It seems that it is learning-central here at VALBEC at the moment, with the successful Connect/Reconnect mini-conference in May and our recent Funnectics PL session run by Catherine Bunard, you could be forgiven for thinking that we have hit a tipping point in our sharing of professional knowledge. But I must say, these sessions have given me and the rest of the committee a lot to think about. What is our educational-role in the wake of a post-COVID world? How can we better utilise the new brave frontier of technology to equip our students for the ever changing literacy and numeracy (and digital) demands in the workplace? And how do we navigate this space while still being so time poor? These are the questions that we will continue to ask, and at times, try to answer.
But I do digress, it seems that an announcement is in order. It may or may not have been drawn to your attention that Liz Gunn has stepped down as President of VALBEC and I, Liam Frost-Camilleri, have taken up the role. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Liz for her efforts during her time as President. Liz worked tirelessly to expand VALBEC into new horizons. I, for one, am proof of her ability to attain new members into the fold. Liz begun the successful Facebook interviews, remade our website, and improved our online-social-media presence beyond what was thought possible. She powered on behind the scenes to help make VALBEC bigger and better and I would like to sincerely thank her for this. I feel honoured to be able to follow in her footsteps and to continue the good work that she has set in motion.
So, as an introduction, my name is Liam Frost-Camilleri. I have taught in primary, secondary, TAFE and higher education capacities across my career, and I am stupidly passionate about education. I worked in the TAFE sector for 10 years in literacy and numeracy programs, engineering, plumbing, automotive, VCAL classrooms and have held leadership roles where I pushed the concept of ‘effective teaching’ over ‘correct paperwork’. I currently hold an academic position at Federation University, have completed my masters by research on literacy and numeracy issues in the VCAL/TAFE classroom and am currently studying my PhD in a similar space. Being president of VALBEC means that I can extend what I know about education into different settings and engage with other passionate professionals who inspire me and give me the opportunity to further grow and learn. I’m really looking forward to the challenges and inspirations that this role will bring. Lastly, I wanted to thank the committee for welcoming me as President, and I look forward to working with each individual member to further grow the VALBEC network. So, stay tuned everybody as VALBEC marches on!
Liam Frost-Camilleri
VALBEC President
New VALBEC Membership Portal and Payment System
To keep costs down, VALBEC has changed its membership payment system. This is good news for members. We hope to be able to reduce membership fees, or at least not to have to increase them for a while.
You can join or renew online via this link: https://valbec.org.au/Become-a-Member/
Member benefits:
- Professional Learning Forums: strengthen communication and knowledge of adult language, literacy, numeracy & digital (LLND) education, webinar recordings and certification provided
- Fine Print three times a year: hard copy professional journal for discussion and debate about adult LLND practice, theory and policy
- Free online numeracy resources
- eVALBEC: newsletter linking members to professional networks, learning activities, and relevant policy changes.
- Discounts for the Annual Conference and other associated statewide professional learning activities.
- Advocacy on significant policy issues impacting the field through representation on relevant government and association bodies such as the Australian Council for Adult Literacy
Member benefits continue to develop to meet member needs. Tell us what you’d like.
Organisation memberships
Organisational memberships include individual bundle members. The bundle administrator, nominated when joining, can manage their organisation's bundle members within the Valbec membership portal.
VALBEC: The application of Content and Language integrated learning (CLIL) approach in TAFE courses
This presentation will provide a brief overview of the CLIL theory and then provide examples of how to design a CLIL lesson in a TAFE course.
Ha has been teaching and doing research in language learning, TESOL and literacy for more than 20 years.
Host: Valbec PL Forums
Presenter: Ha Do
When: Tuesday 16th August, 5-6pm AEST
Where: Zoom
Cost: VALBEC Members Free; non-Members $25
ALA: Improving learning outcomes for adults with disabilities
In this session, we will look at barriers to learning for adults with disabilities: what they are and the experience of people who make their way through life with them. We’ll briefly explore some of the primary causes of the barriers to learning and how this can present in an education setting. And finally, we’ll consider some of the basic strategies for delivering course material to people from this group.Host: Adult Learning Australia
Presenter: Leanne Russ, SkillsPlus with guest Amii Demanuele
When: Wednesday 20th July, 1-2pm AEST
Where: Zoom
Cost: ALA Members Free; non-Members $65
ALA: What works professional learning series workshop 7: Making sense of money and your finances
Creates links between numeracy and financial literacy – covering key numeracy concepts including calculations, numbers and decimals, etc.Host: Adult Learning Australia
Faciltators: Ros Bauer (ALA) & Jo Medlin (ACAL) with expert presenter Tina Berghella
When: Wednesday 17th July, 1-2pm AEST
Where: Zoom
Cost: ALA Members Free; non-Members $65
Breaking News
https://breakingnewsenglish.com/
This site has 1000s of news articles, however you would need to select those that are appropriate to use with students. Each article can be printed in Word, read on screen and downloaded as an MP3 file, so students can listen and read the text. Each article is also accompanied by a downloadable (approx. 13 pages) handout containing reading related activities such as: prediction exercises, word development and sentence reconstruction exercises, based on the news article. A good site for resources focused on developing reading and comprehension skills.
Visual Fractions
http://www.visualfractions.com/
This site contains a range of activities related to fractions as well as downloadable student worksheets.
Fine Print is a professional journal for discussion and debate about adult LLND practice, theory and policy. It is produced three times a year and distributed to VALBEC members. Writing for Fine Print is a great way to contribute to your industry while developing your own professional skills - and we’re regularly taking submissions. Please email Fine Print editor, Deryn Mansell, to talk about your ideas: 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