Contents:

• ATESOL ACT President’s Report for 2010 (from AGM)
• ATESOL ACT President’s Report for 2009 (from AGM)
• ATESOL ACT Newsletter December 2009 - A Christmas message
• ATESOL ACT Newsletter June 2009 - Update on ATESOL ACT activities
• ATESOL ACT Newsletter November 2008 - Update on ATESOL ACT activities
• ATESOL ACT Newsletter August 2008 - Update on activities

ATESOL ACT President’s Report for 2010 (from AGM)

ATESOL ACT Annual General Meeting 24th February 2011 President’s Report - 2010

Dear Members!

We had a very busy and productive year 2010. Our membership continued to grow, which may be, at least in part, due to the usefulness of the events organised by the ATESOL, as well as our members’ increased self-awareness as TESOL professionals.

As in the previous years, we continued to stay focused on two major areas: (1) ESL teachers’ professional development and (2) advocacy – activism for better learning opportunities for our ESL students and better appreciation of TESOL as a profession.

Some of the ‘upskilling’ PD events organised by the ATESOL in 2010 were a Pronunciation Workshop with the vibrant presenter and great expert Dr Beth Zielinski (Macquarie University) and a grammar workshop ‘Grammar Rules!’ with ACT-based grammar gurus Margaret McBride and Dr Deborah Hill (University of Canberra). We had a lovely session on using teachnology in ESL teaching, organised and presented by our members and led by Lesley. We had sessions which extended our thinking, such as the session on Indigenous perspectives presented by Dr Jaky Troy (University of Canberra; Jaky has now taken up a senior position at AIATSIS).

Some of our advocacy work at a national level involved providing feedback on the New Australian Curriculum, as well as Professional Standards for Teachers. It was heartening to see some of our suggestions acknowledged and even incorporated in subsequent drafts. At state level, we participated in the Efficiency Divident Review Consultation, the ATESOL writing letters of protest against slashing ESL-focused positions in the ACT DET. This was with some success (although admittedly limited) – at least one position was temporarily saved.

We also had fun events, such as our annual dinner, where we really enjoyed the culinary efforts of CIT hospitality students and the entertaining speech of Rachel Letts. The biannual ACTA conference at the Gold Coast was attended by some of our members in July. We would urge members to save a date in the diary for the Cairns Conference in 2012, and a bit closer to home, the ALAA Conference in December 2011 right here in Canberra. ATESOL ACT have agreed to support this event, and we will be excited to share more news later in the year.

We look forward to another busy year, filled with professional learning and activism. Many of you have already booked to attend the Pronunciation Workshop with Beth Zielinski on the 5th March. In May, we expect a very famous linguist and TESL educator Prof Bev Derewianka to visit and share some grammar fun with us. Many of you may have heard of Bev as being one of the lead writers of the New Australian Curriculum. Most of us are familiar and have been using her books on grammar and assessment.

In the area of advocacy and activism, among many other things, I would encourage you to have your say on the draft ACT Languages Policy ‘Languages for all Canberrans’. I have copies of the Discussion Paper here with me. The deadline for the feedback is 28th February. The Draft Languages Policy states that knowing English is critical for the full civic participation of ACT residents. It does not however have any systematic references to ESL teaching which would be needed in order to provide for such participation. So, if you are a school teacher, I would encourage you to call on the ACT government to commit to a funding, adequate for our students to achieve high levels of English language proficiency, for participation in social life as well as for learning through the medium of English, both in school and at post-secondary level. If you are involved in adult TESL, we need to call on the government to commit to provide for adult TESL that would allow our residents to develop English language skills adequate for effective participation in social life, workforce and further education. As it is, the Discussion Paper falls short of any such commitments.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my ATESOL Committee colleagues for their tireless planning and organisation of the events. I would also like to thank all the members for your continuous support, and your very helpful and often generous feedback on the ATESOL’s initiatives.

Marina Houston
President, ATESOL ACT
24 February 2011

ATESOL ACT President’s Report for 2009 (from AGM)

ATESOL ACT President’s Report for 2009 by Lona Thwaites

It’s been a good year for ATESOL ACT. Our membership has increased from 81 to 98. We’ve enjoyed some great PD sessions with up to 60 people attending. Committee members have remained alert to policy issues and have vigorously pursued our advocacy role.

Overall, ATESOL ACT can be proud of its work this past year in enhancing its members’ professional contributions to English language learners and their ability to realise their potential.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The themes for our Professional Development sessions were as follows:

• Where to for ESL assessment in the new federal education agenda? ;
• Intercultural language teaching;
• English in Indonesian Primary Schools;
• New technology in language teaching;
• Dr Bruce Moore speaking on “The Story of Australian English” at our spring dinner;
• Familiarising members with the Parliament House Education program and providing feedback relevant to enhancing ESL learners’ access;
• Creating a culturally sensitive classroom.

Lively discussions accompanied each session. Excellent morning teas enhanced each event and promoted networking among the people attending.

Our contribution to professional development also included an upgrade to the ATESOL ACT website, now one of the best ATESOL websites in the country.

ADVOCACY (presented by Dr Helen Moore)

Following from last year’s submission to the Review of the Adult Migrant English Program (August, 2008), highlights of our advocacy in 2009 consisted of the following :

• A letter to the Minister for Education, the Hon. Julia Gillard. in support of quality language and bilingual approaches to meet the learning needs of indigenous students in Northern Territory. (June)
• A submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly Inquiry into “The Educational Achievement Gap” and appearance of our representatives before that Inquiry.  (October) More...
• Pending the expiry of the AMEP Research Centre’s contract in December 2009, a letter was sent to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, requesting that ATESOL be included in consultations towards a new model to replace the Research Centre. This letter met with a positive response and subsequently we’ve been represented in discussions with Peter Templeton, Assistant Secretary for Settlement Services, DIAC. (October) More...
• A number of our members participated in a private two hour meeting to discuss various issues with the Hon. Laurie Ferguson, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs in October.
• Two of our committee members were invitees to a roundtable on "Languages and Cultural Awareness" at the Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences "House on the Hill" in October.
• Early in the year, one of our members and former ACTA president, Misty Adoniou, was appointed to the Equity and Diversity Advisory Group to the National Curriculum for schools.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

We contributed $500 dollars to the ACTA-ALAA appeal to raise funds to establish the Penny McKay Award for Promising Doctoral Research in School-based Language Development and Curriculum. (To support that appeal, Penny’s extensive library is now on sale - more details)

We contributed $290 to support five rural Cambodian English language teachers to participate in the CamTESOL conference, which is being held on 27-28 February.  One of our members, AMEP teacher Margaret McBride, is presenting at the conference.

PLANNING FOR 2010

The Committee has given thought to potential professional development sessions for 2010.

We’ve set in train a session on pronunciation in May and have other ideas to pass on to the incoming Committee.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Before electing a new president I’d like to thank all our members for their interest and support, particularly those who’ve come to the AGM this evening. I especially want to say a very big THANK YOU to each and every one on the Committee for your untiring efforts. What we have achieved has been due to real teamwork where everyone has pulled their weight. It has been an enriching experience to work together to support our profession in ways that make a difference to ESL teachers, English language learning—and English language learners—in this country and overseas.

Lona Thwaites Feb 2010

ATESOL ACT Newsletter December 2009 - A Christmas message

Christmas 2009

Dear ATESOL ACT Members.

The ATESOL ACT Committee would like to wish you all a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS. We have enjoyed sharing some great PD sessions with you and have really appreciated the way many of you have been able to give professional support to our educational advocacy. We hope you have enjoyed it all as much as we have.

Our PD sessions this year included:

1. Intercultural Language Teaching.
2. English in Indonesian Primary Schools.
3. Technology in Language Teaching.
4. Spring Dinner with Dr Bruce Moore speaking on “The Story of Australian English”.
5. A visit to Parliament House looking at Educational Activities.
6. Creating a Culture Sensitive Classroom. .

Lively discussions accompanied each session and so did good morning teas! Many of you have asked for recipes for some of our yummy home baked produce, therefore we’ve decided to give you two of these for your Christmas stocking! Please find them at the end of this letter!

As for next year, our AGM will be in February. A couple of positions on the committee will be open for new people, including the presidency as Lona expects to be out of Canberra for a good part of the new year. It would be great with a few more people on the committee, so please keep this in mind when you receive our invitation to the AGM with nomination forms.  We can promise you that you’ll be working with a stimulating and fun group of people, engaged in – as you know – some very important issues.

In the meantime, all our very best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

From all of us on the ATESOL ACT committee:

Chewy Cranberry Bars

3 tbsp self raising flour    
3 cups quick oats
½ cup desiccated coconut   
6 tbsp sesame seeds
10 tbsp pepita or sunflower seeds
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup tightly packed soft brown sugar
200 g butter
½ cup golden syrup

Preheat oven to 170C and grease a (rectangular) cake-tin. Sift flour. Stir in oats, coconut, seeds & cranberries.  Then mix in the sugar. Melt butter & golden syrup over low heat or in micro-oven. Leave to cool for 5 min then pour over the dry ingredients and mix well. Press mixture into tin and bake for 25-30 mins or till golden. (It may be a little soft to touch but will firm when cooled) Let it cool in tin. Turn out and cut into squares. Can be stored for 7 days, but you are sure to have eaten them before then!

Apricot Almond Slice

Soak 125g of chopped dried apricots in hot water for half an hour then drain.
Add 1 cup of raw sugar,
2 cups of SR flour
3/4 cup of coconut
1/2 cup of chopped dates
185g melted butter
50g (ish) flaked almonds

Mix together. Press mixture into a greased, lined slice tin. Press 50g (ish) flaked almonds into the mixture gently.  Bake in a moderate oven 25 mins or so. Almonds should be toasty brown. Cool in the tin and cut into squares.

ATESOL ACT Newsletter June 2009 - Update on ATESOL ACT activities

Dear Members

Before settling into holiday mode I thought I should give you a quick update on our political lobbying and on the events we have planned for the rest of this year. We on the Committee hope you’ll put them in your diary and join us for some or all of them.   As always we look forward to seeing you.

Sat. August 1st. 9.45 -1pm at CIT Reid - Innovations in Using Technology in ESL Teaching
Three teachers will ‘Show-and-Tell’ how they use technology in their classrooms and beyond, allowing for lots of discussion on using these and other technologies in different areas. This session will be relevant to teachers from all education sectors.

Wed. August 26th 7pm - Annual Spring dinner at Yarralumla Southern Cross Yacht Club
Speaker: Dr Bruce Moore, author of the recently published book "Speaking our language: the story of Australian English".    Dr. Moore, who has taught at a number of Australian universities, now heads the Australian National Dictionary Centre at ANU. More details about this event and how to book will follow in the coming weeks.

Friday Sept. 18th  4-6pm - Parliament House
Parliament House education staff are inviting ESL teachers and TESOL students to afternoon tea and a discussion about how best to involve ESL and AMEP students in the Parliament House education program.

Mid-October
For the month of October we are planning to arrange a panel of speakers who will talk about some of the ethnic cultures you encounter as an ESL teacher, how to understand and make allowances for them and how to draw on them to enhance the teaching environment.

Recent Event
In May 28 members attended a stimulating PD session on Intercultural language teaching and English in Indonesian primary schools, presented by Dr. Chantal Crozet, ANU and Mochamad Subhan Zein, UC.

Political lobbying
One of the main concerns on our political agenda has been the bilingual teaching environment in Northern Territory, where Aboriginal languages has been reduced to a bare minimum.  Last week a delegation from Alice Springs took more than 50 letters of concern to three federal ministers: Minister for Education Julia Gillard, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin and Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett. Letters came from all over the country. Our ATESOL ACT committee also wrote a letter on behalf of our members, expressing our whole-hearted support for a bilingual approach and our concern that English learning needs now come at the expense of education in Aboriginal languages. See below for full text of our letter. As a consequence the minister for environment has now commenced drafting an Indigenous Languages Action Strategy. For more info on the issue of bilingual education please see a good discussion paper on http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research_program/publications/discussion_papers

We wish you a very happy break.

On behalf of the committee:
Lona Thwaites
President ATESOL ACT

LETTER TO MINISTERS

10 June 2009

The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion
The Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
The Hon Peter Garrett MP,  Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

Dear Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers,

On behalf of the Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages in the Australian Capital Territory (ATESOL ACT), I am writing to you to request your strong support for bilingual programs and approaches in the Northern Territory.  This letter will be delivered to you by representatives of the Ngapartji Ngapartji group in their meeting with you.

ATESOL ACT whole-heartedly endorses quality indigenous language and bilingual approaches to meet the learning needs of indigenous students. We therefore deplore the undermining of these approaches by current policies in the Northern Territory. 

Supporting indigenous students’ English learning need not come at the expense of the indigenous languages. All reputable and long-standing second language acquisition research clearly demonstrates the multiple benefits of additive bilingualism in promoting individuals’ cognitive, social and cultural development. This research also shows that maintaining the child’s mother tongue can significantly enhance his/her learning of additional languages, including English. Further, there is no evidence to show that removing support for the child’s mother tongue translates into gain in any other language, including English.

ATESOL ACT understands that data from literacy testing by the NT Department of Education showed that indigenous students in schools using bilingual approaches achieved higher standards in the Years 5 and 7 national literacy benchmark tests than did their counterparts in ‘like’ English-only schools. This evidence supports claims for the advantages of bilingual approaches over English-only approaches for indigenous students, and suggests that enforcing English-only approaches will do nothing to assist these students and is likely to further erode their educational performance.

In addition to enhancing literacy and numeracy outcomes, mother tongue maintenance has been linked to improvements in mental health. Conversely, research also suggests that where English has replaced or sufficiently weakened mother tongues in indigenous communities, speakers cannot access traditional epistemologies (that is, fundamental elements in indigenous value systems and understandings of the environment, and the ways in which values and knowledge are passed on) and that language loss can play a significant role in depression, hopelessness, mental breakdown and even suicide. 

ATESOL ACT therefore strongly supports the teaching of indigenous languages alongside English and the use of quality bilingual approaches and programs. A balanced approach is key to unlocking indigenous students’ potential in remote communities where their languages are still in use. It will enhance these students’ participation and success in education, not least in English. It will provide a solid foundation from which they can look to the future, make choices and contribute to Australian society overall.

Regards,
Lona Thwaites,
President ATESOL, ACT

ATESOL ACT Newsletter November 2008 - Update on ATESOL ACT activities

Dear Members

Before the academic year comes to a close we just want to touch base with you and wish you a VERY happy festive season. We also want to give you a quick update on the things we have been occupied with since our last newsletter in early August. Our membership has doubled this year and judging by the people who have offered to come and give presentations next year, there’s potential for some very inspirational sessions, which we hope will draw many new people from the ESL/ TESOL field.  However this also depends on you!  We plan an annual general meeting in early March and we hope you will come along and become part of the committee carrying through next year’s activities. Please think about that over the holidays. At the same event we will present an award to this year’s two top TESOL students, Genevieve Hye Yeong Jamieson and Sue Honeyman, both from University of Canberra.

It’s been a very interesting Spring with good PD programs, a lovely annual dinner and important political lobbying.  The most recent example of that (as you may know from an earlier press release forwarded to you from the Australian Council of TESOL Associations, ACTA) has concerned the alarmingly short sighted decision by the NT government to effectively terminate bilingual education in indigenous communities.  Lobbying continues in this regard.

Lobbying also continues in regard to ESL being part of the national education curriculum.  Feedback on all the curriculum papers is required by 5 Feb 2009.  President of ACTA, Misty Adoniou suggests that any of our members who would like to be part of a working party to provide this crucial piece of feedback should put their names forward. Those involved will work by e-mail until 15 Dec and resume in mid January, after a good break.   Please contact Misty Adoniou if you would like to participate in the curriculum working party: misty.adoniou@canberra.edu.au

In August preschool ESL teachers Felicity Dawson and Leeza Cottingham with primary ESL teacher Joy Arblaster and migrant ESL teacher Margarethe de Riva O’Phelan gave a very energizing workshop called: “The best of ESL teaching: Lessons from the classroom”.  35 participants listened and had fun practising some of the methods and ideas presented.

The speaker at our annual dinner at the Southern Cross Club in Yarralumla in September was Scott Thornbury, well known author of several award winning books on language and methodology and now Associate Professor of English Language Studies at the New School in New York.  Thornbury gave a heart-warming personal account of how he’d found his grandfather’s papers ten years after his death and there discovered what a deeply inspirational teacher he had been; how he’d then gone in search of his grandfather’s former students until he found – several years later - in New Zealand - a 90-year-old woman whose anecdotes from her childhood confirmed the grandfather’s great talent for teaching - a talent he clearly passed on to his grandson.

In October Dr Kate Wilson, lecturer at the University of Canberra gave an interactive presentation “engaging with reading” based on some of the very interesting research for her PhD thesis. She suggested that with good support and scaffolding, including clear goal setting for teacher and students, you can proceed to give the students challenging work – also called “hard fun” and achieve very good results with reading (and no doubt other skills).  Hers was a presentation with many gems of the sort that keep popping up in your mind as you prepare lessons.

Finally a big THANK YOU to all members for all that you continue to do for both young and mature students in their struggle to gain proficiency in English and so be able to lead more satisfying lives.

All of us on the ATESOL ACT Committee:

We all wish you a very joyous Christmas-time and a great New Year to follow.

Warmest greetings,

Lona Thwaites
President ATESOL ACT

November 25th 2008

ATESOL ACT Newsletter August 2008 - Update on activities

Dear Members

It’s more than half way through the year and for the benefit of both earlier and recent joiners, we would like to give you a quick update on the things we’ve been busy with and tell you about some important events planned for the rest of the year. We hope you’ll be able to join us for some or all of them.

In the past few weeks we have done some intensive lobbying at the door of the ACT Minister for Education, Andrew Barr, for a much needed increase in quality and funding of ESL teaching. We have expressed ATESOL’s serious concern over present trends which we feel have reduced ESL teaching to a level that is neither professional nor responsible towards children from an ESL background. The Minister has taken note of our concerns and we will continue to be vigilant in this area and seek the necessary changes.

Some of you will have participated in one or both of two inspiring professional development sessions that we organised. In May 35 of our members gathered at the UC to attend thought-provoking presentations by three academics and teachers, Dr Deborah Hill (UC), Geoffrey Millar (ADFA) and Peta Shepherd (SIEC/Dickson College) who were scheduled to present the same papers at the International TESOL conference in Alice Springs in July, focusing on “Developing identity and keeping diversity alive in a TESOL setting”. We also received much positive feedback from the second PD session in June, where Eulea Kiraly gave a fascinating practical introduction to digital story-telling. However, the best is yet to come and we hope you will feel inspired to join in.

Upcoming events for your diaries

> Urgent political lobbying this week: Many of you will know that on 23 July the Department of Immigration & Citizenship released a Discussion paper on the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) as part of their review of this program. Responses to the paper have to be in by August 15. Many of our members work within the AMEP and we feel this is a real opportunity for us to gather our best thinking and make an important contribution to a submission, which ACTA (the Australian Council of Tesol Associations) plans to present to the minister. We warmly invite you to participate in an emergency meeting to formulate reactions and thoughts on this discussion paper. Prereading is highly recommended. The paper can be accessed on: http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/delivering-assistance/amep-review-paper.htm
Date: Thursday 7 August Time 4.30pm Place: Canberra Institute of Technology, Reid Campus, J Block (on the corner of Constitution Avenue and Corrnderrk St) .

> Best Ever Lessons: At the end of August we have organised what is promising to be a real imaginative PD session consisting of a panel of four kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary teachers/lecturers who will present their “Best Ever Lessons”.
Date: Saturday 23 August Time: 9.30 – 12.30 Venue: CIT, Reid Campus ($10 for non-members)

> Spring Dinner: Guest speaker at out annual Spring dinner in September will be the renowned NZ linguist Scott Thornbury. He is currently Associate professor of English Language Studies at the New School in New York, where he teaches on an on-line MATESOL program. He has written several award-winning books for teachers on language and methology and has taught teachers in NZ, Egypt, UK and Spain, where he lives. Scott Thornbury’s talk will focus on some of his own rich experiences in teaching.
Date: Thursday, 18 September Time: 7pm Venue: Southern Cross Yacht Club Price: $45 including a three course dinner (members only)

> Teaching reading: In October Dr. Kate Wilson will present aspects of her PhD thesis on this quite controversial and very important subject relating to ESL. teaching.
Date: Saturday 18 October Venue to be confirmed

New Members: Please feel free to share this letter and the attached membership form with colleagues whom you think may be interested. We will be posting a membership card to you at the end of this week and look forward to seeing you in the coming months.

Regards,
Lona Thwaites President ATESOL, ACT