Category: Resources

IT'S PARTY TIME!

21/9/2020

Just in time for Term 4, we have developed a generic 10-week Stage 4 party unit.

The unit has been developed to support you in differentiating and adjusting teaching, learning and assessment activities to support a range of students.

Our aim was to provide you with key information, in a practical and user-friendly way.

Differentiation and adjustments depend on the individual students in your class, so we have included a comprehensive range of examples – you will need to modify these, or include your own, to support individual student needs.

You can find the unit on the Stages 4 and 5 section of our website, under the heading Programming in Stages 4 and 5. Alternatively, it's on each of the language-specific Stages 4 and 5 pages.

Do you know our website has support for teaching numeracy in languages?

3/9/2020

It's important the numeracy activities are both age- and Stage-appropriate. For example, students in Stage 4 could explore activities in which they:

- read a menu in the target language and calculate total costs, discounts and percentages, such as tipping
- extract, interprets and comprehend a range of mathematical information in the target language from texts, tables, diagrams and graphs in a range of contexts, such as weather charts and transport timetables
- create budgets and cost items in a foreign currency, such as shopping for souvenirs
- applies knowledge of scale, distances and time zones to plan and budget an overseas travel itinerary.

You can find sample numeracy activities for Stage 4 Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish (NEW!) on the Stages 4 and 5 section of our site. Scroll down the page to the 'Numeracy' heading.

Resources for Stage 6 [Language] in Context courses

10/8/2020

We have repurposed the content from the old HSC Online site to create 3 new Google sites to support the [Language] in Context courses (formerly Heritage). Access the sites from the appropriate sections of our website:

Due to furigana in Japanese, we had to upload content for Japanese as PDFs.
We hope you and your students find these resources helpful.

What's new on our website?

27/7/2020

We are continually updating our website, and we hope you have bookmarked it and check in regularly.

We have recently added:
- a student self-reflection tool, which explores the purpose of self-reflection in student learning and includes examples of self-reflection questions based on language learning. Visit our Stages 4 and 5 landing page, and scroll down to student self-reflection
- a new way to present assessment tasks to your students. Regardless of what language you teach, take a look at the sample on our Stage 4 Italian page, under sample assessment tasks. You'll see this online format includes the task, outcomes, directions and useful links for the student to follow. You'll also find advice for the students on creating and collaborating together from different locations and videos to spark inspiration
- our virtual excursion to the Eiffel Tower! Visit our Stage 4 French page to access our interactive website which explores the geography, history and culture of this iconic landmark, supporting students to learn and practise French virtually. Why not create your own?
- support for Stage 4 Arabic, German and Korean.

HSC hub – Stage 6 languages Beginners and Continuers videos

24/7/2020

The Languages and Culture team has developed videos with advice to students on how to approach the HSC Beginners and Continuers examinations. You can find the videos in the HSC hub, along with downloadable guides with advice for Beginners, Continuers, Extension, [Language] and Literature and [Language] in Context students.

The department's HSC hub contains high-quality, on-demand resources that teachers can provide to their students to help them prepare for their exams. Aligned to NSW syllabuses, the hub is a carefully curated central repository for items created by the NSW Department of Education, including Aurora College and WooTube. There is also third party material available. For copyright reasons, some items will require a NSW Department of Education log in.

Resources available for Stage 6 and HSC support reminder

12/6/2020

With preparations for the HSC underway for Stage 6 students here is a reminder of the resources available in the Stage 6 languages section of the Department of Education's website to support our language students.

1. Listening and reading resources (adapted from the old HSC Online website) are available for most Beginners and Continuers courses. Navigate to your language and scroll down to sample listening and reading activities for the link. Questions, audio, sample responses and transcripts can be found here.
2. Sample speaking questions can be found under most Beginners and Continuers courses by scrolling to the practice speaking questions link.
3. Advice for students in approaching the Beginners/Continuers/Extension HSC examinations – these can be found by navigating to your language, and the course from our Stage 6 curriculum page, under the heading Advice for students.

And don't forget to also check the Stage 6 teacher-contributed resources in our statewide staffroom in Yammer (staff only), including NSW School of Languages' guide to best practice for speaking lessons and the Languages and Culture teams' preparing students for the oral examinations in Beginners and Continuers advice.

Advice for students in preparing for the HSC – Beginners (new) and Continuers (updated)

9/6/2020

We have just published HSC examinations in Beginners language courses – advice for students on our website, as well as updated the HSC examinations in Continuers language courses – advice for students document.

Access them from the Stage 6 section of our website (choose your language and then the appropriate course from the menu).

We hope you find these useful as your Stage 6 HSC students prepare for their upcoming examinations.

New languages K-6 resources

25/5/2020

New learning sequences and student workbooks for Early Stage 1 to Stage 3 are now available on the Learning from home page. These resources are samples that teachers may adapt to their language specific area to meet the needs of their students and local contexts.

Early Stage 1 – my favourite toy
· Learning sequence - my favourite toy Early Stage 1 (DOCX 78KB)
· Student workbook - my favourite toy Early Stage 1 (DOCX 152KB)
Stage 1 – my dream home 2
· Learning sequence – my dream home 2 Stage 1 (DOCX 48KB)
· Student workbook –my dream home 2 Stage 1 (DOCX 1.8MB)
Stage 2 – about me
· Learning sequence – about me Stage 2 (DOCX 73KB)
· Student workbook – about me Stage 2 (DOCX 110KB)
Stage 3 – caring for the environment 2
· Learning sequence – caring for the environment Stage 3 (DOCX 50.7KB)
· Student workbook – caring for the environment Stage 3 (DOCX 484KB)

Continuers text types updated on our website

20/5/2020

We're not sure if you'd noticed, but when the DoE's website moved platforms over the January holidays, we discovered the new platform did not allow foreign characters, or even things like apostrophes or long (en) dashes. Instead, it turned all these things into question marks. Very frustrating!!

We have been trying ever since to fix the problem, and we're nearly there! The Continuers text types information has now been added as Word documents - easier to download and use with students! Thank you for your patience during this frustrating period.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/key-learning-areas/languages/s6

Asia Society newsletter

20/5/2020

The Asia Society newsletter has arrived, with information you may find useful.

At-home adventures through Asia
Join adventures through the diverse cultures of Asia via at-home lessons and activities for learners. These adventures assist in building cross-cultural understanding between the East and West, sparking curiosity about Asia and fostering cultural empathy. There are adventures in China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Korea. The adventures can be found on the Asia Society website.

Virtual NCLC 2020
The National Chinese Language Conference (US) will be held online from 24-26 June 2020. The conference is accessible globally and is free for all attendees. Registration instructions and conference details are available on the conference website.