New units of work for Stage 5 are now available on the NESA languages website. Each unit has a different focus: 
- German – 'How do I get there?' – improve student engagement through collaborative and experiential approaches, including the escape room methodology.
- Italian – 'There was a time' – present an integrated approach to the teaching of culture through narrative. 
- Spanish – 'Will you buy it?' – strategies on how to use authentic advertising materials in the teaching of language. 

The Languages and Culture team is ready to deliver a new workshop to support teachers of Stages 4 and 5:
Assessment and reporting in 7-10 – new languages syllabuses.

The workshop will be rolled out statewide and is NESA-registered for 5 hours.

This course has been developed as a 1-day face-to-face workshop and leads language teachers through the changes they will need to make to assessment and reporting in order to align with the new syllabuses.

The learning intentions of the course are:
- understand the difference between assessment as, for and of learning, and a task-based approach to assessment of learning
- understand Common Grade Scale and the newly released Course Performance Descriptors for languages and understand their application in determining student achievement of course outcomes
- understand how to report on student achievement in line with the new syllabus and tailored for the school context
- write better quality assessment tasks and design marking criteria that clearly describe student achievement
- explore sample marking guidelines and draft marking guidelines differentiated across 5 grades (A-E) for one task.

The course is for languages teachers 7-10 from NSW public schools.

Enrol via MyPL, course code RG09900.

Upcoming event dates and venues are:
Monday 16 March – Parramatta
Wednesday 18 March – Wollongong
Monday 23 March – Sydney CBD
Tuesday 24 March – Sydney CBD
Wednesday 25 March – Queanbeyan
Wednesday 25 March – Terrigal
Friday 27 March – Newcastle
Tuesday 31 March – Coffs Harbour
Wednesday 1 April – Ballina
Friday 1 May – Parramatta
Thursday 7 May – Armidale
Tuesday 12 May – Port Macquarie
Thursday 14 May – Wagga
Thursday 21 May – Dubbo
Friday 22 May – Bathurst

Separate sessions will be held for teachers from Saturday School of Community Languages and NSW School of Languages. Teachers from these two schools are to await advice for dates and venues from their schools.

If you have further questions, contact Evia Kyriacou or call 7814 2820.

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 Language Teacher Network – Illawarra will hold a professional learning day for languages on Wednesday 4 December. 

The professional learning will take the form of a programming day targeting the languages taught in the schools of our area. Teachers will revisit sample templates of units of work, scope and sequences and assessment tasks available on the department's website. They will work in language-specific groups – Chinese, French, German, Italian and Japanese – and will program for Stages 4 and 5 for 2020, according to the new K-10 language syllabuses. Participants will have the opportunity to peer-review the resources created and provide feedback. The plan is that each language group will create the following resources:
- scope and sequence
- assessment schedule
- units of work
- assessment task.

Please bring along your syllabuses, assessment schedules for 2020, devices and any resources you are planning to use on the day. 

Date: Wednesday 4 December 2019
Time: 8:30am-3:30pm
Venue: Smiths High School
Enrol: MyPL – course code NR25838

Please enrol via MyPL course code NR25838 and select session Term 4 targeted languages professional learning. 

All teachers living or working in the area are welcome to attend.

For further information please contact Kristen Smith or Evia Kyriacou or call 78142820.

The Language Teacher Network – Queanbeyan will hold its Term 4 meeting on Wednesday 27 November. The meeting will take the form of a 2-hour meeting, and will include 1.5 hours of registered professional learning on "Shifting thinking – new K-10 language syllabuses". 
Date: Wednesday 27 November 2019
Time: 3:30pm-5:30pm
Venue: Finigan School of Distance Education, 77 Agnes Avenue, Queanbeyan
Enrol: MyPL – course code RG04794

Please enrol via MyPL course code RG04974 and select session "Shifting thinking – Finigan School of Distance Education".

All teachers living or working in the area are welcome to attend.

For further information please contact Amanda Rowe or call 02 6210 5286.

The Hunter Network Film Festival will be held on Thursday 5 December at Hunter School of the Performing Arts, featuring an Aboriginal dance performance by Millabah to celebrate the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

Entries are welcome from students in Stage 4 or 5, in any language with a duration of 2 minutes each.

Schools unable to attend the film showing may still take part and be eligible for prizes. Films will be distributed for show to participating schools.
The theme is ‘A change’ with a signature item of a plant to be included in the film. There will be prizes for best overall, people's choice, best Stage 4, best Stage 5, best language film.

Films are due Wednesday 20 November via Google Drive.

For further information please contact Daniela Phillips.

The Languages and Culture team has developed a support document to assist non-languages trained head teachers and executive who supervise teachers of languages.

The document aims to:
- raise awareness of the importance of languages education
- provide an overview of language syllabuses K-10
- provide an overview of Stage 6 language syllabuses and eligibility requirements
- outline professional learning opportunities and support available to language teachers.

The document is available on our website, along with a comprehensive range of other resources for language teachers. 

We also recommend the document for all language teachers and Head Teachers, Languages.