21Sep
1. Babies, 2. Pre-schoolers, 3. Kindergarten, 4. Years 1-3, 5. Years 4-6, 6. Years 7-10, 7. Years 11-12, Events, Everyone, Indigenous, National
Please come to the planning meeting for the Bilingual Education Day Conference this Thursday 23rd September at 6:30 pm
To build on the success of a union anti-intervention speaking tour of Steve Patrick and Peter Inverway earlier this year, Melbourne Anti Intervention Collective is planning a bilingual education day conference on a Saturday in November.
In holding the conference we aim to raise awareness about the ban on Aboriginal languages for the first four hours of school days, and associated measures like welfare quarantining that punish students, families and Aboriginal culture for problems created by chronic under-resourcing. On a more local level, we would address questions of the place- or lack of space- for Aboriginal culture and history in the National Curriculum.
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14Sep
The Australian Academy of the Humanities website reports that: The Beyond the Crisis Colloquiumheld at the University of Melbourne (16-18 February 2009) hosted more than 140 delegates, from 30 different institutions, and representing 14 languages. The delegates included teachers, researchers, and planners. The colloquium was comprised of workshops as well as presentations of current research and innovative initiatives. It was agreed that, while different languages face distinctive needs, all languages and the nation will benefit from a more strongly articulated language teaching and learning culture in higher education. Furthermore, the assembly agreed to create a “National Tertiary Languages Network”.
It is my understanding that Prof. Joe Lo Bianco and others have applied for a NALSSP grant to establish the projected “National Tertiary Languages Network”. News on the current 2010 round of NALSSP grant proposals should follow now that the dust is settling from the recent 2010 federal election. If we want a thoroughly integrated languages education in Australia, with sensible articulation top to bottom, and effective lobbying and promotion, we need to have everyone networking together from AlphaTykes to PhD supervisors. Philip Mahnken, Sunshine Coast Continue reading »
17Jul
Of course the purpose of visiting art galleries is to appreciate weird and wonderful works of art, but at the current exhibition of European Masters at the National Gallery of Victoria, my family and I were also in for a pleasant linguistic surprise. Apart from trying to figure out the German and French titles of the Staedel Museum’s collection without the aid of the English translations, my grandsons, whose LOTE is German, particularly enjoyed the language activity that was incorporated in the display. Selected works were accompanied by questions to engage the younger generation, and these were labelled from A to Z, each letter linked to an English word and then its German equivalent, e.g. L for lonely – einsam, which expressed a feeling in Max Klinger’s painting of a woman on a rooftop in Rome.
The exhibition opened on 19th June and runs to 10th October, 2010, so there’s still plenty of time to enjoy this cultural experience and to get some basic German lessons as a bonus.
Tags: European Masters, German lessons, language activity, language learning, NGV, Staedel Museum
02Mar
The Melbourne Language Picnic - 2010
The Melbourne Language Picnic is on again!
Date: Sunday, 21st March, National Harmony Day 2010, from 9 am to 5 pm.
Venue: Collingwood Children’s Farm, St. Heliers Street, Abbotsford.
Bring your family and friends, your lingo and share in some multilingual fun and games.
For further information, follow this link:
http://www.melbournelanguagepicnic.wordpress.com/
Tags: multilingualism
