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*Resources Page* VicTESOL Symposium 2021 – TESOL in a time of COVID: Implications and Possibilities

VicTESOL, the state association for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) & Multicultural Education, held our annual Symposium on Tuesday 31 August. This was live online event from 4-5:30pm AEST.  For this event, we had a panel of speakers, experts in TESOL and multicultural education and related fields who discussed what they see as implications of the COVID pandemic for the field of teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Victoria and Australia.

They discussed what TESOL might look like in the next few years and in the longer term as a result of what we are currently experiencing. With the pausing and slowing of some programs during the pandemic, is there a chance that TESOL and other programs may change?  Is there a chance that while there are no new arrivals that existing programs and services will be affected, not only in the short term, but also in the longer term? How might this look? What might be some of the advantages of possible changes? What might be some less positive consequences of change during and post COVID? What can we do to prepare ourselves for ensuring we maintain and build on the quality of EAL and associated learning and support that has been established over many, many years?

You can view the recording of the event here:

Panelists:

Jessica Bishop, Migrant Information Centre (Eastern Melbourne)

Margaret Corrigan, CEO of Carringbush Adult Education and President of the Australian Council of TESOL associations

Dr Susan Creagh, Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Education, The University of Queensland

Associate Professor Russell Cross, Language and Literacy Education, Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Carmel Guerra, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Multicultural Youth

Mark Melican, Principal of Blackburn English Language School

Matt Rodger, Senior Schools Support Officer – RESP Education & Early Years Program Practice & Sector Development, The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture

Chermaine Thomas, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd (MACS)

The panel was chaired by Dr Shem Macdonald, VicTESOL President and Lecturer at La Trobe University.

To view the collated comments of participants from the registration process, see below. Participants were asked to identify one positive and one negative coming out of their experience of working in the TESOL field during the pandemic. .

Download (PDF, 122KB)

During the session there was great engagement in the chat and Q&A. We have collated and edited the responses which can be viewed here:

Download (DOCX, 38KB)

The recent issue of TESOL in Context contains an editorial related to the topic covered in today’s session. It is referred to within the symposium event.

Teaching and learning English in the age of COVID-19: Reflecting on the state of TESOL in a changed world

To access this, click here:

https://ojs.deakin.edu.au/index.php/tesol/article/view/1427

Many thanks to all who were involved in this event.

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EAL Micro-Teaching Vignette – Membership Grids

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 by Stephanie Georgiou, Mckinnon Secondary College. It focuses on a Membership Grid activity which she uses with secondary-aged EAL students. We thank Stephanie 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, idea or resource you find to be effective in the classroom, please email plcoordinator[at]victesol.vic.edu.au

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EAL Micro-Teaching Vignettes – Arrange and Describe

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

Download (PDF, 177KB)

Please note that this arrange and describe activity is widely and freely available from a variety of online sources.

Invitation for VicTESOL / ACTA members: Online Communities of Practice *STARTS THIS WEEK*

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.

We hope to see you there!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW!

Note: We ask that participants commit attend all four dates if possible.

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EAL Teacher Interviews – pre-service teacher resources now available!

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 Andrews, EAL Teacher Preston North East Primary – Planning

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.

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Mairead Hannan, Assistant Principal, Collingwood English Language School – Getting to know your learners

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.

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Rosemary Abboud, Dandenong North Primary School, Developing Programs

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.

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VCE EAL Resources – ‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent

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.  

Resources contributed by April Edwards.

Burial Rites Quiz

Download (DOCX, 21KB)

Class Reading Grid

Download (DOCX, 20KB)

Group Reading Task Example 1

Download (DOCX, 17KB)

Group Reading Task Example 2

Download (DOCX, 20KB)

Theme Task

Download (DOCX, 15KB)

Character Quotes Task

Download (DOCX, 18KB)

Symbolism Task (Class generated)

Download (DOCX, 16KB)

Pre and Post Reading Task

Download (DOCX, 17KB)

ACTA Response: The Department of Home Affairs AMEP Reform Discussion Paper

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.

Download (PDF, 628KB)

Download (PDF, 1.34MB)

Download (PDF, 801KB)