Digital literacy issues aside, it seems that we will be able to bring back the Facebook Interview sessions very soon which is fantastic news! I quite enjoyed doing them last year and have become very interested in how educators and students are adjusting in our post-COVID world. The committee will be considering who to approach and will keep you updated on when these sessions will happen via social media – so make sure you have liked our page! I really love discussing ideas with our wider VALBEC community, especially given the huge educational pivots we have had to make over the last 3 years. It is also interesting to reflect on how the role of education has shifted in this time. Education now seems to be more focussed on helping us to better navigate the world. Education has concentrated on commonality, difference and acceptance. And, perhaps most importantly, education has distilled the need for purpose in our lives. But perhaps a focus on our roots is where we can find a bit of stability in what seems to be a wavering educational world. To this end, I spent some time flicking through ‘Reading the Fine Print’ by our own Beverley Campbell, and I thought about the legacy of VALBEC and how lucky we are to be a part of it. There is a ‘knowledge-sharing tradition’ to VALBEC that is very powerful and reflected by the committee members every time we meet. We are sharpened, challenged and refined when we share ideas. We build each other up and break down barriers when we discuss our profession. Plainly, we become better educators when we have the courage to share and debate. It is for this reason I am very excited for the next 2 PL sessions coming up. The details are below, so make sure you register. Lastly, there has been some ‘conference’ murmurs of late, so keep your eyes peeled for some discussions/announcements in that space soon.
Liam Frost-Camilleri
VALBEC President
VALBEC Membership
You can join or renew online.
https://valbec.org.au/membership/
If you join in August, September or October, deduct 50%. Renewal falls due the following February.
Members receive:- Fine Print three times a year – a high quality journal for discussion and debate about good practice, theory and policy issues. Feedback and contributions are actively sought from members about content and issues.
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eVALBEC – our e-mail communication keeping members informed of professional development activities, general committee activities and more up to date policy changes.
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Discounts for the Annual Conference and other VALBEC statewide professional development.
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Issues-based forums.
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Focus on significant policy issues impacting on the field.
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Free numeracy resources.
VALBEC brings you two Professional Learning Forums this month.
The first Professional Learning Forum for the month of October is:
Application of numeracy in controlling the pandemic
Numeracy in the pandemic is a fast-growing, well-recognised field and is the most exciting modern application of mathematics. It helps us to understand the dynamic processes involved and in making practical predictions.
The application of numeracy in an epidemic can be helpful to the public health policy makers in taking the right decisions for controlling the rapid outbreak of infectious diseases. To present this interesting topic we have Dr. Harkaran Singh, Educator in Maths/Numeracy at Chisholm Institute, Dandenong.
He has done PhD on Mathematical modelling in population biology from IKG-Punjab Technical University, India. He has published 10 research papers in the journals of international repute. He is co-author of the book titled “Mathematical Population Dynamics and Epidemiology in Temporal and Spatio-Temporal Domains” published jointly by Taylor & Francis Group and Apple Academic Press.
He is recipient of an Award for Young Investigator from India and Southeast Asia presented by International Society for Infectious Diseases in association with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Who: Dr Harkaran Singh
When: Thursday 6th October 2022, 5-6 pm AEDT
Where: Zoom
Cost: VALBEC Members Free; non-Members $25
Register Here:https://valbec.org.au/event-4943923
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*Engaging classroom activities to address trauma informed learning* - is the second Professional Learning Forum for the month of October presented by VALBEC
Dan has been teaching in the AMEP for 8 years. He is currently based at Chisholm Dandenong, teaching a Youth Class. His other interests include hanging out with his family, singing in choirs and at weddings.
Dan has a stack of activities that he has amassed after researching for ways to improve outcomes in his AMEP Youth Class. He had significant behavioural and learning issues and he needed to find more creative ways to address these.
Guided by a Trauma-Informed Learning Guide from Foundation House, Dan became a member of a team-building group called 'Playmeo', got some mentoring from its director and went through a stack of 'old school' Drama Games for EAL books.
From this he has collated activities for the different outcomes, experimented with a lot of them and now he is here to disseminate!
Who: Dan Greig
When: Thursday 27th October 2022, 5-6 pm AEDT
Where: Zoom
Cost: VALBEC Members Free; non-Members $25
Register Here: https://valbec.org.au/event-4950007
Sing With Me Stories.
Sing with me stories are ten colourful readers to match the Sing with me!
Songs and workbooks by Carmel DAVIES and Sharon DUFF and published by Urban Lyrebirds - one of Australia’s top independent EAL publishers. Each story is in 2 levels – beginner and post beginner. They are available in paperback and PDF formats, with free audio online at slow speed and medium speed
https://www.urbanlyrebirds.com/singwithmestories
Boggles World ESL (Lanternfish)
This site provides printable ESL worksheets, quizzes, and activities
The final issue of Fine Print for 2022 is in
press!
While you are waiting for it to arrive in your letterbox, why not have a flip through some back issues? They are full of gems like this article from Marc Brierty about a project-based learning unit called “Show me the money”.
Dyslexia Awareness Month - 1-31st October
Organisation: Code Read Dyslexia Network Australia Ltd
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month and every year many events take place during October including the National Awareness Event, Light it Red for Dyslexia, which started in 2015.
Light it Red for Dyslexia is an annual event that is administered by Code Read Dyslexia Network Australia on behalf of the national Dyslexia Support Groups. Throughout the month of October significant monuments and buildings around Australia are lit up in the colour red for Dyslexia Awareness.
Website: codereadnetwork.org/
World Teachers Day - Wednesday 5th October
Organisation: UNESCO
World Teachers' Day held annually on 5 October is a UNESCO initiative, a day devoted to appreciating, assessing, and improving the educators of the world. The real point is to provide a time to look at and address issues pertaining to teachers. Strangely one of the most central, vital professionals to society does not receive the respect it deserves in some parts of the world.
National/State: International
eVALBEC
eVALBEC is the monthly electronic newsletter of (VALBEC) the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council and is sent to about 1000 practitioners on the first of each month (other than January). It is also available in the ‘News’ section of our web site
Disclaimer:
The activities, goods and services mentioned in eVALBEC are not endorsed by Valbec in any way. People should make their own judgment about the suitability of each item.
How to submit items: https://www.valbec.org.au/evalbec