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.
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2022-06-03 11:01:332022-08-09 21:47:49Supporting young people from a refugee background in the education system
Explore Immigration Museum’s digital resources and content that can expand learning experiences for EAL learners. Museum resources include migration stories, cultural stories, and objects, timelines and personal stories investigating a myriad of Australian identities. This professional learning program was designed for EAL and classroom teachers. Resources can be adapted to suit a variety of subjects, including Humanities, English, Civics and Citizenship. Presented by Immigration Museum Educators in collaboration with VicTESOL.
Gurmeet Kaur is the Education Program Producer at Immigration Museum and is an experienced former classroom teacher of English and Humanities. She has also worked on international programs such as Teach for Bangladesh and researched intercultural education in schools across Japan, Australia, and UK. Gurmeet studied International Relations and History at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences before completing her qualifications in Education.
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00David Kezilashttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngDavid Kezilas2021-09-07 20:02:542021-09-07 20:07:11Resource page - Immigration Museum and VicTESOL: Integrating culture and language for EAL learners
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
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. .
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
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00David Kezilashttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngDavid Kezilas2021-08-31 23:23:312021-09-02 15:40:05*Resources Page* VicTESOL Symposium 2021 - TESOL in a time of COVID: Implications and Possibilities
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
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
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…
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-11-11 09:19:562022-04-19 21:42:43Teaching 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 15:00:102020-10-11 21:03:46Culturally 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…
https://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.png00Association Officerhttps://i.imgur.com/aeJqqIF.pngAssociation Officer2020-08-11 21:31:242022-04-19 21:41:56Translanguaging in the Classroom- Dr Sue Ollerhead (Macquarie University)
