http://www.rumaccc.unimelb.edu.au/schools/how.html

Since the Public Meeting on this issue in August, the following action has been taken:

1. A Press Release was prepared and circulated with some media reports.

2. The matter was raised with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. A delegation made up of Professor Michael Clyne, Pandora Petrovska, Frank Merlino and Stefan Romaniw, met with the Acting CEO of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, Mr David Howes on September 15, 2009.

The outcome of that meeting was as follows:

(a)    We wanted clarification as to what would happen to CCAFL in light of current national developments.  There has been a national curriculum for some languages in the form of CCAFL, predating the current move towards National Curriculum.  We made the point that it would be a terrible situation to dismantle a system that was working well. We were told that there were no moves to change any of the current set-up for language examination.  The languages that will be part of the National Curriculum have not yet been decided.

(b)    Mr Howes was open to the suggestion that there be a moratorium on the de-accreditation of VCE smaller candidature languages until the status of the National Curriculum for languages has been clarified.  He said that he would raise this with the VCAA Board and contact us regarding the outcome.

(c)     He said the issue of the de-accreditation of smaller candidature languages was not a costing issue as such, rather that a minimum number was required in an administrative sense.

(d)    We discussed the global scaling issue which often adversely affects the scores of smaller candidature languages, an issue which was raised at the Public Meeting. Mr Howes said that this affected other subject areas as well, and when it was implemented, was thought to be the fairest method of ranking students for university entry.  Until such a time, that universities establish other methods for tertiary entry, such as university partnership with schools, student portfolios and aptitude testing, the scaling would remain.

(e)    It was quite a positive meeting overall and we await a response regarding (b) from Mr Howes.

1. In Term 4 a Working Party needs to be established with representation from the key stakeholders who can take this matter further. The Working Party could consist of representatives from

• Tertiary
• Victorian School of Languages
• Community Languages Australia
• Modern Language Teachers Association of Victoria
• Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria
• Victorian Council of School Organisations
• Multilingual Australia
• Victorian Association of Secondary School Principals
• Australian Education Union

Click here to take the survey

In the LOTE@HOME pack, there’s a set of 50+ laminated cards for rooms in the home. Families attach the cards to the thing they refer to – the stove, the door, the dishwasher, the cupboard, the bath, the tap and so on. There are cards for the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen.

Family members use the words on the cards, mixed in with their usual language, to make sentences. So for example, a parent could say to a child “… please close ‘la porta’ when you come in …” Gradually, everyone will absorb the Italian word for ‘door’. And so it goes with all the other cards.

Click here to go to the website

In another set of cards in the pack, it’s all about learning the names of body parts. With this set, you can play a game, like ‘Snap’ or ‘Go Fish’ but use the foreign words to do it. The pronunciation is explained too.

By using the cards, and reinforcing words around the house, kids will learn a new language in exactly the same way they learned English – by immersion and absorption.

LOTE@HOME packs are not intended to replace formal LOTE lessons, however they are intended to build an “in country environment” in the home that will support the formal learning of a second language.

Click here to go to the website

The survey will be online by Friday 5 September 2008.

“This year, the UN International Year of Languages, countries all over the world have been reflecting on their achievements in languages and what they could be doing better.

In Australia, we have seen the continuation of a public discourse which started the previous year, on the benefits of second language learning and the decline in language programs over the years.

I will argue that this discourse will remain on the surface if it does not take into account the linguistic diversity we are blessed with, and if we cannot overcome our pervasive monolingual mindset.

I will also suggest a different, more holistic way of thinking about the benefits of plurilingualism, that is the use of more than one language. “

As well as being Emeritus Professor at Monash University and an honorary professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, Michael Clyne is a bilingual parent of a bilingual child and is a member of the Languages Action Alliance.

Read the transcript

A large part of her career in the past has been to help teachers to make sense of new and emerging technologies and to help infuse these in all curriculum areas in all grade levels.

Poppy maintains a blog for the Brisbane Courier Mail on digital resources for the classroom.

In this post she has provided an impressive list of links to websites related to languages learning. Go there now

Reprinted from Languages in Education newsletter 22 August 2008

NB: There are quite a few broken links on this page, but there are also some gems.