Annual Spring Dinner with guest speaker Bruce Moore - 26 August 2009

Bruce Moore photo ATESOL ACT Annual Dinner

with Guest speaker: Dr Bruce Moore

Reader and Head of Australian National Dictionary Centre, ANU

at Southern Cross Yacht Club
Alexandrina Drive, Yarralumla

Wednesday 26th August 2009

For much of the twentieth century Australian English was regarded as a substandard version of British English. In his fascinating and recently published book, Speaking our language: the story of Australian English, Bruce Moore looks at the reasons for this attitude, and traces how Australian English became accepted in the final decades of the twentieth century. Dr Moore will talk about this very interesting process and share his perceptions of the future of Australian and other regional Englishes in the context of the globalisation of English. Dr Moore is currently putting the final touches to a new edition of the Australian National Dictionary and will also be able to reveal some of the new Australian words that will be included in the dictionary for the first time.

Parliament House Education Program - PHOTO ALBUM

Parliament House Education Program - Friday 18 September 2009

The Education Officers at Parliament House invited ACT TESOL members to come to a special meeting with them in the Parliament on Friday 18 September 2009. The 20+ members from primary and secondary schools, CIT and UC experienced the kind of educational activities offered in the Parliament to visiting educational groups.

ATESOL ACT members role-played the introduction of a Bill to increase school hours to 9-5. While 'MPs' were given scripts to read some embellished their scripts in an effort to increase pay for hard working teachers (Hear, hear!). There were moments of tension when some unruly MPs were almost expelled by the Mace-wielding 'Serjeant-at-Arms'. Fortunately Linda, the PEO Parliamentary Educator, was there to calm things down. Several 'Government MPs' threatened to cross the floor when an 'Independent MP' amended the Bill to remove the pay-rise. We all agreed that our 'fair but bossy Speaker' has a future in Parliament - she took to the role like a duck to water!

See below for the photo album of the ATESOL ACT members in action!

This event was also an opportunity for us to find out more about what is available, provide expert feedback on ESL-specific issues, go behind the scenes, and socialise with both Parliamentary Education Officers and ESL colleagues. The PEO website has a wide range of excellent resources for teachers and students, including a video of a student role play

And, as we have come to expect from ATESOL ACT events, the afternoon tea was memorable. Thanks to Committee members Jakki Cashman (the chocolate zucchini cake & orange cakes) and Jill Schaefer (brownies and dried mango).

Creating a culture-sensitive classroom where students thrive - Saturday 24th October 2009

Added from clipboard at 10/14/2009 8:14 PM.

On Saturday 24th October 2009 a panel of speakers with experience from different cultures discussed the obstacles that make cultural transitions so difficult for newly arrived students. What is it we need to be aware of in order to help them settle in and feel they belong? How do we avoid misunderstandings? How do we create a climate in which they can get the best out of their learning experience and appreciate different perceptions?

Nasrin Lucas (who has lived on four different continents) and has worked for 20 years in the ACT as community development officer, counsellor and mediator - download Nasrin's recommended reading list on Islam
James Atem Mayen (Sudan) Youth Worker with Companion House
Ayan Hassan (Somalia) ACT Children’s Services
Hongsar Channaibanya (Burma) Project Officer with Companion House - download Hongsar's Powerpoint presentation

Companion House is a non profit community based organisation that works with people who have sought refuge in Australia from persecution, torture and war related trauma. Please visit the Companion House website for more information.

Innovations in Using Technology in ESL Teaching - Saturday 1st August 2009

Technology in ESL Wordle cloud image

Three teachers presented a ‘Show-and-Tell’ of how they use technology in their classrooms and beyond:

Penny Ryder, Chapman Primary School, on blogging, podcasting, mini camcorders and video. See Penny's blog Teaching Challenges to view her slideshow and to download her handout.

Robyn Hammond, Tuggeranong Primary Introductory English Centre, on creative uses of interactive whiteboards. See this PDF document for a summary of Robyn's presentation and all her links - Using an IWB within the Tuggeranong Primary Introductory English Centre.

Lesley Cioccarelli, Adult Migrant English Program, CIT, on virtual (online) classrooms and ‘live video feedback'. See this PDF document for a linked list of virtual classroom (and voice) tools, and 'live video feedback' - Virtual Classrooms and Live Video Feedback

The image above created using http://www.wordle.net/ Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. Look on the Web for ideas for using Wordle in education.

Intercultural language teaching and English in Indonesian primary schools - Saturday, 23 May 2009

Dr Chantal Crozet of ANU presented on: Intercultural language teaching aims to fully recognise and teach culture as part of language, not just as an adjunct to language. To achieve intercultural competence you have to understand your own as well as the culture of the target language. How to achieve this in the language class room was the focus of Dr Chantal Crozet’s presentation.

Mochamad Subhan Zein of UC presented on: Should English be made compulsory in Indonesian primary schools? If so, why? Mochamad Subhan Zein, Masters student at UC revealed the perspectives of Indonesian English practitioners, educational specialists, researchers, as well as government officials on this policy question. Should English be taught at primary level? The Jakarta Post 15/11/2008

2009 Annual General Meeting & PD session: Where to for ESL assessment in the new federal education agenda? & Presentation of the ATESOL ACT Awards

At this year’s ATESOL ACT AGM we awarded 2008's two top students of TESOL and TESL at University of Canberra: Genevieve Hye Yeong Jamieson and Sue Honeyman.

Following the AGM, Dr. Helen Moore spoke on a topic highly relevant to all of us: "Where to for ESL assessment in the new federal education agenda?" drawing on information presented at the National Symposium on Assessing English as a Second/Additional Language or Dialect in the Australian Context she co-coordinated in Sydney earlier this month. It reviewed assessment issues in the AMEP, ELICOS and school sectors.

(Thursday 12th March 2009)

Engaging with reading: How to teach reading to students at all levels Presented by Kate Wilson, University of Canberra - Saturday, 18 October 2008

In this interactive presentation Kate Wilson drew from a holistic study of three reading classrooms in English for Academic Purposes. She suggested that scaffolding students’ development of reading practices requires high engagement as well as ‘high challenge and high support” (Hammond and Gibbons 2005). Using features from classrooms she has observed she showed how three teachers were able to create high engagement with text. Although these examples are taken from pre-tertiary settings, she made the presentation applicable to teachers at all levels.

Spring Dinner with guest speaker Scott Thornbury - Thursday, 18 September 2008

Scott Thornbury gave a fascinating and inspiring speech of the sort that goes to the heart and stays. It was just great seeing 30 plus people chatting heartily away, obviously enjoying themselves.

‘The Best of ...ESL teaching’: lessons from the classroom - Saturday, 23 August 2008

At the end of August 2008 we organised a PD session consisting of a panel of teachers from the preschool, primary and adult sectors who presented their “Best Ever Lessons”. This proved a hit with attendees and is set to become a regular event on the ATESOL ACT calendar.

Introduction to Digital Storytelling Workshop - Saturday, 31 May 2008

In this 4-hour workshop Eulea Kiraly of Tuggeranong Arts Centre introduced participants to techniques for developing Digital Stories - creating storylines through a story circle, storyboarding, and using PhotoStory3 to add images, record anrration and add music to create your final 'movie'.

Interesting links to find out more about Digital Storytelling:

See the Tuggeranong Arts Centre website for information on the full workshops.
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image has more information including many examples of Digital Stories
The Center for Digital Storytelling website has more example stories and resources.
Creating the Connections is a flexible resource kit aimed at developing students’ literacy and ICT skills as well as project planning and teamwork skills.
Liz Iannotti's ESL Course Websites - Lesson plans and stories from The English Language Center, Division of Adult & Continuing Education, LaGuardia Community College
The University of Houston's College of Education has a site on the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling which includes examples and links to software downloads.

Pre-ACTA Conference presentation by three Canberra TESOL practitioners - Saturday, 3 May 2008

Dr Deborah Hill (UC) - A community of learners

Geoffrey Millar (ADFA) - the art of inclusive teaching.
Conference Paper available from ACTA website - Working with international students: Applied linguistics and the art of inclusive teaching By Geoff Millar [59kb] PDF

Peta Shepherd (SIEC/ Dickson College) - Introductory English Centres – more than English teaching centres
Conference Paper available from ACTA website - Helping refugee students in Intensive English Centres [Word doc.]

Teacher talk by Merran Martin: 'My Life as an ESL Teacher 1972-2007' - AGM, March 2008

Merran retired recently after many years at CIT. Her ESL experience includes teaching aboard the ships bringing new settlers to Australia. As well as being a highly regarded teacher at CIT, Merran worked in the Home Tutor Service, as a Student Advisor, and with refugees at Companion House.

Meet the Author: Prof. Anna Wierzbicka discussed her latest book, TRANSLATING LIVES - Wednesday, 30 May 2007

Edited by Mary Besemeres and Anna Wierzbicka, Translating Lives is an immensely moving collection of personal stories tracing the experiences of twelve people living in Australia who speak more than one language. Contributors including Kim Scott and Eva Sallis show how their experiences of language colour the way they relate to people and the way they see the world. Through their eyes, we learn how language, culture and identity are intrinsically linked. Illuminating and insightful, Translating Lives is an engrossing read for every Australian wanting to understand the complex culture we live in today.

At Asia Bookroom, Wednesday 30 May 2007

For a taste of the talk, listen to an interview from SBS Radio - Translating Lives: 17.4.2007: click on the link below to listen to the MP3:
http://203.15.102.140/elg/fbceeeb9-3bf6-4150-a6ae-80432ccb40b6.mp3

Visit to the exhibition 'Memory of a Nation' at the National Archives of Australia - Wednesday, 11 April 2007

Visit to the exhibition Memory of a Nation at the National Archives of Australia and,

Coming to Canberra - Guest speaker Jorge Bagnini, ACT Multicultural Arts Officer, introduced and presented this short DVD which he produced as part of "Project 1955", the culmination of research and interviews with migrants who were Canberra residents in 1955. The film depicts actors recounting the first-hand experiences of migrants from Italy, Holland, Austria, Poland, the UK, Malta and Greece.

Grammar? Making Sense? workshop with Mary Macken-Horarik - 18 November 2006

Grammar? Making Sense? (in PDF format) workshop with Mary Macken-Horarik
What is it about the word, ‘grammar’? It is a word that strikes panic into the hearts and minds of teachers widely regarded as expert in their knowledge about language.

Cross-Cultural Communication workshop - 26 July 2006

Long Service Leave Suggestion: A Tad of Teaching and a Couple of Conferences - February 2006

Long Service Leave Suggestion: A Tad of Teaching and a Couple of Conferences (in PDF format) By Margie Sainsbury, teacher and home tutor co-ordinator AMEP, CIT.

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