School Support Services Newsletters
TEAM Solutions Secondary School ESOL Newsletter Term 4: 2005
Dear Colleagues
Kia Orana, greetings
Maa te koorero i te reo e ora ai. Maa te ora o te reo ka rangatira.
By speaking the language it will live. By making the language live it will be part of us.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
NCEA Workshop: Integrating research
Several of you have expressed interest in looking at ways of integrating the research achievement standard 2.8 into their senior NCEA programme. In this workshop we will explore:
- Student samples of assessed research tasks
- Unpacking 2.8 for English language learners
- The research demands of the draft ESOL level 4 writing standard
- Ways of integrating research into programme planning - an in-depth look at possible units
WHEN : |
Thursday November 3 ( 9am-3pm )
|
WHERE :
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Kohia Teachers’ Centre (Book through Kohia)
Usual cost – lunch provided
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AKTESOL
'Pasifika Plus' evening - something for everyone!
Date: Wednesday, November 9
Where: Kohia Teacher's Centre
Time: 6.30 for Pasifika food
Workshops: 7.15 start - choose two
Presenters are still being finalized and so far we have confirmations from:
- Timeout (Mt Eden bookshop): Pasifika books for you and your students. Credit card facilities will be available.
- John McCaffery: bilingual strategies
- TEAM Solutions Pasifika team
- Aaron Wilson: activities to engage secondary Pasifika students
Migrant and refugee workshop:
Raising Achievement of Refugee and Migrant Students
This workshop is targetting those schools who have had new migrants and refugees this year and who have had little professional development in this area.
Friday, November 18, at Kohia Teachers' Centre
Combined MoE/TEAM Solutions workshop for those involved with new migrants. The focus will be on:
- Understanding students' education background
- Initiating connections with parents
- Developing inclusive teaching strategies
In the afternoon there will be a choice of workshops:
- Self-pacing boxes (Janni van Hees)
- Bi-lingual strategies (John McCaffery)
- Bi-lingual tutors; Individual Programme Plans (Tefera Mekonnen, Hosae Ahmadzai; Deanne Hall)
- Self-accessing materials (TEAM Solutions)
Morning tea and lunch will be provided. You can register by emailing l.groves@auckland.ac.nz and by selecting two of the four workshop options.
Refugee Cluster meeting:
The final meeting for the year will be held at Kelston Girls High School on Wednesday, 23 November, starting at 3pm.
John McCaffery will be discussing strategies to use with students who are bi-lingual.
NCEA UPDATE
The debate on the extent of teacher input at the time of summative assessments continues. The following is a summary from both the national ESOL and English moderator of appropriate teacher feedback.
For both ESOL unit standards and English unit/achievement standards:
- The teacher should not annotate the student text in any way
- Teachers can indicate which PCs have been achieved or not on a checklist and write a general comment at the bottom
- Oral conferencing can take place but this needs to be of an indirect nature i.e. similar to the general written comment at the end of the essay
The main difference is the following:
ESOL unit standards
- If a PC has not been achieved the teacher may underline the first example of their error only. Return to the student for corrections to be made under teacher supervision
ENGLISH unit/achievement standards
- If a PC has not been achieved the teacher may choose one paragraph to highlight PC's missed. Return to the student for corrections to be made under teacher supervision
The key question to ask is "Is this the student's work?" "Could he/she repeat it without assistance?"
U.E Review and New ESOL level 4 unit standards
Thank you to all those individuals and cluster groups who put in submissions to the U.E working party. It is great to have ESOL standards ready for consideration as a U.E. literacy option. These have been made available for consultation so clusters meeting early in the term could look at them together. Others who are interested can get copies of these three standards from Helen Panayiodou (h.panayiodou@auckland.ac.nz)
Comments on them should reach Michel Norrish by email (michel.norrish@nzqa.govt.nz) by Monday 7 November, by fax (04 802 3115) or by post (Michel Norrish, National Qualifications Services, NZQA, PO Box 160, Wellington).
Withdrawal of students from standards
The latest advice from NZQA is that you do not need to withdraw students from standards they have not achieved. Just make sure that you do not submit a result and any work they have achieved can be carried over to the following year.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION UPDATE
Clusters
Cluster meetings have been successful this year. Apart from providing an opportunity for networking, clusters have also provided an opportunity for the sharing of resources. Many cluster groups have investigated the use of asTTle.
This is the first year that MoE has contributed to funding the cluster groups. Gillian Barron, the Senior Advisor of ESOL International at the MoE is coordinating this initiative. The funding given to the lead schools is to help the whole cluster group (e.g. koha for guest speaker/photocopying/admin/TESOLANZ workshops etc).
Lead schools are asked to submit a short report on the cluster groups which will allow Gillian to continue this initiative. Send your report to gillian.barron@minudeu.govt.nz
English Language Learning Framework (ELLF)
The English Language Learning Framework (ELLF) document is currently being trialed by primary and secondary schools in Auckland and around the country. ELLF is not an assessment tool but a framework against which to look at the progress of English Language Learners (ELLs) in all four modes, as they acquire English as an additional language. It is also a framework that will provide some national consistency in recording the progress of English Language learners.
The Ministry will continue to trial the English Language Learning Framework in 2006. If your school is interested in taking part, contact Helen Nicholls (helen.nicholls@minedu.govt.nz) or phone 302 9256.
This trial does not require teachers to do any extra assessing. At focus group meetings throughout the year, teachers will have the chance to get to know the document and compare examples of their students' writing against the progressions of texts provided in the document. The Ministry provides relief days for two teachers from each secondary school involved. Schools are encouraged to send an ESOL teacher and a mainstream teacher.
Copies of ELLF are available from Helen - great summer holiday reading!!
TESSOL Scholarship
The scholarship is for all mainstream classroom/ /subject teachers interested in TESSOL (Teaching English in Schools to Speakers of Other Languages). All teachers can add to their skills with this qualification.
TESSOL Scholarship applications will be sent to schools at the beginning of Term 4.
Closing Date 28th October.
Ask the principal for forms and encourage mainstream colleagues to apply as well.
For more information, contact richard.vonsturmer@minedu.govt.nz
CLESOL Conference 2006
Time to put the CLESOL dates in next year's diary (September 29 - October 2 at Napier) and ensure that your ESOL budget includes CLESOL registration costs. It promises to be another 'not to be missed' conference with a selection of outstanding speakers - Penny McKay, David Crystal, Aida Walqui, Cynthia White and others. For more information check the website at www.clesol.org.nz
Please consider the possibility of presenting a paper or workshop at the conference. There is a real need for more papers or workshops from the secondary sector. There is a mentoring support system for first time presenters and the TEAM Solutions ESOL team would be happy to help.
ESOL ONLINE UPDATE
Student activities
Fun interactive student activities from the BT Education programme
Making Faces
Making Faces is an interactive game that allows you to drag and drop different sets of eyes and mouths on to blank cartoon faces to create a range of different facial expressions.
From Caveman to Spaceman
Listen and read. An engaging cartoon on the evolution of the human species.
Professional readings
Reading Links
Want to model appropriate reading strategies for your students? Use Think alouds - Reading Strategies
Second-language Reading (San Diego State University)
Contacts:
Jenni Bedford
Ph. 09 6238880 ext. 48349
Fax: 09 623 8881
j.bedford@ace.ac.nz
Lyn Groves
Ph. 09 6238880 ext 46364
Fax: 09 6238881
l.groves@ace.ac.nz
Denise McKay
Ph. 09 623 8880 x46335
Fax: 09 623 8881
d.mckay@auckland.ac.nz
Helen Panayiodou
Ph. 09 6238880 ext. 48334
Fax: 09 6238881
h.panayiodou@ace.ac.nz
Song Lam Wong
Ph. 6238880 ext. 48347
Fax. 623 8881
sl.wong@ace.ac.nz
Charlie Lee
Ph. 6238880 ext. 48472
Fax. 623 8881
c.lee@ace.ac.nz
