I had the absolute pleasure of listening to John Blake present last week and I must say that you would be hard-pressed to find anybody who presents as well as he does. He is a testament to the professional learning presentations offered by VALBEC and we were proud to have him. Speaking of which, our next presentation will be by Anna Fishley, who was meant to be at our conference, but is now coming to us on the 23rd of July. Given the current hullabaloo around phonics and education, I’m particularly interested in this one! Make sure you register when you can.
One other thing that I really wanted to touch base on was a conversation I had with a member. This member told me that they didn’t see that we had a conference in 2023, but did see we had one this year so decided to come along. I’m happy to take the need to advertise on board, but much of our reach comes from word of mouth (it seems that emails can only go so far!), so I’m asking, if you like what we do or believe that your organisation can benefit from everything that VALBEC has to offer, can you have the conversation? Getting the word out will help us to grow our family even further.
Stay warm out there, this winter is certainly doing its job!
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.
33rd National Vocational Education and Training (VET) Research Conference ‘No Frills’
Wednesday July 10 - Thursday July 11.
Teaching adult beginner learners to read and spell: a systematic phonics-based classroom program incorporating strategies to enhance memory
A VALBEC (Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Educational Council) Professional Learning session presented by Anna Fishley.
The first part of this session examines current research and recommendations for teaching reading and spelling to beginner adult learners, focusing on the EAL classroom. It incorporates research into structured phonics- based instruction and strategies to enhance learner memory.
The second part is application-focused, with a demonstration of a reading and spelling program for adult beginner learners in the EAL classroom. The program is user-friendly for teachers and empowers learners by systematically building up their literacy skills. The program empowers learners both inside the classroom and through exercises they can do independently at home.
Participants will come away with strategies for teaching foundational reading and spelling skills as well as ideas for creating their own classroom resources.
Anna has been teaching EAL to adult migrants for 17 years and prior to that, worked for 18 years as a psychologist in the field of educational and developmental psychology. She combines her knowledge of cognitive processes involved in learning with her passion for teaching engaging evidence- based EAL lessons.
We look forward to seeing you there.
VALBEC PL Forums Team
Who: Anna Fishley
When: Tuesday, 23rd July 2024, 5.30-6.30 pm AEST
Where: Zoom
Cost: VALBEC Members Free; non-Members $10
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The keynote at this year’s conference was Vicky Duckworth, a well-known literacy scholar from the UK. Vicky presented on a project she has been working on throughout her career; The Transforming lives & Communities with the aim of understanding and providing robust evidence of how further and adult education is vital in transforming lives and communities. It illuminates how and why further and adult education is important for supporting
social justice, sustainability and social cohesion across diverse communities and offers deep insights about inequity in its multiple forms. Further, it embraces the idea that adult learning centers are the heart of communities and offer people from diverse communities - hope, agency and a positive path towards the future.
Vicky is undertaking a new project called Sharing Our Stories Across Oceans, with Deakin University local Trace Ollis, about the power of adult education in transforming lives and communities. They are seeking stories of experience from teachers and learners of 500 - 1000 words. Please follow the link for further details.
https://www.gatehousebooks.co.uk/pages/sharing-our-stories-across-oceans
Vicky’s keynote address will be featured in the upcoming edition of Fine Print.
ACAL presents
Webinar: The DysCalculator
Presenters: Gary Sharpe, Philip Schlup, Michael Grawe
Date: Tuesday, 2nd July 2024
Time:
- 10:30 am Perth WA
- 12noon NT, SA;
- 12:30pm QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS;
- 2:30pm Auckland NZ;
https://acal.edu.au/webinar-the-dyscalculator/
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7th July – 14th July NAIDOC Week
NAIDOC Week is an annual celebration in Australia that honors the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It stands for National Aborigines’ and Islanders’ Day Observance Committee. The theme for this year’s NAIDOC week is ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.’
19th July National Pyjama Day
28th July National Tree Day
meetings.
Valbec’s own Fine Print is seeking a locum commissioning editor for edition 3, 2024, and edition 1, 2025. Planning for edition 3/24 has commenced, with a deadline of mid-September. We expect edition 1, 2025 to hit the letterboxes in July.
Fine Print is Australia’s only dedicated adult literacy, numeracy and language journal. You can check out the archives here: https://valbec.org.au/Fine-Print
The commissioning editor is supported by a committee of volunteers and meet at least twice per issue.
Please email your expression of interest or questions to Sarahlouisedeasey@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