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 

• Canberra Languages Network: Terms of Reference now officially endorsed.
• Languages at the ANU
• Details of Languages offered in 2021
• Diploma of Languages reinstated from 2021! 
• Call for nominations for Patji-Dawes language teaching award:
• Taste of Languages competition results 
• Canberra Academy of Languages – latest news and seeking teacher of Japanese for 2021
• ACT Community Language Schools: news and progress of independent review.
• Government of Japan award for ACT language educator:

National and international

• International call to action
• Joint statement: The importance of languages in global context
• Australia joins global Call to Action to celebrate language diversity and promote a multilingual world
• The role of languages in a multicultural society discussion, Thursday 10 December.  Video available 
• Call for all languages teachers to help develop National Languages Plan and Strategy 

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

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. 

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

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.

Languages Forum Update August 2020

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

ACT Region

• ACT the first Australian parliament to begin each sitting day in an indigenous language.
• Independent review on investment in ACT community language schools – update
• Taste of languages competition Free and open to students Preschool to year 12.  Cash prizes. Closing date 1 September.
• Canberra Academy of Languages Information Evening Thurs 24 September
• National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature
• Free Resource of books for children by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 
• Cultural Diversity Database and more information about the Centre 

Interesting initiatives from other states

• New South Wales: free webinars for community language teacher training
• South Australia;
• Statement of Commitment and Collaboration between Dept for Education and Ethnic Schools Assoc SA
• Example of an exceptional host school
• Victoria: positive outcomes of forced switch to online delivery for CLS 
• Western Australia: WA Languages Week:

National news

• Spotlight on languages in times of crisis
• Academic exploration of language aspects of the COVID-19 crisis
• Recent reports with Indigenous languages at their heart
• The National Indigenous Language Report 
• The Closing the Gap Agreement
• Article about both reports

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

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.

• Languages and emergency planning and response
• An example from Australia 
• Lessons from China
• https://www.languageonthemove.com/language-lessons-of-covid-19-and-linguistic-disaster-preparedness/
• https://www.languageonthemove.com/coronavirus-meets-linguistic-diversity/
• Opportunities for online language learning and language practice
• Programs for adults in the ACT area 
• Programs for children in the ACT area
• For fun songs and stories in various languages for children on You Tube: ACTBEA Facebook page
• Mother Tongue multilingual poetry
• Results of the Languages at the Festival Competition
• Update on the Independent review on investment in ACT community language schools
• International Conference on Community/heritage Language Education at University of Sydney postponed until 2021.

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

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