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.

We would also put this attack on Aboriginal educational rights in the context of the NT Intervention, and of the resistance to the intervention.

We see this as an important way to build up the general resistance to Anti Aboriginal racism and resistance to the assimilation push. We want to consolidate primarily education union members, but also more generally teachers, academics, students and other interested parties as Aboriginal rights activists.

We need your help to make this conference as relevant as possible, and to help it reach as wide an audience as possible. We are holding a planning meeting this Thursday evening at the New International Bookshop at Trades Hall.

We would love your ideas about speakers, your knowledge about the issues, your networks and ideas about how we can end these policies.

A tentative agenda for the conference is:

• Session One: Bilingual Education – What’s happening and why?
• Session Two: The National Curriculum and Indigenous Perspectives
• Session Three: Where to from here

Look forward to seeing you there,

Lucy Honan
0404728104

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
Recommendations from the Beyond the Crisis Colloquium
Recommendation 1: That universities, at the policy level, give explicit and urgent recognition to the strategic importance of the study of languages and cultures; and that they develop appropriate strategies and provide adequate resources for the promotion and effective maintenance of these studies. This would include attention and resources be given to providing appropriate identification procedures (such as placement tests),
and sufficient course levels and pathways to allow learners with diverse language backgrounds to be grouped according to their proficiency and learning needs, so that their full learning potential can be realised.
Recommendation 2: That the university sector (perhaps through DASSH) work towards a uniform and nuanced definition of what constitutes attrition, and that the relevant
faculties generate and make readily available comparative statistics about attrition in languages and other humanities and social sciences areas.
Recommendation 3: That individual languages programmes across Australia consider the practice of a motivation / intention / background questionnaire on the model of the one
used in LASP 2, to be administered to all students early in the first semester of their language study. The questionnaire takes only a few minutes of class time and, although the recording and analysis of data is time-consuming, this should be budgeted for by the relevant schools in order to provide a clearer picture of the student cohort and their motivations and intentions, to better predict class sizes, to facilitate staff planning, and to provide a basis for ongoing curriculum review. The information gathered could be shared through the National Tertiary Languages Network.
Recommendation 4: That the National Tertiary Languages Network undertake, as a matter of priority, to engage with the issues raised in relation to TELL, particularly with a view to enabling increased collaboration and exchange across the sector. [end quote]

There are many valuable and encouraging reports and other publications at the Australian Academy of the Humanities website http://www.humanities.org.au/ I got the above quote from AN ANALYSIS OF RETENTION STRATEGIES AND TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING IN BEGINNERS’ LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH (LOTE) AT AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES.

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. 

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/

The turnout was similar to last year’s picnic – about 25 – and keen and useful links were made  between a range of languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Russian, Indonesian and Welsh.

 Most of the children who attended were too young for the ‘how many languages can you find’ game. However, those who had a go (and their mum!!) got something out of it.  For anyone wishing to follow up on the above language connections, please contact Mandy.Scott@anu.edu.au

ACT Bilingual Education Alliance invite you to the next Multilingual Picnic in Canberra. For more details, please contact Guiliana Komnacki (0414) 269 335 or email Marina.Houston@canberra.edu.au

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29,  12:45pm – 5pm
Carrillo Gantner Theatre, Sidney Myer Asia Centre,  Cnr Swanston St and Monash Rd, University of Melbourne

THE SEMINAR IS FREE BUT REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL by November 23rd.

Speakers include: Prof. Michael Clyne, Dr. Susanne Döpke, Prof. John Hajek
Raising children bilingually is a very important process. There are many positive strategies that can be employed. The sessions in this seminar discuss issues in raising children bilingually, show you how to recognise your child’s needs in the language and provide you with important tools to foster your child’s language learning and maximise the advantages available to you.

TO REGISTER: Please send an email listing the names of people wishing to register to:  rumaccc-info@unimelb.edu.au

THE SEMINAR IS FREE BUT REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL by November 23rd.

What you can do:
• Forward this email to any friends or family you feel might benefit from our seminar, or direct them to our website to find out more:  www.rumaccc.unimelb.edu.au
• Promote the seminar in your sphere of influence, at school, day care centre, community, local government area, your local library.
• Encourage parents and those working in the area to attend.

When: Sunday, 11 October 2009, 2pm

Where: Co As It, 189 Faraday St, Carlton

Prof Joe Lo Bianco, from the University of Melbourne will give the keynote address.

This forum is being organised by a group of parents who are members of the Italian Bilingual School Project (a not-for-profit unincorporated association).

italianbilingualschoolmelb@gmail.com