A lot of professional learning quite rightly focuses on the global, big-picture ideas of teaching and learning, but what about a small, everyday practice of successful teaching. In this series of vignettes, EAL teachers showcase a single activity, idea or resource that they find to be effective in the EAL classroom, and discuss how and why it works. This vignette is generously contributed from Rosemary Abboud, Dandenong North Primary School. It focuses on an Arrange and Describe activity which she uses with primary-aged EAL students. We thank Rosemary for donating her time and expertise.
There is a wealth of EAL expertise out there! Why not share it with the EAL community? We are keen to showcase this practice of teachers in primary, secondary and adult sectors. If you would like to contribute a vignette about an activity you find to be effective in the classroom, please email plcoordinator[at]victesol.vic.edu.au
Thursdays: 29 July, 2 September, 21 October & 25 November, 2021
All sessions 4:00-5:00pm AEST
Online and Free
For members of VicTESOL (and other state & territory TESOL associations affiliated with ACTA), we are offering an online space for EAL/TESOL educators to meet and share practice. You will have the chance to collaborate with other teachers outside of your school/institution, potentially discovering new ways of doing things, and sharing your expertise with others.
In 2021, we are offering the following streams:
Primary (F-6)
Secondary (7-10)
VCE EAL
Adult TESOL
The intention of these sessions is for you and your peers to decide on the focus of your discussions. VicTESOL may initially provide a facilitator where available but the aim is for members to take on board how they’d like to use the time most productively.
Note: We ask that participants commit attend all four dates if possible.
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2021-07-26 13:07:422021-07-26 13:08:14Invitation for VicTESOL / ACTA members: Online Communities of Practice *STARTS THIS WEEK*
Dr Anne Keary has generously shared a number of recordings used in the education of pre-service primary school teachers at Monash University.
They cover topics including advice for planning and programing, getting to know learners, behaviour management and how schools have adapted to remote learning.
Michelle shares with us an insight into the planning of teachers at Preston North East Primary School. She shows the viewer her school’s Individual Learning Improvement Plan document, highlighting the importance of setting goals and planning lessons in a way that involves students and families.
Mairead discusses the processes in place for getting to know newly-arrived students at Collingwood English Language school. She takes the viewer through the student profile documents used, highlighting information that can be useful to gather, such as: socio-lingual context, language background, visa codes, nationality, cultural group, position in family, siblings, religion, prior learning, settlement services involvement, and well-being. Mairead also reflects on the need for teachers to not assume anything about their learners and emphasises the need to ask questions to get as good a picture of the student’s prior learning as possible.
Rosemary describes the range of programs running at Dandenong High School, including the EAL program and the transition program.
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David Rothstadt, Principal, Noble Park Primary School
David talks about how he and the staff at Noble Park Primary School have adapted to remote learning over the last 18 months. He highlights the flexibility and sheer hard work of teachers to get online programs up and running in a short amount of time, and how teachers supported each other in the transition. David concludes that one of his key learnings from these uncertain times is that the value of face-to-face teacher/student relationships cannot be underestimated or replaced by technologies.
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Various Presenters on Behaviour Management (edited version)
VicTESOL acknowledges and thanks the Faculty of Education, Monash University, for providing these videos.
These resources have been created as scaffolding tasks to support initial comprehension through to critical analysis via collaborative meaning-making activities for Units 1 and 3, Outcome 1. Students are encouraged to use both English and their common home language to complete these tasks. It is important to note that these documents are not stand alone supports – they should be used in conjunction with a synopsis, extensive discussion about visuals relating to the time and place as well as a range of graphic organisers and models to scaffold writing. However, the nature of the tasks can be adapted for multiple year levels and cohorts when analysing novels, films or plays that are considered challenging for your EAL/D or low SES and multiculturally diverse learners.
The Department of Home Affairs has released a Discussion Paper regarding proposed reforms to the AMEP (see below).
ACTA has prepared a response to the AMEP Reform Discussion Paper. Based on the recent forums ACTA has conducted in collaboration with State/Territory associations, we believe that this statement will help members and other organisations in making their submissions to the Department of Home Affairs.
VicTESOL would appreciate your feedback on ACTA’s response to the AMEP Reform Discussion Paper. Your urgent attention to this matter is therefore needed for us to be effective in this way. Please send your feedback to victesol [at] victesol.vic.edu.au by Thursday 17th June.
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2021-06-15 13:49:552021-06-15 19:15:37ACTA Response: The Department of Home Affairs AMEP Reform Discussion Paper
The Department of Home Affairs has opened public consultations on a new business model for the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP). The new business model will complement recent legislative reforms that allow more migrants to access the program for longer and until they achieve a higher level of English proficiency.
The Department of Home Affairs (the Department) has released the discussion paper Reform of the Adult Migrant English Program and will undertake a series of forums as part of the consultation process. The paper details the next stage of the reforms, expected to commence in 2023, that aim to generate better quality outcomes for migrants and enable greater access and participation.
The Department will be running two forums for EAL teachers and is accepting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from those who wish to attend:
· AMEP Teachers Forum: Group A – Wednesday 16 June 2021 16:00 – 18:00 AEST
· AMEP Teachers Forum Group B – Thursday 17 June 2021 18:00 – 20:00 AEST
If you are interested in attending one of these forums, please complete the EOI form below and email the form to amepdesign@homeaffairs.gov.au.
Calendar invitations will be sent out once EOIs have been finalised.
Please note that the forums above have limited capacity. If allocations for the forums are exceeded, the Department can look into running additional forums at a later date.
Further information about these stakeholder consultations can be found here.
Enquiries about the stakeholder consultations should also be directed to the AMEP Design mailbox.
AMEP Design Migrant English and Language Services Branch | Refugee, Humanitarian and Settlement Division Immigration and Settlement Services Group Department of Home Affairs E: AMEPdesign@homeaffairs.gov.au
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2021-06-07 22:21:242021-06-09 19:25:07The Department of Home Affairs is seeking Expressions of Interest to attend their forum on the Reform of the Adult Migrant English Program
Online Event – Presentation and Conversation Rooms
This was an opportunity for teachers who are at a similar stage of their careers to share practice with teachers from other schools and institutions. A big part of this session was EAL resource sharing with Jennifer Peck from the Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC) and and Eileen Wan (Blackburn English Language School). They presented on LMERC’s online and physical resources. This session was for pre-service teachers and early-career teachers (0-2 years) of EAL students, and teachers who are new to teaching EAL students.
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2021-06-03 15:31:322021-06-06 18:56:38Online Resourcing and Networking session for pre-service, early-career EAL teachers and teachers new to EAL
