Online Distance Foundation Program (SICLE)
Elevate your teaching skills in community languages with our dynamic online sessions.
Course type
Short Course
Overview
The Community Languages Teaching Program (Foundation - Distance Mode) is a professional development course for teachers working in community languages schools. It is organised as a series of weekly online sessions. The course balances research and theory with classroom practice, building on teachers’ own experiences and their work in the classroom. Each session examines a different aspect of community languages teaching.
The aim of this course is to help you develop a better understanding of your role as a Community Languages teacher.
What you'll learn
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Be familiar with current ways to teach languages and be able to select and apply what is most useful to your own classroom
- Feel confident in developing lessons and material s to suit your teaching situation and group of students
- Understand recent research into language learning and teaching, second language development and education in general
- Be aware of resources that can support your teaching
- Have planned pathways for your own future professional development
Sydney Institute for Community Languages Education
This course is delivered in partnership with the Sydney Institute for Community Language Education (SICLE).
SICLE provides professional pathways for teachers and support for community language students through the development of curriculum resources and assessments.
Content
- Orientation to teaching in your Community Language School - Course outcomes and expectations; returning to study; participants’ needs; learners’ needs; teaching community languages in Australia; child-centered learning
- Behaviour management - Creating a positive learning environment; strategies to improve behaviour in the classroom.
- Child development and language learning - Concepts of child development; first and additional language learning; growing up in bilingual contexts
- Approaches to teaching language - Overview of language teaching methods; communicative methodology: theory and practice
- Teaching oral language through picture books - Evaluating picture books; creating oral language activities using picture books with beginning learners
- Teaching oral language through factual texts - Engaging older language learners with factual texts; creating and using digital resources
- Teaching skills: classroom communication - Reading aloud; asking questions; giving explanations and instructions; organising group work; using text books
- Teaching skills: lesson planning - Introduction to the K-10 Languages Framework; creating lesson plans; scaffolding student learning through sequenced activities
- Reading to learn, learning to read - How children develop reading; second language teaching and learning; using reading in the community language classroom
- Teaching and developing reading skills - Various strategies to develop reading skills in a community language
- Writing to learn - How children develop writing; strategies for developing writing skills
- Teaching grammar in context - Teaching grammar and language in context; different types of writing for different purposes
- Mixed level classes - Identifying different levels of language competence in the classroom; adapting lessons and activities
- Teaching skills: lesson planning 2 - Planning a sequence of lessons from learning outcomes; integrating listening, speaking, reading and writing activities
- Assessment for learning - Understanding assessment, testing and evaluation; different audiences; developing assessment tasks; planning from the K-10 framework
- Assessing and giving feedback - Providing feedback information to students and parents.
- Evaluation, Revision and Presentations
Community languages teachers registered with the NSW Department of Education Community Languages School Program.
- Online via CANVAS
- Face-to-face, presenter-taught training
- Online training via the platform Zoom
- 17 weeks - Approximately 60 hours of work is required to complete this program.
- At least three hours per week of study and one-half day attendance observing classes at a day school. You will cover one topic per week independently with compulsory attendance at face-to-face workshops to provide additional help and guidance.
- Three compulsory face to face workshops at the University of Sydney. Venue to be confirmed.
- Compulsory interactive activities and online class discussions.
- In depth reading and proactive application of learning and classroom practice will be required.
Any course handouts are provided electronically using Dropbox.