A free online course (MOOC) on teaching and learning languages in primary schools starts on Monday 6 July.
 
A team of researchers at the Universities of Southampton, Essex and Reading has developed the course to encourage research-informed practice in primary foreign language classrooms. 
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The course will focus on key themes such as motivation and engagement, language development and literacy.

Each week, participants will be guided through some of the answers research has provided to these issues and draw out the pedagogical implications of these findings. There are 3staged pathways (evaluator, reflector and innovator) which will encourage participants to explore and trial the pedagogical principles. Participants will have many opportunities to reflect on the practical implications of the research and to listen to 'stories' from other teachers about their own innovative primary foreign language practice. 
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To register, visit: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/teaching-languages-in-primary-schools-putting-research-into-practice/1

The Languages and Culture team is holding our next statewide staff meeting on Wednesday 10 June 2020. Please join us on Adobe Connect for a registered professional learning afternoon for language teachers.

The focus will be on using a variety of Google tools and apps in the language classroom, presented by the T4L team.

https://connect.schools.nsw.edu.au/google/
Hope to see you there!

​Date: Wednesday 10 June 2020
Time: 3:30-4:30pm
Online platform: Adobe Connect
Enrolment details: MyPL
Course code: RG19135

As teaching life begins to return to normal, just a reminder that we continue to have 2 eCourses available for language teachers 7-12 in NSW public schools. Both are registered, and available in MyPL.

​1. Course code RG10281 – Stage 6 school-based assessment in languages
2. Course code RG08902 – Languages K-10 syllabus familiarisation and planning

​You can complete them at your own pace, in your own time.

The Languages and Culture team is holding an extraordinary statewide staff meeting on Monday 25 May 2020.

Please join us on Microsoft Teams for a registered professional learning afternoon for language teachers. The focus will be on adapting existing Stage 4 tasks for online assessment. At the end of the presentation, we will also be available to answer any questions you may have on assessment and reporting.
 
Date: Monday 25 May 2020

• Time: 3:30-4pm
• Online platform: MS Teams
• Enrolment details: MyPL 
• Course code: RG19123

For further questions, please contact Evia Kyriacou.
We look forward to seeing you there. 

If you're attending for today's PL, Collecting evidence of learning in Languages, you should have received an email by now. In the email:

1. click on the link - this will take you to the Evenbrite site
2. click on 'View your order' in the top right
3. on the next page, click on "View links"
4. on the next page, click on the larger image at the bottom of the page - this opens the Teams app, where the PL will occur..

Any dramas - the direct link is https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MGZiNTI3NmMtMTdhZi00ZjFkLTk5MDgtMDllZmU2NjU0MTNh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2272f988bf-86f1-41af-91ab-2d7cd011db47%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%228f6fe073-09e5-4479-a10d-6b1c2e30db5f%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d

MLTA members are invited to the webinar Unpacking the NESA K-10 languages syllabuses presented by Melissa Gould-Drakeley (Inspector Languages at NESA).

​It will be held on Wednesday 6 May from 4-5:30pm.
Please register by 3pm on the day of the webinar.

Please note this is a repeat of the webinar facilitated last term for those who were not able to participate. You will not be able to gain registered hours for it twice. 

Registered participants will be sent the webinar link prior to the webinar (please ensure your email address is entered correctly). 

The Languages and Culture team has produced short professional learning videos on:
- Quality online assessment in the virtual space for languages 7-10
- Teaching and learning in the virtual space in languages.
You can access both professional learning recordings through the Learning on demand page of the department's website. 
These professional learning sessions will each provide 30 minutes of registered professional learning. 

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.