February 2022 | Current News
VALBEC is proud to announce the launch of our new website schedule on 14 February! (Happy Valentine’s ?!?)
Leanne Wu and David Collett, our amazing web wizards and general magicians in all things webby and membershippy have been SLAVING AWAY behind the scenes getting so many things ready for this exciting day!
I would like to extend a huge thanks to Leanne and David for their patience and hard work. It is not easy working with a big voluntary committee on a project like this and it takes very special people to help us make it happen. VALBEC is forever grateful to them for getting us over the line.
And we would appreciate your patience as well dear members because there are sure to be little hurdles and glitches as we wait for things to start working smoothly. Technology and the Internet are there to help us develop new relaxation skills aren’t they, so hopefully your mindfulness meditation practices will hold you all in good stead.
Apart from the new website, VALBEC is also pleased to announce an exciting new lineup of professional learning workshops and events in 2022.
We’re working on a scaled back face-to-face conference in Melbourne towards the middle of 2022 and more online PD forums than previous years. Details to follow…
We will also restart the conversations in VALBEC’s Facebook Group Community of Practice. It’s been a lovely break and we’re raring to go again. Thank you Tanja Cuka, Denise Reynolds and Manjit Bhamral for keeping Facebook Group rolling in January. Join here https://www.facebook.com/groups/valbec
And while we’ve been holidaying, the Maker community has been busy. Check out Jodie, Bernard and Lee’s resources below.
Enough from me! Happy New Year everyone and I look forward to working with you again in 2022.
Elizabeth Gunn
Valbec President
Photo by Intricate Explorer on Unsplash
Join or renew online.
https://valbec.org.au/membership/
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.
- eVALBEC – our e-mail communication keeping members informed of professional development activities, general committee activities and more up to date policy changes.
- Discounts for the Annual Conference and other VALBEC statewide professional development.
- Issues-based forums.
- Focus on significant policy issues impacting on the field.
- Free numeracy resources
Dramatically Grammatical - Part 1
In Jodie Whitehurst’s latest workshop, participants learn through hands-on experience a variety of drama techniques to help their language learners explore and master challenging grammatical concepts.
Due to the popularity of this workshop, Jodie will be running it again as a late afternoon/ evening session on Sunday, March 6 from 5.00-7.00pm (AEDT).
Jodie is also excited to be offering an intensive 3 week course (3 x 2 hour workshops) called “Language in Context- Immersing your learners in a language through process drama”. This will run over 3 Sunday evenings: 22 May, 29 May and 5 June from 5.00-7.00pm (AEDT).
Please note that there is a limit of 12 participants for all workshops to maximise and personalise the learning experience.
The techniques learned in the workshops can be applied to both online and face to face settings and all participants will receive certificates for their professional learning records.
For more information or to register for either of these events, please go the the following link: https://thelanguagescene.com.au/event/ or feel free to email Jodie with any questions.
English Express by Bernard Miles
English Express – My Busy Day is a new resource for beginner learners of English. It presents basic sentences that describe what people do in different jobs and in everyday life. To aid understanding, every sentence is accompanied by an image. The book is ideal for learning verbs, developing reading skills, practising speaking and strengthening grammatical knowledge (such as subject-verb agreement). With 36 chapters in total, you can easily find something to integrate into your classroom topics.
The resource is available as a PDF eBook, which makes it easy to print, display on a projector, or share with students online. It is available as an individual licence (for one teacher) or a team licence (for an entire site).
Available very soon, in mid-February 2022. There are already free sample chapters on the website.
Also available: English Express Beginner Workbook.
Would you like a free copy of Food! A teaching resource for EAL learners by Lee Kindler? If you are interested in reviewing this new resource for Fine Print, please contact Fine Print editor Deryn Mansell: fineprintvalbec@gmail.com
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