e-WAALC NEWS August 2006
e-WAALC News is the electronic newsletter of the Western Australian Adult Literacy
Council.
WELCOME
The WAALC Excessive Committee prepares and
sends e-WAALC News to members each month. We welcome your
comments, suggestions, and contributions to the newsletter.
This newsletter is also available in the
‘News’ section of our web site http://www.waalc.com.au
----------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE OF e-WAALC News:
1) Western Australians receive National
literacy award
2) WAALC Scholarships- ACAL conference in Adelaide
3) Highlights from the WAALC conference
4) CGEA re-accreditation
5) Funding round for literacy research
6) Results of 2006 AGM
7) Issues? Contributions?
8) Teacher's Talk
9) ‘Contacts’ update
10) Unsubscribe?
----------------------------------------------
1. Western Australians receive National
literacy award
Congratulations
to Carmel Jennings and Felicity Dear who received 2006 Minister’s Awards for Outstanding
Contribution to Improving Literacy and/or Numeracy. The Minister’s Awards are provided as part of
National Literacy and Numeracy Week (NLNW) 2006 celebrations.
Carmel
Jennings is the coordinator of the Language, Literacy and Numeracy Programme
(LLNP) for Centacare Employment and Training, and president of WAALC.
To quote
from the DEST website, Carmel received the award because:
"the substantial impact on
improved outcomes in literacy and numeracy is reflected in the high student
participation rate in the LLNP, which is well above the national trend. Through
her broad knowledge and application of adult literacy, Ms Jennings has been
pivotal in reversing established trends within the districts in which she
works.
With unflagging enthusiasm she has shown a talent for sharing knowledge
and supporting those who are new to the field of adult education. Through
active encouragement of new ideas and techniques she has assisted teachers to
move beyond a curriculum focused approach to a student focused approach where
life circumstances of students are acknowledged and incorporated into learning
programmes. She has raised awareness on how adults learn and how to maximise
their participation in their own learning."
Felicity
Dear, the other recipient from Western Australia, is Principal of Djidi Djidi
Aboriginal School in Bunbury. Throughout her career as both a teacher and
co-ordinator of Aboriginal Education Ms Dear has worked to enthuse and inspire
staff and students in order to achieve the best outcomes for Aboriginal
students and close the gap between the educational outcomes of Indigenous and
non Indigenous students.
The 2006 Minister’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Literacy and Numeracy are provided by the Australian Government, to recognise outstanding contributions made by individuals in the Australian community to improving literacy and/or numeracy in a wide variety of settings – from early childhood through to adult education. Further information is available on http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/2006/ministers_awards_winners.htm
----------------------------------------------
2. WAALC scholarships
WAALC members are invited to apply for
support to attend the 2006 ACAL conference
Literacy
- It's Everyone's Business
The ACAL national conference is on in 6-7
October in Adelaide - preceded by a national forum convened by NCVER and
Reframing the Future on October 5. There’s a packed conference program - over
30 workshops by practitioners, researchers and administrators, as well as guest
speakers including Margaret Somerville, Dave Tout, Louise Wignall, Jill
Sanguinetti, Wing-Yin Chan Lee, and the Arch Nelson Address speaker at the
annual dinner will be Mr Jeff McMullen.
There will be the opportunity to explore a range of issues with ACAL
executive and ACAL members including specialist strands on numeracy, panels on
'making partnerships work' ... and lots more.
The Forum on October 5 offers two sessions: one on training and
assessment for adults with low literacy skills, and one called Hand in Glove -
developing LLN practices in a Training Package context.
WAALC has a limited amount of funding
available for scholarships. Applications
must be received by September 10th.
Successful applicants will be advised on September 15.th.
See attached flyer for further details and
selection criteria.
----------------------------------------------
3. Highlights from he 2006 WAALC
conference
The 2006 conference Two way Talk:
Learning to listen and listening to learn was on Thursday July 13th
The conference was once again held at Central TAFE, who kindly provided the
venue free of charge. This was the first
time the state conference had been held during the week and it was timed to
take advantage of school holidays. 55
delegates participated in the sessions.
The chief complaint in the evaluation was that delegates missed sessions
they wanted to see because other great sessions were on concurrently. This indicates that the quality of sessions
was high. The majority of delegates requested WAALC to return to an annual
conference instead of the practice in recent years of holding a conference
every second year.
The Digital Voices workshop that ran for
most of the morning was so popular that participants organised follow up
sessions at Central TAFE in August and September. None of the participants have yet put pen to
paper to share the details but there were reports of people moved to tears!
To illustrate, how presenters developed
the themes, here are some brief reports from delegates who participated in
particular sessions:
Jim Plumridge gave a practical and highly
entertaining session titled Talking the talk : the curse of corporate language and
how to lift it. The session
helped us to think about how we use language and why. We went away with tips on how to improve the
language that defines our work, and to avoid contributing to the verbal
pollution that is so common that we take it for granted. The session could have benefited from more
time to develop ideas about how to increase the application of Plain English in
both classrooms and inour institutional lives. (Report by Cheryl Wiltshire)
Paul Barnes gave an enlightening
presentation on the difficulties of working with ESL students within the prison
system. Many of the learners had little
or no English, were unfamiliar with the prison system and had no support
networks. He explained how the learning
system was a two way system. He learned
that communication can exist in an environment where there is no common
language. He learned to slow his speech,
look directly at the students, use repeated two word commands and phrases and
used symbolic gestures as he spoke. He adapted student handouts to suit the
students. Different symbols were used to indicate when students were to “listen”,
“speak”, or “read”.
The students had to function within the
prison system so Paul concentrated on their participation and assimilation in
the prison environment. This varied from
filling in the necessary forms to understanding the various commands and
instructions.
In closing, Paul gave three important
suggestions when teaching ESL students:
·
Listen to
what is being said as opposed to what you think is being said
·
Consider what
the needs of the students actually are
·
Adapt your
teaching style to meet their needs. (Report
by Sheila Rod)
----------------------------------------------
4.
How CGEA re-accreditation is being received in Western Australia
Western Australian CGEA teachers are
feeling a little shell-shocked after a huge draft curriculum was released on
August 4th and it turned out, quite unexpectedly, to be written in
training package format. Worse, the
field was given only 17 days to offer feedback.
Many of the proposed changes are actually consistent with ideas that
Western Australians have been suggesting since the last accreditation
process. However, the format change
makes it very hard to assess their impact and decide whether they are likely to
be positive.
The project team continues to confidently
predict a January 2007 implementation even though they are receiving escalating
calls through SITNTALK for a more measured approach. Hopefully, sense will prevail and the time
needed for a change of this scale will be negotiated.
----------------------------------------------
5. Funding round for literacy research
NCVER, through the Adult Literacy Research
Program funded by the Department of Education, Science and Training, has
advertised their 2006 funding round.
NCVER seeks to commission research
projects which demonstrate wide-ranging thinking about the teaching and
learning of language, literacy and numeracy skills to adults. In particular,
projects are sought which will:
·
enhance
understanding of the best approaches to language, literacy and numeracy skills
development inside and outside classroom environments, with an emphasis on how
to create effective and sustainable partnerships in communities
·
identify
language, literacy and numeracy client groups and their common or particular
needs, with an emphasis on contributing to national agreement about what outcomes from literacy programs
can and should be measured and in what ways.
Researchers are also invited to submit
proposals for an open category in which we seek forward looking and innovative
research ideas that will contribute to improved adult language, literacy and
numeracy policy and/or practice.
Information kits, including a template for
proposals can be obtained from the NCVER website http://www.ncver.edu.au/newsevents/tenders.html
Closing date for submissions is 5 pm (CST)
Wednesday 6 September 2006.
----------------------------------------------
6.
Results of 2006 AGM
The WAALC annual general meeting was
conducted as part of an extended lunch hour at the WAALC conference. All office holders were re-elected
unopposed. Carmel Jennings is president,
Cheryl Wiltshire vice president, Jim Plumridge ACAL representative, Robyn
Rennie secretary and Helen Grimston treasurer.
In addition, nominations were received for all positions on the
executive committee. Melissa Jones,
Lesley Gilmour, Sheila Rod, Diane Marks, Sue McKay, Margaret McHugh, and Paul
Barnes. Welcome to our new members Sue and Dianne.
A motion was put to the AGM to increase
fees for the first time since WAALC was founded in the eighties. It was agreed that a more appropriate level
of fees was $40.00 per year for ordinary members and $20.00 for volunteers and
unwaged. These fees apply from the date
of AGM.
----------------------------------------------
7.
Issues? Contributions?
WAALC seeks to represent all adult
educators who deliver adult literacy and numeracy programs in Western
Australia. If there are issues that you
think WAALC should take action on, let us know.
Contributions to this newsletter are very
welcome. Good news, bad news, whatever
you think others might want to know, send it in!
----------------------------------------------
8. Teacher’s Talk
We are seeking articles of about an A4
page on the topic Teacher’s Talk. What we’re looking for are anecdotes
about things that work in adult numeracy and adult literacy classrooms: that
strategy you use to get students writing freely, or to overcome a block about a
type of Maths, or how a particular student achieved a goal. We would like to include one or two with each
issue of e-WAALC News as an attachment.
----------------------------------------------
9. ‘Contacts’ update
Let us know if your address changes
through one of the contact methods listed below.
----------------------------------------------
10. Unsubscribe?
If you don't want to receive this
newsletter or wish to suspend it while you are away on leave, please email the
WAALC secretary, Robyn Rennie [robyn.rennie@optusnet.com.au].
Back issues will be available on the
WAALC website for you to catch up when you return.
----------------------------------------------
e-WAALC
News is the monthly electronic
newsletter of (WAALC) the Western Australian Adult Literacy Council.
Web: www.waalc.com.au
Postal: Attention Robyn Rennie
WAALC
Unit 3
641 Wellington Street
PERTH WA 6000
E-mail: Robyn
Rennie robyn.rennie@optusnet.com.au
Phone :
08)
9482 7031 (Carmel
Jennings WAALC President)
Fax:
(08)
9322 2448