Sunday, December 6, 2020

Languages Forum Update December 2020

A final CReLF Update for 2020 - a year which has certainly highlighted the central role of languages and communication in all our lives. 

ACT news 

National and international
For full copy of Update CLICK HERE  

If you have feedback, contributions for future updates, or would like to join the mailing list for these occasional updates, please email languagesact@gmail.com

Sunday, November 1, 2020

ANU Language Teaching Forum

Responding to Covid with Peer-to-peer Learning: A Model from Intermediate French
  • Friday 6 November 4:15-5:15pm
  • Online via Zoom
  • Presenters: Leslie Barnes and Gemma King . 
Abstract
In response to the Covid pandemic and with an eye toward the sustainability of our teaching in an online format, we have established a peer-to-peer learning model for Intermediate French. This model draws on second-language classroom pedagogy and the latest thinking on synchronous/asynchronous classroom activities and peer-to-peer learning to rethink content delivery in a time of rapidly increasing “Zoom fatigue.” With this delivery model, students are put into groups of 3 for bi-weekly peer-to-peer sessions, which meet for 45 minutes prior to the class Zoom session, at a time and place agreed upon within the group. These sessions are followed by truncated bi-weekly Zoom sessions, during which students reinforce the course content with the aid of the instructor. The results of our trials to date suggest that the model is a success. Students develop a sense of responsibility for the material and their partners, pushing themselves and each other to explore the course content in greater depth and cultivating increased levels confidence in themselves as teachers and learners. This presentation will detail the rational and practice of the peer-to-peer model before considering some of the challenges and reviewing the qualitative results of our study.

For Zoom log-in details or more information about the ANU Language Teaching Forum, please contact Dr Wesley Lim, School of Literature, Languages & Linguistics Wesley.Lim@anu.edu.au or 6125 2785

Link to a recording of the presentation available later on request to Dr Lim. 

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Accentuate the positive: Remote learning and the future of language education

Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced both teachers and learners to adopt a remote-based delivery mode. This panel brings together language educators and researchers to share their ideas and experience to develop and implement new remote-based teaching/ learning practices.
  • Friday 9 October and Saturday 10 October 2020
  • 3:00 – 6:00 pm (Canberra, Sydney time)
  • Zoom online live presentation
  • FREE and ALL Welcome
  • Registration essential: https://globallanguagefest.eventbritestudio.com/118421163889

Day 1: Friday 9 October

  • “Welcome and introduction” Duck-Young Lee (ANU)
  • “Multimedia activities for interactive language and culture education” Eunseon Kim (ANU)
  • “Positive transformation to remote language learning” Takako Toda (Waseda)
  • “Approaches to Japanese education through remote learning at the University of Helsinki” Sachiko Sosa (Uni of Helsinki)
  • “Sight, Sound and Silence: Interactive Activities and Pacing in Remote Language Classroom” Janit Feangfu (ANU)

Day 2: Saturday 10 October:

  • “Weaving Stories on the Web through the Lens of Multiliteracies Approach” Jeongyi Lee (Kennesaw State Uni) & Eun Young Won (Uni of Washington)
  • “Language Assessment in Remote Language Teaching and Learning” Qian Wang (Uni of British Columbia)
  • “Flipped classroom: development and experiences in an ANU Japanese course” by Yuko Kinoshita (ANU)
  • Keynote address: “Simulating Embodied Learning Online” Professor Rachel Harrison (SOAS, University of London)
POSTER plus info on a one day session the following week on Virtual Reality and Language Education https://actbilingual.weebly.com/uploads/4/4/9/1/4491774/poster_october_series.pdf

Friday, August 28, 2020

ANU Language Teaching Forum

McComas Taylor will present "The high-wire act: How not to balance on-campus and online teaching," a highly relevant topic in these Covid-times.
  • Monday, 31 August, 4:15pm - 5:15pm
  • By Zoom
Contact Wesley Lim at Wesley.Lim@anu.edu.au for the link or if you would like to be added to the mailing list for these regular forums.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Languages Forum Update August 2020

 A short update with some language- related news and information.

ACT Region

Interesting initiatives from other states
National news
For full copy of Update CLICK HERE 

If you have feedback, contributions for future updates, or would like to join the mailing list for these occasional updates, please email languagesact@gmail.com

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Languages Forum Update April 2020

A short update with some language related news and information plus some reflections on the importance of languages for communication in these extraordinary times.
Full details can be accessed  HERE

If you have feedback, contributions for future updates, or would like to join the mailing list for these occasional updates, please send an email to languagesact@gmail.com


Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Language Policies in the ACT

In the lead up to the general election for the ACT Legislative Assembly on Saturday 17 October 2020, we look at the current state of Languages Policy in the ACT.

Many Voices: 2012-16 ACT Languages Policy 

This policy was never updated, though the Community Participation Group of the ACT Community Services Directorate did collect extensive input in preparation for an updated version from the Canberra community, ACT government directorates and agencies in 2016. The policy has since disappeared from the ACT government site, but a scanned copy of the text can be accessed HERE

ACT Language Services Policy

Released without much fanfare in late 2018, this policy mainly covers the Languages Services part of Many Voices. The last four ‘Policy Aims’ on page 3, however, do relate to wider language issues. 

"To further enable Canberrans who communicate using a language other than English to effectively access government services, the ACT Government will:
  • provide opportunities for people to improve their English language skills by funding English language programs for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers;
  • support people who communicate using a language other than English to maintain and develop skills in their first language;
  • promote language learning as a cross-cultural opportunity to develop understanding and appreciation of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds; and
  • acknowledge and recognise the social and cultural challenges faced by culturally and linguistically diverse people when communicating in English as a second language."
 A full copy of Languages Services Policy can be accessed HERE

ACT Multicultural Framework 2015-2020: Second Action Plan 2019-2020

Languages are a significant part of Strategic Objective 3 of this Framework: 'Capitalising on the Benefits of our Cultural Diversity'. 

One of the three outcomes listed for Strategic Objective 3:
  • Language learning is effective, valued and promoted across the community.
Six of the eight Priority Actions in Strategic Objective 3
  • Undertake an independent review on investment in ACT Community Language Schools
  • Develop an action plan to encourage, improve and support language education in Canberra schools as part of implementing the Future of Education Strategy
  • Continue to work with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community on languages and culture curriculum
  • Support and further develop the Languages Showcase at National Multicultural Festival.
  • Collect and promote the oral and printed history of established multicultural communities in the ACT.
  • Engage with the multicultural community to promote and support cultural and linguistic diversity through Libraries ACT resources and learning programs in languages other than English
A full copy of the Second Action Plan can be accessed HERE