Due to the impact of COVID-19, the Languages and Culture team is postponing all Term 1 workshops, with the exception of Wollongong (18 March).

New dates for the Term 1 venues will be published later in the year.

At this stage, Term 2 events are proceeding as planned.

​A reminder, tomorrow's Wollongong event is still going ahead.

Our Languages K-10 syllabus familiarisation and planning eCourse is been made available again on MyPL. We have restructured the course in to make enrolling and accessing the course content simpler – the new course code is RG08902.

This registered eCourse supports language teachers 7-10 in NSW public schools to implement the K-10 language syllabuses in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Spanish, Turkish and Vietnamese.

The eCourse's objective is for participants to develop their understanding of the new Languages K-10 Framework and related syllabuses and to consider the implications for programming. The eCourse has been co-designed with practising teachers.

There are 7 online parts to complete, and a post-course assignment to submit. The post-task assignment must be submitted and marked as 'achieved' for participants to receive the registered hours.

If you are a language teacher 7-10, you need to successfully complete all components (Parts 1-7 and the assignment) to receive the NESA registered professional development hours. Alternatively, you can complete Parts 1-7 only and add this as Teacher Identified Professional Development (TIPD) on eTAMS.

If you are a language teacher K-6, you may complete Parts 1-7 only and add this as Teacher Identified Professional Development (TIPD) on eTAMS.
 
With our Assessment and reporting in 7-10 – new languages syllabuses workshops rolling out statewide from next week, we strongly recommend you revisit this important learning to maximise your participation in the assessment workshops.

The Language Teacher Networks – Hunter/Central Coast/Lower North Coast are joining forces to host a full-day workshop with Dr Gianfranco Conti, the author and founder of the Language Gym. Dr Conti will present effective ways to maximise teaching and learning time by embedding ILRs (Implicit Learning Routines); teaching high-surrender-value functional chunks and ‘smart’ recycling.

Date: Monday 4 May 2020
Time: 8:30am-3:30pm
Venue: East Maitland Golf Club, Tenambit
Enrol: Google form

This is open to language teachers 7-12 from NSW public schools, free of charge, under the Languages and Culture team's networking project.

The cost of relief is to be covered by participants' schools. The workshop is capped at 50 teachers.

​For further information please contact Coreena Allen.

The Languages and Culture team supports beginning language teachers 7-12 through the VLMN. A beginning teacher is one in their first 2 years of teaching in metro areas or in their first 5 years in rural and remote NSW.

The VLMN provides targeted support over an 18 month period, with beginning teachers (mentees) matched to experienced teacher mentors on a 2:1 ratio.

Due to the addition of new mentees to the program in 2020, expressions of interest are invited from experienced language teachers of Japanese and Chinese 7-12 who would like to join the second cohort of the VLMN for 2019-2020 to mentor beginning teachers of languages. In selecting mentors, we will consider selection criteria responses and teaching contexts, to ensure members are drawn from a wide range of schools. 

Mentors will provide support from Term 1 2020 until the end of Term 4 2020. Relevant professional learning will be provided for all successful applicants including participation in the VLMN conference on Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 April. Applicants must be able to attend on these dates.

The Languages and Culture team will provide release and related expenses to participants to facilitate mentoring support and to attend targeted professional learning.
 
Please complete the attached EOI form and submit by 5pm on Friday 6 March 2020 to Shanelle Ingram.

The MLTANSW is committed to supporting all language teachers across NSW and, in Term 1, focus is on provisional teachers and teachers in their first 3 years of teaching a language. This workshop will not only provide valuable professional learning, it will also help new teachers build their support networks with colleagues from the languages education community.

​The following topics will be covered in workshops on the day:

• Unpacking the NESA K-10 Language syllabuses – Melissa Gould-Drakeley (Inspector Languages at NESA)
• Advocacy in the Language teaching space – Liberty Campbell (Project Officer for Languages in the Broken Bay Diocese and the author of the Jblog textbook series)
• Achieving intercultural understanding through the language of pictures – Shirley Hoogewerf (Teacher of Chinese and French)

DATE: 4 April 2020
TIME: 8:30am (for a 9.00am start) – 3.00pm
VENUE: Rydges Central – 28 Albion St, Surry Hills
COST: $150 (members)/$200 (non-members)

​Register at https://www.mltansw.asn.au/

Yesterday we delivered our first statewide Adobe Connect session for 2020, with our games bonanza. We explored a variety of activities which bring fun to the classroom whilst developing language skills, and we even had a little interaction ourselves!

We think the live feedback from participants says it all…
Michelle: This has been an amazing session
Paola; Thank you for those great game ideas
Ilian: Thanks, that was interesting, fun and useful. Terima kasih banyak, Bu! :)
Phuong: Thanks so much. It will be very useful
Jenny: Fantastic session. Thanks Coreena. Some brilliant ideas I would like to adapt into my classes.
​Brett: I will definitely be re-watching this with the pause button later.

Our plan is to develop a games and activity sharing space for all teachers to access. If you have any game ideas, videos, templates that your students enjoy and you are willing to share, please send them to Coreena Allen.

We hope you continue to enjoy our short professional learning sessions delivered via Adobe Connect – our Term 4 session on assessment has since had more than 600 views!

Thank you to the 55 language teachers who joined us live yesterday. If you were unable to attend, you can view the session recording. Files and games templates can be downloaded from the attachments below.

Next session: Feedback!

The Languages and Culture team is currently finalising our new workshop, “Assessment and reporting in 7-10 – new language syllabuses”, which will be rolled out statewide in Terms 1 and 2.

As with all our professional learning events, we will be running a trial event with teachers, to ensure the content and delivery are of the highest quality.

We’re looking for 8-10 teachers to participate in the trial event, from a range of school contexts.

The workshops, including the trial event, are for teachers 7-10 from NSW public schools only.

Event date: Wednesday 4 March 2020
Venue: Level 1, 105 Philip Street Parramatta
Times: 8:30am-5pm (note that participants must commit to this timeframe, to allow time for feedback to the presenters)

Relief costs will be met for all participants. Travel and accommodation costs will also be met for rural and remote teachers.

If interested, please email marcela.ayas@det.nsw.edu.au by 5pm on Friday 21 February 2020.

​The workshop will be NESA-registered for 5 hours.

The Languages and Culture team, in collaboration with Shirley Cai from Killarney Heights High School, is offering a Stage 6 school-based assessment in [Language] and Literature workshop. This is TIPL for 2 hours.
 
This course builds teachers’ capacity to understand and apply mandatory Stage 6 school-based assessment in [Language] and Literature courses. It unpacks NESA’s current school-based assessment requirements including examples of best practices. Provision of sample tasks based on syllabus outcomes, combined with collaborative discussions, support teachers in developing their own non-HSC style assessment tasks.

​This course will enable participants to:
- understand the requirements of school-based assessment in Stage 6 [Language] and Literature courses
- implement a range of assessment strategies in Stage 6 [Language] and Literature courses
- design an effective assessment task for Stage 6 [Language] and Literature courses.  

The workshop will be held at Ashfield Boys High School on 5 March from 1:00-3:00pm. Afternoon tea will be provided. To enrol, browse for course code NR27707.
​
For further information, please email Marcela Ayas or call on 7814 3448. Alternatively, you may also contact Shirley Cai on 9451 7005.

As promised and as part of our new direction of our statewide Adobe Connects, we will be running short professional sessions to better support teachers in the classroom.

On this term’s agenda, we will be delving into games that develop language skills, build positive relationships in the classroom and bring language classrooms to life.

All language teachers 7-12 in NSW public schools are invited to participate. The webinar contributes towards 30 minutes of teacher-identified professional learning addressing Standards 6.2.2 and 6.4.2 of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. 

Join us online via the Secondary Languages Adobe Connect room on Wednesday 19 February from 3:30-4:00pm.​
​
As the webinar runs as a one-direction session, you will not need a microphone or be required to speak. 

For participants new to using Adobe Connect, please see the attached how-to-guide below.

​We look forward to meeting you in the secondary languages meeting room.
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