailed the experience and learnings of one such program that was specifically designed (pre-COVID) to engage low level EAL learners in online learning. The session covered the basic course design principles of our EAL online courses, the strategies developed to engage and support the learners and their challenges and achievements learning in an online environment. Luke and Tanja’s presentation was followed by Q&A and small group discussion.
Luke Treadwell is a senior teacher with many years of program and proect management in AMES. Luke has taught EAL students for many years across many programs and has recently worked extensively with ASMES online learning program.
Tanja Rykovska is an EAL teacher with extensive experience teaching English, designing and delivering EAL programs in various settings and for diverse cohorts. She has a special interest in technology in language learning and has integrated technology in her teaching throughout her career. She has been involved in AMES online learning initiative since 2015.
Webinar Event – Wednesday 11th November 2020, 7-8pm AEDT
Learn about the Commonwealth Government’s vision for English language provision for adult migrants
Presenter Alison Larkins was appointed in late 2019 as Commonwealth Coordinator-General for Migrant Services. Her role is to work closely within the Commonwealth and State/Territory governments, industry, and the community sector to drive improvements to employment, English language, and broader settlement outcomes, and through this work, to promote the contribution of migrants, refugees and humanitarian entrants to Australia.
Experienced AMEP teachers Jakki Cashman (Canberra) and Skye Playsted (Queensland) provided brief responses, followed by audience questions.
Thank you to everyone who attended the forum ‘English for Adult Migrants – Future Directions’ with Alison Larkins. The response to this event was overwhelming. Registrations closed at our limit of 500 and 374 people attended. Data on registrations and attendees are as follows:
REGISTRATIONS – Teaching Focus
AMEP: 328
AMEP & SEE: 106
SEE: 29
Teacher education: 18
Training to teach TESOL: 34
Other (with no other ID): 82
Note: some people listed more than 1 focus.
ATTENDEES – Locations
Which state/territory are you joining this webinar from today?
Are you based in a regional or metropolitan area?
If you attended the event, please click here to complete the evaluation survey.
Alison Larkins
Commonwealth Coordinator-General for Migrant Services, Department of Home Affairs
Jacky Springall Tuesday 10 November 2020, 4:00-5:30pm AEDT Online Workshop This practical workshop was based on the premise that EAL teachers need to be pro-active in integrating a focus…
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https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-11-11 09:19:562024-01-02 10:00:37Teaching Pronunciation: It’s never too early – Jacky Springall
Gibbon, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Swan, M., & Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and Other Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-10-28 13:52:502020-10-31 15:01:22Not just surviving, thriving! Preparing for your first year of teaching in an EAL classroom
Stories are powerful. They shape the way we think about the world, ourselves and each other. The stories we choose to present to students at school, as teachers and librarians, profoundly affect how students perceive the world and their place in it. We want to help you choose culturally diverse resources that reflect students’ diverse lives, promote inclusion, challenge stereotypes, confront racism and ultimately strengthen our multicultural society.
This series of professional learning events is a result of collaboration between staff from the Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC), the School Libraries Association of Victoria (SLAV), Stella Schools, and VicTESOL.
About the Organisers:
The School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) offers dynamic and inspiring opportunities for teacher-librarians and library teams to build their essential role in engaging and developing lifelong learners. Through leadership, advocacy and collegiality and an extensive professional learning and publications program.
Stella is an organisation that champions cultural change through recognising, elevating and celebrating Australian women’s writing. It includes the annual Stella Prize award for women’s writing, the Stella Count, which examines gender bias in book reviewing and Stella Schools, which develops programs that seek to inspire and empower young people to find their own creative voices, challenge stereotypes and imagine a future not limited by their gender.
The Languages & Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC) is for educators across all sectors K-12. LMERC provides resources in the areas of English as an Additional Language (EAL), Languages other than English, the Intercultural Capability and the cross curriculum priorities areas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Sustainability. The library holds an extensive collection of over 25,000 resources in all formats for educators across all sectors and at all levels, early childhood to adult. Library membership is available free to teachers from these educational settings: early childhood centres (in receipt of government funding), schools F-12 across all sectors, pre-service teachers and lecturers (in the areas of EAL and languages), homework clubs and community language schools. Home school parents, teachers of adults and community workers in education roles are also welcome to join.
LMERC suppliers list – booksellers who specialise in CALD resources.
Stella has a couple of wonderful resources to support your text selection around gender diversity and writing from the intersection. If you would like to know more you can contact Lenny Robinson: schools [at] thestellaprize.com.au and visit https://thestellaprize.com.au/.
In Part 3 of this Professional Learning Series (7 October 2020), groups discussed:
Auditing and Selection:
Have you audited your collections or text list?
What is your current process for selecting texts for the library or classroom study?
Do you have a selection policy? Is it ratified by the school administration?
What is included in text selection criteria?
What is the text selection process? How do you ensure input from all stakeholders?
How do you get input from students?
Have you set targets for the text list? What factors impedes reaching targets?
What changes are you considering making to your text selection process to improve it?
How do you make sure the texts you select are accessible to EAL learners at your school/institution?
Wider reading:
Beyond set texts, how do you promote diverse literature for pleasure reading?
Wider reading programs allow access to a wide range of resources. In what other ways can we support students to access culturally diverse literature?
What strategies do you have for engaging EAL learners in wider reading?
Suggestions:
What suggestions do you have for culturally diverse literature?
What suggestions do you have for finding quality, diverse literature? (eg. Suppliers, websites etc)
Multilingual resources – Suggestions?
What changes are you considering making to the texts in your collection or text lists?
In Part 2 of this Professional Learning Series (15 September 2020)
In part 2, we discussed possible ways to audit your current text lists or collections, and give resource recommendations for you to consider introducing at your school or institution.
Jennifer Peck took participants through the resources available through LMERC, including lists of culturally diverse texts.
Stella Schools Manager Lenny Robinson introduced the audience to two resources developed by Stella Schools to support diversity in text selection: The Read Up Reading Guide, developed in partnership with the Victorian Government, and the Stella Sparks Reading Guide, one of several resources included in their Resource Kit for Stella Sparks schools program.
We then split into groups facilitated by SLAV and LMERC librarians who took participants through some resource recommendations. This part of the session was not recorded.
Participants were asked to read the article ‘Assessing and selecting culturally diverse literature for the classroom’ by Helen Adam and Laurie Harper (2016) prior to attending this professional learning event. The article can be accessed by clicking here.
Adam, H., & Harper, L. (2016). Assessing and selecting culturally diverse literature for the classroom. Retrieve from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworkspost2013/1892
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-10-07 15:00:102024-11-02 16:30:08Culturally Diverse Literature
In this workshop, Dr Sue Ollerhead discussed the important role that students’ home languages play in their classroom learning. She explored the rationale for using translanguaging as a pedagogical approach…
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https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-08-11 21:31:242024-01-02 10:00:19Translanguaging in the Classroom- Dr Sue Ollerhead (Macquarie University)
Skye Playsted Thursday 14 May 2020 When we think of the term ‘culture’, it can be easy to focus on concrete elements such as art, music, clothing or food. However,…
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https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-05-19 14:55:532024-01-02 10:00:11VicTESOL Webinar- Intercultural communication in the adult EAL classroom: Concepts and classroom practice (Skye Playsted)
The ideas compiled here are from teacher comments and discussions during a number of professional learning sessions that VicTESOL has run since the move to online and remote learning began. The teachers who participated were from primary and secondary schools and from the adult education sector.
Like the teachers in this session, we hope the ideas and resources in this list help you to also feel more confident about supporting EAL learners remotely. This list includes the positives (what’s working), some challenges, tips, strategies and resources. We hope you find them both useful for, and affirming of your experiences and practices. Thank you to all the participants for sharing their ideas and to the session facilitators for compiling them.
