Review, Revise, Revitalise – The 3 R’s of implementing a Bilingual Program: A WA primary school’s bilingual journey from a principal’s perspective

Tim Bamber and Jieqi Zhang

Tim Bamber, Principal of Oberthur Primary School, has been involved in primary education for 35 years, including 27 years in administration in country and suburban schools. For many years he has had an interest in Languages and Music adding richness to the school curriculum. In 2013 Tim and his Languages team commenced a bilingual program from Pre-primary at Oberthur Primary school, a ground-breaking initiative for Western Australia.The target language (Mandarin) is used to teach a range of selected curriculum areas using the CLIL model and the concept.Tim believes that sharing stories, successes, and sometimes failures, is often the best professional learning we will experience.

Jieqi Zhang has been teaching Chinese Mandarin at Oberthur since 2005 and has grown and strengthened the teaching of Chinese language and culture across the years. She has been greatly involved in the planning and implementing of the bi-lingual program at Oberthur Primary School. Her current role involves coordinating many aspects of the expanded program at school and mentoring a growing languages staff. She was also coordinator for the Rossmoyne Chinese Language Hub project 2010-2012, involving a network of 7 primary schools and Rossmoyne SHS.

Getting the most out of Language Perfect: Motivating students and raising the profile of Languages in schools

Mariel Howard

Mariel Howard is a teacher of Japanese and a Languages Consultant for Swan Christian Education Association in WA. She has 12 years of experience in language education in Australia and in Japan, both at primary and secondary level. She has presented extensively on language education issues in Perth, as well as at the National Symposium of Japanese Language Education 2012 (Melbourne) and 2014 (Sydney) , AFLTA National Conference 2013 (Canberra), Education Perfect Conference 2014 (Brisbane) and NZLTA National Conference 2014 (Palmerston North, NZ). She is also the winner of 2012 Japanese Teacher Award in WA and the sole WA recipient of 2003 Japanese government study tour to Japan. Her first peer-reviewed article was published in 2012 NSJLE Proceedings in July 2014.

This year a group of eight schools in the Swan Christian Education Association have taken part in an inter-school Language Perfect Championship Series created by the languages teachers at these schools. It has raised the profile of Languages at each of these schools, improved student motivation and recognised students’ academic achievement in the area of Languages. This is a showcase session that gives a brief overview of the SCEA Language Championship Series and discusses the great impact it has had on individual students,the language programmes at each one of these schools and the school community at large. It also gives tips on how to set up,promote and run your own competition so you can bring the ideas back to your own school.

Signing on at last: The development and implementation of a formal Auslan curriculum in WA schools

Dr Karen Bontempo

Dr Karen Bontempo has nearly 25 years experience working with the Deaf community. She has a PhD (Linguistics) from Macquarie University where she is a part time interpreter educator and a researcher. Karen also teaches Auslan students and interpreters at the Central Institute of Technology in WA. In her role as a teacher at Shenton College Deaf Education Centre, Karen is responsible for curriculum leadership surrounding the development and implementation of Auslan as a language option in three WA schools in 2014.

This presentation will describe an action research project undertaken over the past year, resulting in the development of the first formal curriculum and the implementation of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) as an official language in Western Australian schools in 2014. As a methodology, action research is commonplace in education settings, with practising classroom teachers ideally placed to identify a problem requiring further exploration, planning action, implementing a solution, evaluating outcomes and reflecting on progress. In this particular case, an action research approach was a powerful way to introduce innovation in WA classrooms, upon identification of the pressing need for formal Auslan teaching to a mixed deaf and hearing cohort of students in three specific mainstream primary and secondary schools. The process undertaken to achieve this outcome exemplifies the theme of this conference – review, revise, revitalise. Actions taken included the establishment of a stakeholder steering committee, extensive consultation, a research and development phase, the design of a new curriculum for teaching Auslan across several year groups to both deaf and hearing mainstream students at the three schools, the delivery of quality teaching in the classroom, systematic reflection, and an ongoing research process.

In this presentation Karen will share information regarding the content and structure of the Auslan program, the data collected to date in relation to student outcomes, and program evaluation. Reflections on successful pedagogical practices, as well as the challenges faced during both the curriculum development and the program implementation stages of this novel project will be addressed. Recommendations regarding the resourcing of Auslan programs, the management of deaf and hearing students in the same language class, the development of suitable classroom materials, and best practice teaching and learning models will be shared in the spirit of collaboration amongst educators, irrespective of spoken or signed language modality and language interest group.

Senior Secondary and Beyond: Learning Indonesian In-country: Building on school tour exposure through clear pathways to university in-country experience

Dr Eko Widodo, Prof David Hill, and Prof David Reeve

Professor David T Hill is the Consortium Director and Founder of ACICIS. Prof Hill is in the Asian Studies Program at Murdoch University in Perth, where he is a Fellow of the Asia Research Centre for Social, Political and Economic Change. His research interests are in Indonesian media, literature, biography, and cultural politics, and he is a NAATI-accredited professional English-Indonesian interpreter and translator. In 2009 Professor Hill was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council to develop a national strategic plan for the advancement of Indonesian language in Australian universities. In early 2011 Prof Hill was appointed to the board of the Australia Indonesia Institute.

Dr Eko Widodo completed his undergraduate education with a Bachelor of Social and Political Science (Sociology) from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Yogyakarta and also a degree in Law (Civil Law) from the Law Faculty at Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta. He then continued his studies at UGM to gain a Master of Management, where he focused on Marketing Management with a specific focus on Consumer Behaviour. Eko received his Doctorate from the Administration Faculty at Brawijaya University in Malang, with the topic of his dissertation related to Consumer Behaviour, in particular Tourist Behaviour. Besides this he has also studied at Aveiro University in Portugal and Konstanz University of Applied Science in Germany.

Eko is currently the Deputy Dean (Academic) in the Business Administration and Communications Faculty at Atma Jaya Catholic University. Since 2002 he has been actively involved with the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), whose programs are designed to increase foreign students, in particular Australian students, studying Indonesian in-country, including at Atma Jaya University. He is also the General Secretary of the Asosiasi Persahabatan dan Kerjasama Indonesia-Portugal (APKIP) or the Indonesia-Portugal Friendship and Cooperation Association.
The focus of Eko’s teaching is Marketing Management, Strategic Management and Consumer Behaviour. He is also active in reviewing books for SWA business magazine in Indonesia and has written a book on Business Marketing Strategy and Policy.

Standing in my students’ shoes: Fun, games and a little stress – My Langues & Terres experience

Danielle Horne

Danielle Horne is an Indonesian language teacher who has taught in both government and independent schools for close to 20 years. Areas of interest include curriculum development, using games, video and technology in languages classes and IB MYP Language Acquisition.

She has previously developed sample materials for the Curriculum Council (now SCSA) and has been involved in TEE writing and marking for Indonesian. She also co-authored the Saya Bisa! Indonesian textbook series. Her Indonesian classroom experience has covered Kindergarten to Year 12, (both Second Language and Background Speakers courses), and she has taught French from Years 5 to 10.

Danielle’s Langues & Terres experience put her very much back into the student’s seat in a language classroom. In this session, Danielle will be sharing her experience and a couple of her (and her students’) favourite ideas from Nadine Fraise’s workshop in Rennes. Thank you very much to AISWA for the grant, which made it possible for her to attend.

Assessment for learning: Raising standards and closing the gap

Kate Webster-Blythe

Kate Webster-Blythe is a French and Spanish teacher of Modern Languages at Scotch College where she teaches in the senior school from years 8-12. She started her teaching career in the United Kingdom 10 years ago. Throughout her career she has taught both French and Spanish from years 7-13 where her students achieved outstanding results in GCSE and A-level as well as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Higher, Standard and Ab Initio levels. Passionate about high quality teaching and learning and engagement in language learning, upon arriving at Scotch, Kate initiated a review and rewriting of the Year 8-10 French curriculum which has had a direct impact on student engagement, progress and uptake in the senior years.

Prior to moving to Australia 4 years ago she was International Baccalaureate Diploma Coordinator in as well as Head of International Education in a state comprehensive school in England. The latter, a position created following a government initiative in this area allowed her to engage with all learning areas to ensure that a rich international dimension was embedded throughout the curriculum as well as to develop curriculum projects with sister/brother schools across the world to enhance inter-cultural understanding and to ensure that this was not solely the reserve of the language classroom.

Performance management and evaluation of teaching and learning within the Diploma Programme allowed Kate the privileged position of working with colleagues to observe lessons and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning within each classroom as part of the Ofsted Inspection process in place in the United Kingdom. This process highlighted the critical role effective assessment plays in students’ engagement, learning and ultimately, progress or indeed lack of progress. As a result, her research has been focused on the how pivotal assessment is in either enhancing or systematically preventing learning in a classroom and how we can use it assessment to improve students’ learning and engagement within the language classroom. Kate’s other main educational interest is in the use of baseline data to enhance teaching and learning and to improve experiences and outcomes for students.

Beyond the classroom Kate is also currently working to establish a teachers association for teachers of Spanish within Western Australia to promote and support the growth of this subject at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Exploring the Chinese Language Learning Space

Jill Wilson

Jill Wilson has managed a variety of projects for ESA including content for the Language Learning Space, the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) website and the Australia: Intersections of Identity website. Prior to this role, she worked at the AEF, managing professional learning for teachers and leading study tours to Asia. She has worked as an English teacher, Assistant Principal and Curriculum Coordinator in Victorian schools.

Explore great free Chinese language resources for your school. This session will open up the Language Learning Space (http://www.lls.edu.au) with a brief overview of all the resources. The workshop will take participants through all aspects of the site including the free Beijing-based tutor service. Learn more the wealth of great award-winning resources designed specifically for Australian classrooms and second language learners.

School trip round table: A panel discussion on conducting overseas tours with Vicki Richardson, Nathan Harvey (Lois Tidman) and Fulvia Valvasori

Facilitated by Sue Cooper

A Q&A style round table session where experienced overseas tour leaders share their experiences, tips, potential pitfalls, and recommendations for conducting primary and secondary study tour and exchange programs with school groups to Indonesia, Japan, France, Germany and Italy.

Exploring the Language Learning Space (Indonesian, Japanese and Chinese)

Jill Wilson

Jill Wilson has managed a variety of projects for ESA including content for the Language Learning Space, the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) website and the Australia: Intersections of Identity website. Prior to this role, she worked at the AEF, managing professional learning for teachers and leading study tours to Asia. She has worked as an English teacher, Assistant Principal and Curriculum Coordinator in Victorian schools.

Explore great free Indonesian, Japanese, and Chinese language resources for your school. This session will open up the Language Learning Space (http://www.lls.edu.au) with a brief overview of all the resources. The workshop will take participants through all aspects of the site. Learn more the wealth of great award-winning resources designed specifically for Australian classrooms and second language learners.

What’s happening in Languages?: Update on WACE 2015/16 and the Australian Curriculum for Languages

Nadia Civa and Lisa Djanegara

WACE2015/16 : The review, Language courses available, structure of the courses, assessment requirements and available support. Australian Curriculum: Validation and consultation processes and curriculum availability.

Nadia Civa

Nadia started at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (previously the Curriculum Council) in 2005 where she began as the Moderation officer for languages before taking on her current role of Principal Consultant for Chinese and Italian. Prior to the Authority Nadia worked for WestOne Services where she was responsible for the development of Italian Year 11 and Year 12 educational materials for the Schools of Isolated and Distance Education. She was also the main contributing author to Formula Italiano series of student and activity books. Nadia’s teaching experience includes 15 years teaching Italian and French in both metropolitan and country schools in Western Australia. She has been a member of both Western Australian Association of Teachers of Italian (WAATI) and MLTAWA for mover than 25 years and has held executive roles on both committees. In 2013 she was the recipient of a Professional teaching Council of WA (PCTWA) Outstanding Professional Service Award for her contribution to the MLTAWA.

Lisa Djanegara

Lisa is currently the Principal Consultant – Curriculum for Indonesian and Japanese at the School Curriculum and Standards Authority where she has been working for more than six years. During this time she has been the Course Officer for Indonesian and the Curriculum and Assessment Officer for Asian Languages. Prior to this she was a member of the examining panel and Chief Marker for Indonesian Advanced for seven years and an oral marker for TEE Indonesian Second Language for three years. Lisa has taught Indonesian to students from pre-primary through to Year 12, as well as undergraduate students at Curtin University. She has been a curriculum writer for WestOne and a teacher development coordinator for the Department of Education. Her passion for the language and the culture of Indonesia has seen her involved with both the Westralian Indonesian Teachers Association (WILTA) in the roles of treasurer, president and presently as secretary; and with the Balai Bahasa Indonesia Perth in the roles of treasurer and currently as the WILTA representative.

Life in the Anglobubble: rethinking and reframing languages and languages education in the English-speaking world

Professor John Hajek

One of the many challenges for languages education in English-speaking countries such as Australia is the impact of the so-called monolingual mindset couple with the global success of English. English dominates and demotivates, feeding into to the way we view the world, ourselves and language education, as I hope to demonstrate through a series of snapshots via a range of media. Despite the increasing proportion of non-English-speakers in this and other L1 English-speaking countries, we remain firmly ensconced in what I term the Anglo-bubble – invisible but all-encompassing which can leave us blissfully unaware of the world around us and how it really operates. The concept of the Anglobubble is, as I hope to show, a simple but surprisingly powerful way to rethink and reframe discussion about language and language education. In so doing it helps us to engage better with students, school leadership and communities as well as the wider public. In the Anglobubble, being bilingual or multilingual is often seen as unnecessary, something to be ignored or even downright dangerous and unbecoming, when it should instead be celebrated and fostered. I present a series of video clips and other materials – negative and positive – that highlight all of these points. I also make some suggestions about how using what is already available to us to motivate multilingualism and language learning in schools.

Language Teacher Examples

• IATEFL 2012 (http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2012/sessions/2012-03-22/pecha-kucha-part-1)
• IATEFL 2014 (http://iatefl.britishcouncil.org/2014/sessions/2014-04-04/pecha-kucha)

Bringing Sexy Back

Professor John Hajek