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Click on "Start conversation", log in and enter your name and language.

Share the conversation code with other participants, who can join using the Translator app or website.

Speak or type in your language to communicate with other participants in the conversation. Other participants will see your messages in their own language.

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Microsoft Translator live is a free translation and transcription service that lets you have translated conversations across multiple devices on iOS, Android, Windows, PowerPoint and web for 1:1 conversations or larger group interactions. Support for real time conversation for over 60 languages including Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese and many more.

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Booktopia has The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. Buy a discounted Paperback of The Name Jar online from Australia’s leading online bookstore.

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Free books that support the teaching of reading by using a structured synthetic phonics approach. Also help Aboriginal students engage with phonic books by having characters, content and settings that reflect Aboriginal communities

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About the cover artist

Elizabeth Close is an Anangu woman from the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara language groups in the APY Lands in outback South Australia. She was born in Adelaide and spent much of her upbringing in remote communities, learning her language and receiving cultural education.

'This artwork represents the literacy and numeracy learning journey, and the path towards independent learning. The circles represent the collaborative learning and supports around children with specific learning difficulties, including children, schools, families, SPELD SA and others.'  Elizabeth Close, Artist.
Click here for printing tips

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About the cover artist Elizabeth Close is an Anangu woman from the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara language groups in the APY Lands in outback South Australia. She was born in Adelaide and spent much of her upbringing in remote communities, learning her language and receiving cultural education.

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Free access to thousands of high-quality books for kids grade 6 and under. Free membership gives access to 1 book per day. Students are able to access and read digitally on their own.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Eyes That Kiss In The Corners - Joanna Ho

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Eyes That Kiss In The Corners - Joanna Ho

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A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers’. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her...

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In Alexandra Penfold's picture book, All Are Welcome, readers follow a diverse group of school children as they learn, eat, and play side-by-side in a world where all are welcome.

All Are Welcome is such a charming and timely celebration of diversity and inclusivity! Through sweet, fun rhymes Penfold creates a heartwarming and positive atmosphere and message of love, respect, and kindness. From the clothes the young characters wear to the things they eat, traditions they follow, religions they...more

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In Alexandra Penfold's picture book, All Are Welcome, readers follow a diverse group of school children as they learn, eat, and play side-by-side in a world where all are welcome. All Are Welcome is such a charming and timely celebration of diversity and inclusivity!

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Our Favourite Day Of The Year - A.E. Ali

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Our Favourite Day Of The Year - A.E. Ali

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It's the first day of the new school year, Ms. Gupta's very favorite day of the year as she greets her new class and starts to get to know them. She tells them that she wants to know each of their favorite days and they will celebrate them together as a class to get to know one another. As the year goes on, we see them learning about Eid al-Fitr, Rosh Hashanah, Las Posadas, and Pi Day.

I love, love, love seeing overtly secular representation in the family celebrating Pi Day. Although they're not...more

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It's the first day of the new school year, Ms. Gupta's very favorite day of the year as she greets her new class and starts to get to know them. She tells them that she wants to know each of their favorite days and they will celebrate them together as a class to get to know one another.

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Free lesson plans and online courses with documentaries, images, awareness days, research, programmes. These resources are mapped to relevant year levels, learning areas, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities of the Australian Curriculum.

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Cool.org (Cool Australia) supports primary and secondary teachers with high-quality, downloadable education resources like lesson plans, worksheets, activities and professional learning courses.

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An international community of ESL teachers sharing self-made free language teaching materials.

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88,000+ English ESL worksheets pdf & doc

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A library of free English ESL printables with listening, reading comprehension exercises, vocab + grammar practice activities made by teachers

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Students can Google "how to pronounce ___" and find the correct pronunciation

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Practice your pronunciation

In Google Search, when you ask a question about the pronunciation, definition, or translation of a word, you might find a result that helps you hear and practice pronunciation. For example, you can search for "how to pronounce entrepreneur" and you'll see the option to practice saying "Entrepreneur."

When you encounter the Listen icon, you can select it to hear the pronunciation of a word in the English dictionary. You can switch between American and British at the top of the pronunciation result.

If you want to practice and get feedback on your pronunciation of a word, select Practice , then say the word. If your pronunciation does not match what's provided, you'll get tips to help you match it.

You can use Practice to help you pronounce a word in a way that's widely understood by most English speakers, even when pronunciations vary by accent.

Pronunciation practice is only available on Android devices. It's not available for all languages and accents, and it's not available for words that are derogatory or offensive.

Find image examples in Dictionary & Translate results

When you look up the definition or translation of some words in Google Search, you'll find related images that can help you choose among results, especially when a word has several meanings. For example, if you search for "the definition of seal," you'll see images of valve seals under one definition and images of the aquatic mammal under another.

You'll find Dictionary and Translate results with images that you can review for additional visual context. When you find an image that matches what you're looking for, you can choose the most accurate result.

For now, images are only provided for some nouns in the English dictionary, but we plan to expand this feature with future improvements.

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In Google Search, when you ask a question about the pronunciation, definition, or translation of a word, you might find a result that helps you hear and practice pronunciation. For example, you can search for "how to pronounce entrepreneur" and you'll see the option to practice saying "Entrepreneur."

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WorldStories is a growing collection of traditional and original stories from around the world shared in the languages most commonly spoken by children in the UK

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Our titles are available in the following languages:

WorldStories is a growing collection of stories from around the world. The collection includes retold traditional tales and new short stories in the languages most spoken by UK children.

We are adding new stories, translations, pictures and sound recordings every week. So keep coming back to enjoy new content!

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Our titles are available in the following languages: WorldStories is a growing collection of stories from around the world. The collection includes retold traditional tales and new short stories in the languages most spoken by UK children. We are adding new stories, translations, pictures and sound recordings every week.

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Jamboard is a digital whiteboard that lets you collaborate in real time. Great creative tool that is student friendly.

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The MY:24 app allows users to create their own micro-documentary. It is inspired by the factual entertainment series MY:24 - a collection of stories from young people who have experienced one day that changed their life forever.

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Designed to engage classrooms with student focused learning that integrates new technologies, the app supports students to create, deliver and share their own Little Lunch inspired episode, using their tablet device

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The Australian Children's Television Foundation

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About this Resource

Designed to engage classrooms with student focused learning that integrates new technologies, the app supports students to create, deliver and share their own Little Lunch inspired episode, using their tablet device.

In Stage 1, users are guided through a series of steps that help them establish their story - Who is your main character? Take a picture of them. Who stars in your film? Add their names to your credit roll. Where did your story take place? Use your finger to draw a picture of the place that best represents your story.

In Stage 2, the user eats their way through their 'story arc' inspired lunch box, filming 5 scenes that make up their 'little lunch' story. With each bite, they're given the option to place their film in the past or present, to use 'natural' sound or a voice over - helping the user to understand the basic structure and principles of storytelling, whilst encouraging them to be creative and play with traditional time and narrative structure.

When both stages are complete, the app stitches together the entire user generated content into a personalised short movie that replicates an episode of the original Little Lunch series, and is saved to the Camera Roll.

Cyber Safety
Use of the Little Lunch App in schools should be in accordance with each school's Cyber Safety policy.

Videos created using the app are by default saved locally to the device's 'Camera Roll' and are not publically viewable. However, if schools with the necessary parent permissions wish to share student videos online it should be in accordance with the school's Cyber Safety policy.

We would recommend that any student videos that are shared online:

Do not identify students by name

Avoid identifiable school uniforms

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Designed to engage classrooms with student focused learning that integrates new technologies, the app supports students to create, deliver and share their own Little Lunch inspired episode, using their tablet device. In Stage 1, users are guided through a series of steps that help them establish their story - Who is your main character?

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Graphic design website suitable for creating classroom posters and signs. Students are able to use this as well to create visual projects.

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Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Use it to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more.

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Spaceteam ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) is an English learning game you play with your classmates using phones or tablets. Your team of 2-4 players is working to survive, you must communicate and work together!

Download on iPad. http://spaceteamesl.ca/

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Reading Australia champions Australia’s rich literary history and presents thoughtful, stimulating, challenging, and sometimes provocative literary works for Australian students. Teacher resources for titles on Reading Australia are written by Australian teachers for teachers to use in the classroom

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Amy and Louis are best friends. They live next door to each other. When they want to play they call to each other across the room, across the yard or across the fence using a special word Amy's mother taught her - Coo-ee. The games they play are richly imaginative.

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The Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre is a DET, specialised library for teachers (K - adult settings) in the areas of EAL

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Refugee 87 book. Read 118 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. A young refugee crosses continents in this timely, heartbreaking, and u...

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No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison

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No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison

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"We are a bunch of ordinary humans locked up simply for seeking refuge."

No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison is a devastating read, an infuriating read, but it is a story that urgently needs to be heard. It is a haunting and horrific account of one refugee's experience being locked up in an Australian prison (oops, sorry, a processing Centre).

When Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish Iranian journalist, had to flee his homeland, he made his way to Indonesia and from there got passage...more

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"We are a bunch of ordinary humans locked up simply for seeking refuge." No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison is a devastating read, an infuriating read, but it is a story that urgently needs to be heard.

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First, They Killed My Father - Loung Ung

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First, They Killed My Father - Loung Ung

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LUCKY CHILDIn this lyrical sequel to her bestselling, critically acclaimed memoir First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung describes her school years in Vermont as a Cambodian refugee and, in alternating chapters, gives voice to her sister's experience as a genocide survivor left behind in rural Cambodia.

Lucky Child chronicles Loung's struggles to uphold her family's honor though she was forced to leave them in order to survive. As much Loung's personal story as that of a war-torn family and nation, Lucky Child is a meditation on what might have been. This striking parallel of Loung's life in America with her sister Chou's life in postwar Cambodia highlights the harsh realities of chance and circumstances, both on a personal level for the Ung family and on a national level for all Cambodians. READING GUIDE FOR LUCKY CHILD

" Lucky Child is a tender, searing journey of two sisters, two worlds, two destinies. It is about the long-term consequences of war-how it changes everything, annihilates, uproots, and separate families. And it is about how human triumph-building live wherever they land and finding their way back to each other." ~ EVE ENSLER, author of The Vagina Monologues

"This is a story of the triumph of a child's indomitable spirit over the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge; over a culture where children are trained to become killing machines. Despite the heartache, I could not put the book down until I reached the end." ~ QUEEN NOOR of Jordan, founder, Women and Development Project

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"The story was always there and it wouldn't go away. My memory was never silent." FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHERLoung Ung was five years old when the Khmer Rouge army stormed into her city in April 1975, forcing her family to flee their home.

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Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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This website contains articles about language instructional practices that support multilingual learners. Great short reads

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A weekly ELL blog examining strategies for visible reading, lesson design, best practices and teacher collaboration. Strategies for language & content.

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In these ten-minute lessons, Australian teachers teach fundamental skills in English, maths and science.

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Mini Lessons

In these ten-minute lessons, Australian teachers teach fundamental skills in English, maths and science.

These mini lessons are co-designed with teachers and produced with the support of Australian schools, the NSW Department of Education, and the Department of Education and Training (Victoria).

Watch and discuss

Subjects: English, Maths, Science
Years: F-2, 3-4, 5-6

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In these ten-minute lessons, Australian teachers teach fundamental skills in English, maths and science. These mini lessons are co-designed with teachers and produced with the support of Australian schools, the NSW Department of Education, and the Department of Education and Training (Victoria). Subjects: English, Maths, Science Years: F-2, 3-4, 5-6

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Developing an EAL friendly teaching style

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Developing an EAL friendly teaching style

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Speak a little more slowly (not louder than your normal teaching voice)

Don't use overt correction too much, allow for modelling and self-correction

Develop a consistent usage of projectors to highlight text, identify main ideas or show pictures

Integrate games and brain breaks

Let students use their home language in the classroom. It is also beneficial for the teacher to learn keywords in the student's preferred language

Provide opportunities for low stakes writing as well as speaking and listening

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Helping EAL Students Ajust to the Classroom

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Helping EAL Students Ajust to the Classroom

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Repeatedly state and display language, content and metacognitive objects

List instructions/steps and review orally

Present information in varied ways

Frequently summarise key points and important terms

Provide a word wall

Allow sufficient response time

When possible, link learning to personal experience and knowledge

Provide outlines, advanced organiser, or visual guides

Provide 3 examples of standard/successful work

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Use sentence strips/jigsaws

Set up dialogue journal between teacher and student

Student role play

Write headline and summaries of lesson

Model new skills

Extend test time

Don't rescue students. Encourage through body language (smiling, relaxing) and give time for them to answer

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
A note on terminology: The acronym ESL is used less often now in schools than it used to be, because we recognize that many students who are learning English already speak several other languages, so English would not be a "second" language. I use it several times in the post because schools sometimes refer to the teachers as ESL teachers, and the term is still widely used as a search term for this topic. My intent in using the acronym is to make this post easier to find online.

You have a new student, and he speaks no English. His family has just moved to your town from Japan, and though he receives English as a Second Language (ESL) support, he will also be sitting in your room every day to give him more exposure to his new language. How can you be a good teacher to someone who barely understands you?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average of 9 percent of students in U.S. public schools are English Language Learners (ELLs); that number is closer to 14 percent in cities. Although many of these students start off in high-intensity, whole-day English programs, most are integrated into mainstream classrooms within a year, well before their English language skills would be considered proficient.

How prepared are you to teach these students? If you're like most classroom teachers, you have little to no training in the most effective methods for working with English language learners (Walker, Shafer, & Iiams, 2004). So that means we have a problem here: Lots of ELL kids in regular classrooms, and no teacher training to ensure the success of that placement.

Below, three ESL teachers tell us what they know about the things regular classroom teachers can do to improve instruction for ELL students. These 12 strategies are simple, they are not very time consuming, and best of all, they will help everyone in your class learn better:

1. Make it Visual

"Avoid giving instructions in the air," says Melissa Eddington, an Ohio-based ESL teacher. "ELL kids have a harder time processing spoken language." So instructions - even basic directions for classroom procedures - should be written on the board whenever possible. Challenging concepts should be diagrammed or supported with pictures. And modeling the steps of a process or showing students what a finished product should look like can go a long way toward helping students understand. "Sometimes showing our students what to do is all they need in order to do it," Eddington says. Not only will this kind of nonlinguistic representation improve comprehension for ELL students, it will help all of your students grasp concepts better.

2. Build in more group work.

"Kids aren't just empty glasses that we pour stuff into and then at the end of the day they dump it back onto a test," says Kim, an ESL teacher who was the subject of my very first podcast interview. "If you really want the kids to learn, they've got to be engaged." That means less teacher-led, whole-class instruction, and more small groups, where students can practice language with their peers in a more personal, lower-risk setting. And if ELL students attend your class with a resource teacher, make use of that person: In most cases the resource teacher doesn't have to work exclusively with the ESL students; they can work with smaller groups that happen to contain these students, helping to improve the teacher-student ratio and give kids more time to practice.

3. Communicate with the ESL teacher.

Mary Yurkosky, a former ESL teacher in Massachusetts, credits much of her students' success to the strong relationship she had with the regular classroom teachers. "The classroom teachers were always talking to me about what they were doing in their classes," she says. "They made it so easy for me to support them: If a teacher was going to be doing a unit on plants, I could make sure we used some of that same vocabulary in the ESL class."

Ideally, this could be systematized, where ESL teachers could regularly get copies of lesson plans or collaborate with regular classroom teachers to build solid back-and-forth support, but "it doesn't have to be that much work," Yurkosky insists. "Just talk to each other. Talk about what's going on in your classrooms, invite each other to special presentations, share what your students are learning, and the words will naturally find their way into the ESL class."

4. Honor the "silent period."

Many new language learners go through a silent period, during which they will speak very little, if at all. "Don't force them to talk if they don't want to," says Eddington, "A lot of students who come from cultures outside of America want to be perfect when they speak, so they will not share until they feel they are at a point where they're perfect." Just knowing that this is a normal stage in second language acquisition should help relieve any pressure you feel to move them toward talking too quickly.

5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language.

Although it has been a hotly debated topic in the language-learning community, allowing students some use of their first language (L1) in second-language (L2) classrooms is gaining acceptance. When a student is still very new to a language, it's okay to pair him with other students who speak his native language. "Some students are afraid to open their mouths at all for fear of sounding stupid or just not knowing the words to use," Yurkosky says. "Letting them explain things or ask questions in their first language gets them to relax and feel like a part of the class."

And this doesn't only apply to spoken language. If you give students a written assignment, but the ELL student doesn't yet have the proficiency to handle writing his response in English, "Don't make them just sit there and do nothing," Eddington says. "Allow them to write in their first language if they're able. This allows them to still participate in journal writing or a math extended response, even if you can't read what they write." There has even been some evidence that allowing second-language learners to pre-write and brainstorm in L1 results in higher-quality writing in L2 in later stages of the writing process (Yigzaw, 2012).

6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary.

"For most of these kids, their background knowledge is lacking, especially with things that are unique to American or westernized culture," says Eddington. It's important to directly teach certain vocabulary words: "Show them videos of what it looks like to toss pizza dough, show pictures of a juke box or a clothing rack - things that are not common in their own language."

One way to differentiate for ELL students is to consider the whole list of terms you're going to teach for a unit, and if you think an ELL student may be overwhelmed by such a long list, omit those that are not essential to understanding the larger topic at hand.

7. Use sentence frames to give students practice with academic language.

All students, not just English language learners, need practice with academic conversations. Sentence frames - partially completed sentences like "I disagree with what _________ said because..." - show students how to structure language in a formal way. Keep these posted in a highly visible spot in your classroom and require students to refer to them during discussions and while they write.

For this kind of language to really sink in, though, Kim says it has to become a regular part of class. "They won't do it if it's not the norm in the class, because they'll be embarrassed to use it among their peers," she says. "But if they can put it off on the teacher and say, Oh, well, you know, Miss Kim makes me talk like this, then they don't look as hoity-toity as they would otherwise."

8. Pre-teach whenever possible.

If you're going to be reading a certain article next week, give ESL students a copy of it now. If you plan to show a YouTube video tomorrow, send a link to your ESL students today. Any chance you can give these students to preview material will increase the odds that they'll understand it on the day you present it to everyone else. "That kind of thing is wonderful," Yurkosky says. "The kids feel so empowered if they've had a chance to look at the material ahead of time."

9. Learn about the cultural background of your students...

Our second-language populations grow more diverse every year. Taking the time to learn the basics of where a child comes from - exactly, not 'somewhere in the Middle East/South America/Asia/Africa' - tells the student that you respect her enough to bother. Kim remembers one time when she had to set the record straight about the diverse South American population at her school: "I was listening to the teachers talking about the 'Mexican' kids in our building," she says, "and I was like, 'We don't have any Mexicans.'" Not taking the time to at least correctly identify a child's country of origin, much like not bothering to pronounce their name correctly, is a kind of microaggression, a small, subtle insult that communicates hostility toward people of color. Make a commitment to be someone who bothers to get it right.

Once you have the country straight, take things up a notch by learning about students' religious and cultural practices. If he is a practicing Muslim, he should be told if one of the pizzas you ordered for the class party has sausage on it. If she comes from a culture where eye contact with adults is viewed as disrespectful, you'll know not to force her to look you in the eye when she's talking.

10. ...but don't make a child speak for his entire culture.

In her podcast interview, Kim shared a story about watching a teacher ask a new Iraqi student how he felt about the war in his country, right in the middle of class. "That's not cultural inclusiveness," she explains. "I've seen teachers do this and then pat themselves on the back. The students' English is limited so they can't express themselves very well, and they don't want to 'represent'; they just want to be there." If you anticipate a theme coming up in your class that's going to be relevant to one of your students, have a conversation with them in advance, or check with your ESL teacher to see if they think it's appropriate for in-class discussion.

11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously...

By modeling the risk-taking that's required to learn a new language, you help students develop the courage to take their own risks, and to have a sense of humor about it. "I tried to say the word 'paint' ( pinta) in Portuguese and instead I said the word for 'penis' ( pinto). They all roared with laughter while I stood there with a What?? look on my face," Yurkosky says. "When they explained what I'd said, I laughed so hard! I told them that laughing was fine because sometimes mistakes are really funny, but ridicule is never okay."

12. ...but always take them seriously.

One of Kim's pet peeves about how teachers interact with English language learners is the way they often see students' efforts as 'cute,' missing the whole point of what the student is trying to say. "A student will be desperate to communicate, and the teacher will get distracted by the delivery and miss the message," she says. "That's painful for me to watch." It bothers her when teachers mistake a lack of language for a lack of intelligence or maturity. When a child can't express themselves as well as they would in their native language, it's far too easy to assume the concepts just aren't in their heads.

"It breaks my heart when I hear teachers say (ELL kids) don't know anything," says Eddington. "These are brilliant kids and they know a lot. They just can't tell us in English yet." Make a conscious effort to see past the accent and the mispronunciations and treat every interaction - every student - with the respect they deserve.

"They're doing twice the job of everybody else in the class," Kim adds, "even though the result looks like half as much." ♦

Further Reading

The ESL/ELL Teacher's Survival Guide is one of the highest-rated books on teaching English-language learners available. In addition to offering an overview of the research on second-language learners and best practices in teaching ESL, it also includes a whole section on teaching ESL in the content areas and another specifically geared toward teaching ELL students in mainstream classrooms.
References:
Walker, A., Shafer, J., & Iiams, M. (2004). "Not in my classroom": Teacher attitudes towards English language learners in the mainstream classroom. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2(1), 130-160.

Yigzaw, A. (2012). Impact of L1 use in L2 English writing classes. Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, 8(1), 11-27.

If you thought this was helpful, stick around.
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Click here to get a PDF of this article.

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12 Ways to Support English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom

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Advice from three ESL teachers on the things regular classroom teachers can do to help English language learners thrive in mainstream classrooms.

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About Schools Standing Up To Racism

Schools Standing Up to Racism is a collaboration between the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) and the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET), offering a range of resources to support schools to address racism and discrimination in their school environment.
Download the Curriculum and Policy Matrix for Schools Standing Up to Racism
Workshops are available to Victorian Schools, to support the implementation of the resource.

Addressing racism and discrimination within schools and the broader community is challenging. Every school, every student, every staff member and every community is at a different stage of the journey, and has a unique context. Acknowledging this, the Schools Standing Up to Racism site provides a range of strategies, ideas and tools to reinforce your school's response.

The resources within this site aim to support schools to create safe spaces in which to build the intercultural awareness and understanding required to overcome the barriers to proactively talking about, and addressing, racism and discrimination.

Schools Standing Up to Racism encourages a whole-of-school approach, which actively promotes, encourages and supports student voice in order to create meaningful and sustainable change. Our diversity is our strength, and every one of us can take action to create the cohesive community to which we all want to belong.
Watch young people's stories below.
Community Reporting Tool

Have you been treated unfairly in Victoria? You can report it securely and confidentially to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Submit your report via the Community Reporting Tool.

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Schools Standing Up To Racism - Centre For Multicultural Youth

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About Schools Standing Up To Racism Schools Standing Up to Racism is a collaboration between the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) and the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET), offering a range of resources to support schools to address racism and discrimination in their school environment.

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https://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/blogs/aef-advocates/hamish/2020/07/30/future-focused-aef-intercultural-learning-framework

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Asia Education Foundation (AEF) provides school leaders, teachers and students with the global perspectives and tools to amplify their intercultural skills and mindsets.

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Teaching and learning resources

The Australian Curriculum provides extensive opportunities to develop Asia capable students. AEF provides a comprehensive suite of teaching and learning resources across all year levels and subject/learning areas to support this.

Subject/learning area pages comprise information about curriculum, resources and professional learning. Digital resource lists, Australian Curriculum-aligned learning sequences, recommended links, subject associations, illustrations of practice, sample maps, professional learning modules and multimedia are contained within these pages.

Country-specific resources can also be found on our country pages below.

AEF curriculum resources are aligned to Australian Curriculum v8.1.

From January 2021 all Adobe Flash content will be removed due to the plug-in being retired. While AEF will work to find alternative options to host content, some third party resources will be permanently removed from our database. Should you have any questions, please email aef-support@asialink.unimelb.edu.au

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A comprehensive suite of teaching and learning resources

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The Australian Curriculum provides extensive opportunities to develop Asia capable students. AEF provides a comprehensive suite of teaching and learning resources across all year levels and subject/learning areas to support this. Subject/learning area pages comprise information about curriculum, resources and professional learning.

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Navigating Intercultural Issues In The Classroom

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Navigating Intercultural Issues In The Classroom

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Teacher Guide Navigating Intercultural Issues

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We Acknowledge the many diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations of Australia, and pay respect to the Custodians of the Land and Waters of these Nations on which we live, learn and work, and to the many Ancestors who shaped and nurtured Country.

Elders, parents, families and communities are the first educators of their children and we pay our respect to them as ongoing teachers of knowledge, songlines and stories. We recognise and value the learning that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children, colleagues and community bring into our schools.
We recognise all Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and their ongoing strength and resilience. We acknowledge the important role that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander young people have as leaders across Australia.

We celebrate and respect the oldest continuing culture and recognise the central importance of education in truth telling, equity and justice.

Please note: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have passed away.

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Racism. No Way: Anti-racism education for Australian schools

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This website aims to tackle racism in schools in Australia, through providing teachers, school students, parents and governors with games, research and lesson ideas that explore the causes and effects of racism for practical use in the classroom.

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Poster primary A3 How do we talk about culture

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For one week, you'll eat the same rations as a Syrian refugee living in a camp in Jordan.

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Ration Challenge 2020 - Australia [Pre Launch]

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Ration Challenge Australia | Raising funds for refugees

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I'm taking the Act for Peace Ration Challenge, raising funds for refugees. Sponsor me by clicking the link. Thanks so much for your support!

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Remote learning is even harder when English isn’t students’ first language. Schools told us their priorities for supporting them

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Remote learning is even harder when English isn’t students’ first language. Schools told us their priorities for supporting them

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The COVID-19 pandemic has left large numbers of students, teachers and families grappling with the challenges of remote learning. Remote learning can be particularly challenging for students who are learning English as an additional language or dialect ( EAL/D students).

We wanted to find out about schools' experiences of teaching and supporting these students during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns in Victoria. We interviewed ten classroom teachers and EAL/D curriculum leaders across primary and secondary levels in urban, regional and rural schools. We identified three key areas of concern for these students:

well-being - issues such as language barriers compounded their feelings of isolation and disconnection

access to resources such as digital devices, the internet and learning materials

loss of in-school structural supports.

Read more: Victoria and NSW are funding extra tutors to help struggling students. Here's what parents need to know about the schemes

These issues affect large numbers of students. About one in four primary and secondary school students in Victoria are from language backgrounds other than English. The proportion is similar in NSW.

We know from a range of studies that, even in the most favourable conditions, the reality of remote learning has often had a negative impact on students' learning and well-being. Although the information about what works for online teaching is expanding, EAL/D-specific information is lacking.

Early findings from our ongoing research show that for many EAL/D educators complex social, emotional, material and geographic factors compounded the challenges of engaging EAL/D learners during remote learning. The following three points illustrate these challenges and how educators adapted.

Making well-being the priority

Student well-being was the most important consideration for these educators. It's a prerequisite for real engagement in remote learning.

Schools are often a space of identity validation and belonging for new arrivals. The remote learning experience left many students feeling isolated and disconnected. This was sometimes compounded when issues such as low digital literacy and language barriers affected students' support at home.

To overcome these issues, the role of teachers often expanded into areas such as supporting families by connecting with social services, mothers' groups and foodbanks. This trend was even clearer in rural and regional areas where the school often became the central point of support for EAL/D students and their families.

Read more: Students' well-being must always be the priority. Here are 5 tips to help them through lockdown

Well-being was also an issue for EAL/D educators and multicultural education aides (MEAs). Supporting students and families to navigate the new remote learning platforms and procedures was extremely difficult when resources and time were limited. EAL/D teachers often work part-time or across more than one school. As one participant said:

"We worked harder in remote learning than I've ever worked in my life in those early stages, and so I guess the learning curve was to sit back and say, 'Hey, it's okay. We can't fix the world. We need to actually look after ourselves.' "

Ensuring access to resources

Access to devices and the internet caused some issues in the initial remote learning phase. This gradually became less of a barrier as resources were distributed to families. All participants stressed the important role of education aides and interpreters in supporting teachers and students to use these devices effectively.

"They [students] struggle [...] particularly at the secondary level. They struggle because the platforms that the secondary schools use are foreign to these students. So, in lockdown, it takes an enormous amount of time to upskill these students."

Read more: Schools are moving online, but not all children start out digitally equal

Teachers and aides invested large amounts of time in developing resources in students' first languages that were suitable for remote learning. This task of creating resources was even more challenging in areas with fewer multicultural education aides and interpreters due to relatively lower numbers of EAL/D students.

Overcoming loss of in-school support

How EAL/D students are integrated in mainstream classes also presented many challenges. In regular face-to-face teaching, these students may get support from peers or education aides to help them in classes such as humanities, science and mathematics. Providing this support in the online learning space often proved difficult.

If teachers of other subjects were not aware of strategies to support EAL/D students in their classes, this left some students feeling excluded, isolated and overwhelmed. Strategies can range from differentiating learning sequences to meet the learner's needs, to providing structured opportunities for them to use their knowledge in and of other languages.

Participants also commented on how teaching strategies that help EAL/D learners in mainstream classes often greatly benefit all learners, including monolingual English speakers. Empowering all teachers with the knowledge and strategies to support EAL/D learners in both face-to-face and remote classes was a way to create inclusive environments for all students. As one participant said:

"So, they've got to understand - the teachers have to - instead of watching content, content, content and I've got to get this much done in five weeks, let's relook and let's have another think about this and see what we can do. What can we do differently so that they can access something in this curriculum? That they [the students] can bring something to it."

Read more: Students in Melbourne will go back to remote schooling. Here's what we learnt last time and how to make it better

Building on students' strengths

A final key message is the importance of viewing EAL/D learners through an asset rather than a deficit lens. A deficit lens tends to frame students for what is "lacking" (English proficiency) and overlooks the rich linguistic and cultural repertoires of these students.

The notion of plurilingual competencies, where students are supported to use all their language knowledge to engage in learning, is a recent addition to the EAL curriculum in Victoria. This requires all teachers, not just EAL/D teachers, to develop an awareness of students' plurilingual resources and encourage them to use this knowledge to enhance their learning.

School leadership can play a vital role here by supporting a whole-school approach to inclusive EAL/D practices.

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Remote learning is even harder when English isn't students' first language. Schools told us their priorities for supporting them

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The COVID-19 pandemic has left large numbers of students, teachers and families grappling with the challenges of remote learning. Remote learning can be particularly challenging for students who are learning English as an additional language or dialect ( EAL/D students).

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Why more schools need to teach bilingual education to Indigenous children

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Why more schools need to teach bilingual education to Indigenous children

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Indigenous children can benefit greatly from learning in a language they understand. Neda Vanovac/AAP

In this series, we'll discuss whether progress is being made on Indigenous education, looking at various areas including policy, scholarships, school leadership, literacy and much more.
Nancy Oldfield Napurrurla has taught at Yuendumu school for over 30 years.

In her preschool transition class, the children attentively sing along in Warlpiri to Marlu Witalpa (Little Kangaroo). It's a seemingly simple children's song about a kangaroo looking for its mother. But with its complex expressions and traditional hand signs, it's also an effective tool for learning.

Nancy has introduced generations of children to school routines, literacy, and early years knowledge and skills all in a language they understand: Warlpiri. At the same time, they learn oral English from another teacher in a staged curriculum. As they master some English language, they are introduced to English literacy.

Learning in a language you understand

This dual language approach is based on research showing that many concepts are best learned in the language that the learner understands. And mastery in first language supports second language learning, success in literacy and academic achievement in both languages.

Increasingly, international and Australian research and policy make strong links between recognition and use of first language and cultural knowledge, and student identity, wellbeing and education outcomes.

Teachers in Warlpiri-English and other bilingual schools, such as Yirrkala school, have long worked to innovatively blend traditional and contemporary knowledge.

The overarching aim of this dual language focus is to provide young people with the skills they will need as bicultural adults in the modern world. This is relevant in sectors such as the arts, land management, interpreting in legal and health settings and education, to name just a few.

The importance of bilingual education was recognised more than 50 years ago when, in 1961, politician Kim Beazley Senior saw a classroom like Nancy's at Hermannsburg school in central Australia, where children were learning in Arrernte and English.

The success of this classroom, compared with its English-only counterparts, inspired him.

Later, as education minister in the newly elected Whitlam government in 1972, he oversaw the launch of the Northern Territory Bilingual Education program. These early days and the decades that followed are documented in a new volume, History of Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory.

At its most ambitious in 1988, 24 remote schools had programs in English and 19 Aboriginal languages. Local people were directly involved in the education of their children, and champions for schooling in remote communities.

Too few qualified Aboriginal teachers

The schools desperately needed Aboriginal teachers, and training programs were developed through the establishment of Batchelor College and the School for Australian Linguistics (now combined as Batchelor Institute for Indigenous Tertiary Education).

Many Aboriginal people, like Nancy, often of the first or second generation in their families to attend school, were supported by their school and the department to obtain professional qualifications and leadership opportunities.

These opportunities were provided by combinations of in-community on-the-job learning, intensive courses at Batchelor College, and support from travelling Batchelor College lecturers.

However, in the intervening years, changes to accreditation regimes and changes to Batchelor College funding have meant that these opportunities are now rarely available to Indigenous people in remote communities.

Sadly, there are fewer qualified Aboriginal teachers in remote Australia today than in the 1980s.

Team work

Indigenous teachers worked side by side with non-Indigenous teachers in bilingual teaching teams. This required professional development in the skills of team teaching, and teaching English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD).

Non-local teachers were trained, supported on the job and/or accessed professional learning in these skills.

This support was not only essential for young non-local teachers to acquire these skills, it also provided them with social and intellectual support that helped them stay longer on communities.

The need for trained English language teachers and structured EALD programs in remote schools has been raised in virtually every report since the 1990s.

The lack of these skilled professionals continues to hamper Aboriginal students' learning English and academic success across the Northern Territory.

Bilingual language approach creates jobs

The dual language focus created jobs in remote communities, not just in teaching.

With a great need for written materials to support the program, Literacy Production Centres were established, with a prodigious output of books. These included fiction, history, science and reference works in Aboriginal languages. Recently much of this has been made digitally available in the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.

Despite efforts to promote the dual language focus and its importance to communities, it remained controversial, and subject to shifts in policy and resourcing. Ideological disagreements often drowned out evidence and the opportunity to review and improve practice.

Importance of community involvement

While much has changed since 1972, recent research shows the continued importance of community involvement in schools.

Now in 2017, the Northern Territory Education Department is preparing policy and developing curriculum for teaching Aboriginal languages, including the remaining bilingual programs, based on the new National Curriculum.

These moves recognise the value of Aboriginal languages in education and employment.

But policy and curriculum on their own are not enough. Aboriginal classrooms need more Nancy Oldfields, more trained teachers from their own communities who speak their own languages. The Western Australian Department of Education has a practical and innovative model to achieve this.

Classrooms need more trained teachers who are skilled in teaching oral and written English to children who speak other languages. And they need these teachers to be skilled in working together as professional teams.

This is where Australia needs to invest in Aboriginal education - in teacher education, professional learning and team-teaching, and excellence in languages education.
* Read more articles in this series.

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Why more schools need to teach bilingual education to Indigenous children

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In this series, we'll discuss whether progress is being made on Indigenous education, looking at various areas including policy, scholarships, school leadership, literacy and much more. Nancy Oldfield Napurrurla has taught at Yuendumu school for over 30 years. In her preschool transition class, the children attentively sing along in Warlpiri to Marlu Witalpa (Little Kangaroo).

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Three issues language proficiency can hide for students from non-English speaking backgrounds

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Three issues language proficiency can hide for students from non-English speaking backgrounds

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Universities have increasingly diverse student bodies, bringing together varying forms of social and cultural knowledge. But universities generally don't recognise diverse forms of knowledge. This is particularly so with language and cultural practices, and the way these may affect learning.

Universities require specific forms of English language knowledge in order to complete degrees. This includes advanced understandings of discipline-specific language.

And yet, narrow views of what counts as academic language - and the idea that language and literacy are neutral, transferable "skills" - create challenges for students and staff. It also perpetuates the idea that students lack the capacity to communicate. This is particularly true for culturally and linguistically diverse students if language proficiency is seen as representative of academic ability.

Read more: More international students should mean more support for communication and interaction

Language (mis)use can disguise other issues for students from non-English speaking backgrounds. In particular, learning difficulties or challenges such as dyslexia or Autism Spectrum Disorder may be masked by language ability. This presents several challenges for universities, including the extent to which students require specialised English language support, as distinct from social, emotional or mental health support.

1. Language leading to disengagement

Not participating in tutorials, presentations or group work can be seen as lack of commitment in universities and other higher education institutions. But this silence is more likely due to the anxieties caused by having to perform and articulate learning and understanding through unfamiliar and high-stakes forms of language. This includes oral presentations or participation requirements in tutorials.

For example, students' pronunciation can often cause embarrassment and inhibit participation in class. Additionally, research has found students who struggle with English also typically see themselves as inferior to their peers.

Research in primary and secondary schools indicates a narrow focus solely on language acquisition can lead to disengagement at school: for example, through reduced attendance or decreased commitment to learning. In the school setting, learning activities that don't rely on English language knowledge (such as music, arts and sport) have been shown to increase school engagement and participation at school.

In the university setting, bringing diverse cultural knowledge of theories or practical issues (for example in psychology, of cultural understandings of mental health) to learning activities may help engage culturally and linguistically diverse students. Such activities will benefit all students by offering nuanced learning activities that assist them to think outside specific cultural reference points.

2. Language impacting relationships with staff and students

Communication between non-English speaking background students and educators or other students can be interpreted as students either not knowing the "rules of the game". Or - worse - it can be interpreted as being deliberately rude.

For example, excessive formality (or informality) and the misappropriation of titles (such as "Dear Professor") or using only surnames. Students are not typically taught how to deal with the power dynamics and structures of higher education. They wouldn't know why all lecturers aren't called "professor", or why it's the norm to use titles in the first place.

Also, language is a key inhibitor to forming relationships with students from Australian-born backgrounds. Research has found these relationships are important for wellbeing. This means language plays a central role in the broader wellbeing of culturally and linguistically diverse students in higher education.

Universities could help by offering student activities (assessed or otherwise) that take into account the diversity of strengths brought by culturally and linguistically diverse students. Providing opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse students to demonstrate their own knowledge may assist them to form relationships with staff and students and increase self esteem.

3. Masking dyslexia or other learning difficulties

Errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation can be read as the student not having the "right kind" of English. But these kinds of mistakes can be the result of (potentially undiagnosed) learning difficulties like dyslexia, or underdeveloped literacy which requires specialist support.

Read more: Universities need to do more to support refugee students

Research at the primary and secondary school level suggests understanding whether language misuse or lack of engagement is related to the student's non-English background or a language disorder is complex and challenging. More work is required in this area.

What can be done to address this?

These challenges show us universities and other higher education institutions need to invest more time and money on language and cultural development for students and staff. This would be done by trying to level the playing field in communication.

More holistic educational practices that take into account varying cultural forms of knowledge or approaches to learning will benefit the entire student body by asking academic teachers to clarify the kinds of language-related assumptions that many take for granted.

For example, educators could consider any hidden causes of silence within classes, reconsider responses to students who do not fully understand communication norms (such as the use of titles), and design courses to include space for students to discuss understandings of course content from their own cultural perspective.

There is much we can learn from the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse students and their language-related challenges at university.

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Three issues language proficiency can hide for students from non-English speaking backgrounds

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Universities have increasingly diverse student bodies, bringing together varying forms of social and cultural knowledge. But universities generally don't recognise diverse forms of knowledge. This is particularly so with language and cultural practices, and the way these may affect learning. Universities require specific forms of English language knowledge in order to complete degrees.

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Explainer: what is differentiation and why is it poorly understood?

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Explainer: what is differentiation and why is it poorly understood?

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Explainer: what is differentiation and why is it poorly understood?

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Differentiation is not about about creating different lessons for every student. It’s about teachers providing a range of options for students to demonstrate their learning.

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Decrease anxiety about learning English with mobile gaming

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Decrease anxiety about learning English with mobile gaming

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It's normal to experience some anxiety when speaking a second language. When paired with large class sizes and limited opportunities for practice during class time, however, this anxiety can limit a person's ability to perform in the language classroom.

In order to become proficient in a second language, learners require extensive practice with the language such as with new vocabulary words and grammar.

The more learners practise the target language, the more fluent they become: language use becomes more automatic and natural.

In our recent study, we found that mobile gaming may reduce anxiety and encourage oral fluency in second language learners.

Shaking up how it's usually done

Due to limited class time, language teachers tend to focus more on teaching new items rather than having students practise what they have already taught. So having adequate time to practise is important, especially when it does not require the presence of a teacher. This can be accomplished via peer feedback, which has been shown to benefit language learning.

Enter a mobile game for language classrooms which allows learners to practise, and which allows for peer feedback with language: Spaceteam ESL. The game, which can be played on smartphones or other mobile devices, is a modified version of Spaceteam, created by Henry Smith of Sleeping Beast Games. Two researchers from Concordia's Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, David Waddington and Walcir Cardoso, developed the modified version in collaboration with Smith. This educational game is now free to download for Android and iOS.

In the original game, players rapidly exchange nonsensical technobabble in a process of keeping a spaceship from crashing. What matters is speaking back the nonsensical words in an accurate way. Smith worked with the researchers to modify the game vocabulary so that the back-and-forth communication would be in English to incrementally develop language skills.

In the adapted game, vocabulary is based on lists of the most frequently used words in English, presented in five levels of difficulty. Words that beginners in English tend to be familiar with and are important for fluency development are in the first levels. The last levels include words used less frequently which, consequently, are typically considered to be harder to pronounce.

Players speak and exchange timed English-language instructions in a way that other players can understand. Players must read instructions that appear on their own screens and communicate them aloud while simultaneously listening for instructions from teammates.

If players don't complete an instruction because, for example, a teammate did not pronounce a word clearly, their spaceship will start to crash!

These communication breakdowns serve to provide peer feedback to players. A player can ask the speaker to repeat the word or someone can offer the correct pronunciation. There is only a limited amount of time to complete each command, so players need to act fast and work as a team to be successful.

The game is also designed to remove some of the pressure from second language speaking: because players need to focus on completing the task and evading asteroids, they may not necessarily fixate on speaking-related anxiety.

Our study

We conducted a study with two English as a second language classes in a CEGEP in Québec. One group played the game as a warm-up activity at the beginning of class while the other class completed paper-based activities that also encouraged students to complete tasks within time constraints.

Activities in both classes were completed in small groups of two to four students, and all required the students to speak using familiar vocabulary.

To measure the development of oral fluency, all students were recorded speaking about their summer vacation at the beginning and end of the study, and once again one week after the study was completed. These recordings were measured for syllables produced per minute, and were also rated by language teachers on oral fluency, as well as speech rate and length and frequency of pauses, which are also indicators of oral fluency.

At the end of the study, seven students from the class that played the game also participated in interviews to share their experiences.

Increased fluency, lowered anxiety

Our results suggest that learners who played Spaceteam ESL were rated higher for oral fluency by teachers than the students who did not play the game.

There was not a significant difference between the groups for speech rate or pauses and syllables produced per minute, or, in other words, the measures for improvement for speed of speech. But students who played the game did show more consistent improvement than those who did not play the game.

Based on a qualitative analysis of the interviews, students reported that they felt less anxious when speaking during the game. Some students said they actually felt more comfortable playing the game than when engaging in other speaking tasks in the classroom.

One student even said he was able to practise speaking significantly more in 15 minutes of playing the game than in a three-hour class because he felt less anxious and had more opportunities to speak.

However, while students were more willing and motivated to communicate while playing the game, the activity did not necessarily make students more motivated to speak in class afterwards.

Whether used inside the classroom or at home, Spaceteam ESL offers students a new and exciting way to practise language while taking away the pressures of typical face-to-face communication.

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Decrease anxiety about learning English with mobile gaming

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It's normal to experience some anxiety when speaking a second language. When paired with large class sizes and limited opportunities for practice during class time, however, this anxiety can limit a person's ability to perform in the language classroom.

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It’s time to change the way we teach English

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It’s time to change the way we teach English

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As we move into 2019, the United Nations' International Year of Indigenous Languages, it's time to consider not only how we think about Canada's linguistic identity but also how we might develop best practices for learning and teaching languages.

Since 1969, Canada has recognized two official languages, English and French, but many people who live in the country are in fact multilingual. There are approximately 60 Indigenous languages and 140 immigrant languages in Canada besides English and French.

For example, in my own case I use five languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English and a little Italian and French. I was born in Brazil in a family with Italian and Spanish heritage, and learned Portuguese, the country's official language, at school. Later, I learned English, followed by French after I moved to Montréal. In Canada, stories like mine are more common than we think.

To teach English in a way that acknowledges multiple languages in Canada, we need an approach that values and advances students' existing language and cultural identities.

Plurilingual instruction is an approach that doesn't discourage or shy away from using the learner's primary language(s) when the new language is introduced. Plurilingual approaches seek to move beyond monolingual approaches, focused on the target language only.

A plurilingual approach can be taken to teach any new language. But in particular, my research has led me to focus on how plurilingual approaches to teaching English could change students' experiences of language learning.

English is often a second or third language

In Canada, 7.7 million residents speak a non-official language as a mother tongue, an increase of 13.3 per cent between 2011 to 2016, and the number of people speaking more than one language at home is on the rise.

Using more than one language is not uncommon in Canada, particularly in metropolitan areas such as Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver where switching and mixing languages for different purposes is part of everyday life.

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Canada is multicultural in addition to being multilingual. Cultural diversity is not only represented by immigrant cultures but also by diversity within Indigenous, anglophone and francophone groups. After all, these groups are both linguistically and culturally diverse in the sense that not everyone who speaks the same language and is part of the same cultural background speaks or behaves the same way.

While Canada recognizes English and French as official languages, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has called for the revitalization, promotion and preservation of the country's Indigenous languages. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act also mandates that we "preserve and enhance the use of languages other than English and French, while strengthening the status and use of the official languages of Canada."

But the way English language programs have presented teaching English to students doesn't acknowledge the diversity of multiple linguistic backgrounds. The category "English as a second language" - so common now it is frequently shorthanded to ESL - ignores the fact that many students find themselves in my situation: they are, in fact, studying English as a third, fourth or fifth language.

Further, ESL programs often undervalue the use of more than one language to access information, communicate and use cultural knowledge in interactions with people from diverse backgrounds.

Benefits to students

In plurilingual language instruction, teachers focus on developing what linguists call a linguistic repertoire rather than the mastery of one language only.

Plurilingual instruction values the use of languages, dialects (or varieties of language) as well as cultural knowledge that students have developed throughout their lives; they build on this knowledge to further develop proficiency in the new target language.

For example, students learn strategies such as translanguaging: when learning words in the target languages, they reflect on similarities and differences in other languages.

And, as the language learner's confidence grows with switching between languages, this also develops the person's ability and confidence to make language choices and manage language risks in socially and linguistically diverse social settings.

Thus, researchers believe that embedded with plurilingual competence is also pluricultural competence: learners experience greater comfort with, and enjoyment in, the fluid linguistic and cultural demands and opportunities of communicating in diverse societies.

While plurilingual instruction is relatively new in Canada, many countries including Uganda, Spain and Mexico have introduced plurilingual instruction and reported benefits of linking linguistic and cultural diversity in language education.

Studies based in Canada alone suggest that when teachers use a plurilingual approach language students gain opportunities to personally identify with multiple languages and value multiple strategies for language learning. Students also become confident and skilled in using different languages or a language mix depending on their location.

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In my most recent study, I examined plurilingual instruction in comparison to regular instruction that emphasized one language only (monolingual) in a university English language program in Toronto.

I recruited seven teachers who taught the same program to 129 students but used different approaches.

After four months, students who received plurilingual instruction reported it was beneficial for the development of cognition, linguistic and cultural empathy, relatability, critical thinking and willingness to learn more languages, among other benefits.

All of the teachers in my study showed preference for plurilingual instruction and reported that it challenges cultural stereotypes and encourages students to be active, engaged learners who are empowered and confident with their own language use.

While more research is needed to confirm these results, future research could also be done in classrooms where French is taught as the official language, or where any languages are taught to help our understanding of benefits of plurilingual instruction.

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It's time to change the way we teach English

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As we move into 2019, the United Nations' International Year of Indigenous Languages, it's time to consider not only how we think about Canada's linguistic identity but also how we might develop best practices for learning and teaching languages.

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5 ways immigrant parents support children’s home language learning

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5 ways immigrant parents support children’s home language learning

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It is important to preserve and develop a child's home language for their cultural, linguistic and social development. Research shows that English plays a dominant role in schools and society at large, while children's diverse home languages are often marginalized. Languages other than English are often not welcomed or encouraged in classrooms.

Marginalizing languages beyond English in school has negative effects on children and classroom cultures by creating environments that suggest the daily language practices of children whose families speak languages other than English aren't "good enough." Unsurprisingly, if children feel unwelcome or disrespected in the classroom, this can adversely affect their learning engagement and academic achievement.

This includes immigrant children - children who were born elsewhere and immigrated with their families, or those who are born in Canada and are being raised by immigrant parents who are establishing new lives in a new country. In families that are seeking to retain a link with their heritage language, the burden of preserving this falls almost exclusively on parents.

Immigrant parents bring knowledge

However, schools rarely consider immigrant parents as capable knowledge holders. Immigrant parents and their knowledge are typically seen as having deficits. As education researcher Yan Guo notes, North American models of parent involvement tend to focus on experiences "relevant to parents of Anglo-Celtic descent than to those from non-English-speaking backgrounds," as well as assuming "middle-class rather than working-class values and concerns."

Through autobiographical narrative inquiry research, I explored the informal teaching and learning practices as an immigrant parent with my children in the home context.

My research highlighted something that other researchers have also documented: immigrant parents bring a lot of linguistic, cultural and social knowledge to their children's home language education. Here are some of the ways they pass their knowledge of their home language along.
1. Using home language in daily conversations
Immigrant children's home literacy-learning environments are characterized by conversations in their home language. Daily oral input is staggeringly important to a child's language development. When parents engage in daily routines with their children, such as getting dressed, taking baths, eating meals, playing games, taking walks and so on, they elaborate, explain and encourage detailed conversations.

The use of home language becomes especially important after children begin formal schooling and master the English language. Parents who build a home-language-rich environment tend to foster in their children a more positive attitude toward and higher levels of proficiency in that language.
2. Engaging in inter-generational communication
In some Chinese immigrant families, grandparents continue the tradition of providing care to grandchildren. Inter-generational communication plays an important role in the development of immigrant children's home languages. Everyday communication between generations promote a commitment to speak the child's heritage language at home.

Children from multilingual homes are often acutely aware, for example, that their grandmother speaks another language, so they pay attention to whom they are talking to, and switch languages in different scenarios.

A second way grandparents pass on language and culture is by cooking and sharing food with their grandchildren. In such family activities, the two generations converse about making and enjoying authentic cultural cuisines together.
3. Reading picture books in intimate and creative ways
Research has confirmed that storybook exposure promotes language acquisition.

Many immigrant parents make picture book reading a part of their language practice because picture books have fascinating topics, short, simple text and visual images that help children communicate ideas.

Read more: Global Storybooks: From Arabic to Zulu, freely available digital tales in 50+ languages

Rather than a "learning activity," shared reading at home is a fun family time during which everyone cuddles close and shares a book with lively pictures and vibrant colours in their home language.

My research demonstrated that children's initiative, imagination and creativity makes picture book reading a rich experience. When parents and children together creatively respond to stories through creative media or performance, the transformative power of drawing, painting, crafting, music, dance and performance is not only a way to understand the stories more deeply, but also a way to create spaces to travel freely across the interwoven language worlds.

It is common in bilingual and multilingual households for children to use two or more languages spontaneously and pragmatically. Such exchange and use of languages is beneficial for both heritage and dominant language development.
4. Developing language skills through real-life stories
Real-life stories are the most beloved type of storytelling, given the very personal and particular nature of the home landscape. Enacting real-life stories, such as about the day they were born, helps children develop advanced use of their home language, and makes them feel closer to their parents. These are the times when immigrant children learn how to listen to, participate in and understand when, where and how to express themselves in their home language.

In addition, the gradual introduction of more complex vocabulary and expressions supports the development of home language. Sharing past experiences and telling real-life stories also help develop children's social capital - children's sense of belonging to certain social and cultural networks, as well as their access to resources in these groups.

When children engage in real-life storytelling and story-acting, they benefit intellectually, socially, emotionally and linguistically. When children tell and act out true stories, in addition to developing memory and social skills, they draw on their bodies and manipulate objects in ways that support a foundation for language development.
5. Nurturing passion for early writing
As young as age two, children begin imitating the act of writing by making sketches and symbolic marks that reflect their ideas and thoughts. In immigrant families, early writing includes sketches and symbols in English and in their home language.

In many cases, children learn to read and write through play. Playful introduction to early writing at home helps young children open the door to their home language and the wonder of print. Immigrant parents engage their children in emergent writing at home to introduce the knowledge of sound/symbol connections, the conventions of print, and accessing and conveying meaning through print in their home language system (which might be very different from the dominant language).

Early writing in their home language also helps children construct meaning by making relevant cultural and linguistic connections between print in their home language and their own lived experiences.

Many immigrant parents extend and expand their children's home language practices on a daily basis, through moments of intimate teaching, learning and playing. When schools acknowledge, honour and learn from immigrant parents' knowledge, they support more opportunities to enhance young children's linguistic, cultural and social experiences both at school and elsewhere.

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5 ways immigrant parents support children's home language learning

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It is important to preserve and develop a child's home language for their cultural, linguistic and social development. Research shows that English plays a dominant role in schools and society at large, while children's diverse home languages are often marginalized.

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https://www.refugeeweek.org.au/refugee-week-resources/

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We have created a resource kit with all the information you need to educate yourself on the importance of Refugee Week and learn more about how to get involved. RCOA Resource Kit Refugee Week 2021Download

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Told with humor and heart, ‘THE BOY AT THE BACK OF THE CLASS’ offers a child’s perspective on the refugee crisis, highlighting the import...

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Immigration Museum education programs and resources for students level K-12, school visit information, teacher resources, outreach programs and teacher professional learning opportunities.

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The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check is a short assessment that tells teachers how students are progressing in phonics

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The Phonics Check is a quick and easy way for teachers to gauge the phonics knowledge of Year 1 students.

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Engaging videos about Earth, Habitats, Space, Chemical Reactions, and Engineering.

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Welcome to Crash Course Kids! This bi-weekly show from the producers of Crash Course is all about gradeschool science. We’ll look at Earth, Habitats, Space, Chemical Reactions, Engineering, and much much more with host Sabrina Cruz. So, join us every Tuesday and Thursday for new uploads. This series is beginning with 5th grade science, so we’ll be delving into Earth Science, Physical Science, Biology, Geography, Engineering, and Astronomy. Have a look at our playlists on each subject!

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Learn, sing and play with their favourite Netflix characters - from StoryBots to Super Monsters and everyone in between.

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Storyline Online features celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations, helping to inspire a love of reading in children.

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sag-aftra foundation "screen actors guild" storyline "storyline online" sag children's literacy stories story celebrity celebrities famous actors reading boo...

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's award-winning and Daytime Emmy-nominated children's literacy website, Storyline Online, streams imaginatively produced videos feat...

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"learn english" kids "british council" free online "learning resources" children games songs stories

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LearnEnglish Kids is the British Council's website for children around the world who are learning English as a second or foreign language.

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https://esllibrary.com/courses

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Watch and learn! Find original and recommended videos for teachers and students from the ESL Library team. We have grammar videos, phonics stories, original holiday stories, how-to videos about our site, and a lot more!

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Traditional stories translated into French, Spanish, Italian and German. Can be read in English. Storybook format with the option of voiceover and video accompaniment.

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The Fable Cottage: Bilingual stories for language learners

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Fairy tales and fables in Spanish, French, Italian, German and English. Lovingly crafted stories especially for children and adults learning a second language. Great for classroom and home study.

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Group games & activities including ice-breakers, energisers, trust exercises & team building activities

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Join 10,000 educators worldwide who rely on playmeo's vast collection of activity ideas to inspire fun, connection & learning.

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250+ activity videos will offer you a profound learning experience unmatched by any other source. Observing real groups playing the games will give you valuable insights into the activity's dynamics & the best ways to lead them.

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Search 530+ Fun Interactive Group Games | playmeo

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Search 530+ fun, interactive group games on our website. Designed to build trust & connection. Become a member to unlock premium content...

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Robinvale College, Swan Hill Rural City Council, YMCA, Robinvale District Health Services, Department of Education, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

I had no idea what to do with baby to get him to sleep before midnight until the girls showed me and told me how to try and change his feeding and when to settle. PARENT, BABY COLLEGE

The Early Years Online Hub provides a collection of information under one roof for families seeking information about all Early Years services available within the Swan Hill Local Government Area. This online resource provides access to a range of essential services for children, young people, new parents, soon-to-be new parents, families, and individuals. It also includes new parent resources, program listings, lists of events, community spaces, and all other relevant information for parents or soon-to-be parents and carers.
https://earlyyearsonlinehub.org.au/

Site Priorities

1. Children in the Robinvale community grow up healthy and happy.

Support parents and carers to help their children learn at home.

Partner with health services to support children's health and development.

Make it easier for families to regularly attend early learning services.

Work with early learning services to improve the quality of services for the Robinvale community.

2. Students are engaged and connected to school.

Support Robinvale College to create a sense of pride within the College.

Partner with local organisations and volunteers to deliver activities that children and parents are interested in.

Encourage students to have hopes and dreams for future learning.

Support youth to build their knowledge of and access local employment pathways.

3. Families are supported and connected to the school.

Create opportunities for families to connect at the College and feel welcome at Robinvale College.

Work with service providers and families to build parents and carers understanding of the importance of engagement in their children's learning.

4. Families are happy, healthy and well.

Make it easier for families to access the services they need locally.

Facilitate services working together to better support families.

5. Improving adult learning opportunities.

Partner with organisations to deliver adult English classes locally.

ROBINVALE Stories

Our Place's Glenn and Tony have worked alongside partners on an industry tour to create awareness of employment opportunities and a bus initiative tha...

The Robinvale Community Brass Band recently performed at "The Beat", an annual State Schools showcase featuring the best musical, dance, and drama tal...

The Early Years Online Hub was recently launched in Robinvale with community members, local services, and practitioners in attendance. What is the Ear...

Download the resource: The Robinvale Journey.

Download the resource: Connecting the Robinvale Community.

Events at Robinvale

Every Wednesday
10:00 am - 3:30 pm

Every Tuesday during school terms
9:30 am - 11:00 am

Every Monday during school terms
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

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Robinvale College, Swan Hill Rural City Council, YMCA, Robinvale District Health Services, Department of Education, Department of Families, Fairness and

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https://www.edutopia.org/topic/english-language-learners

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Resources for Teaching English-Language Learners

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From literacy instruction to arts and technology integration, explore strategies for engaging English-language learners.

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ESL Games Plus offers interactive online games for learning and teaching English as a Second Language.

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Leveraging Games for Enhanced K-12 Primary Education in ESL, Math, and Science

In a world where screens have become ubiquitous, leveraging technology for educational purposes has never been more relevant. Enter the realm of online gaming-not just any gaming, but educational games designed for K-12 primary students. In this expansive guide, we will delve into the multifaceted benefits of using online games to enhance English as a Second Language (ESL), Math, and Science education. Get ready to play ESL games online, dabble in math adventures, and explore the fascinating universe of science games that are cool.

Play ESL Games Online: Transforming Language Learning

Games for ESL: More Than Just Fun and Games

When it comes to learning English as a second language, play becomes a powerful tool. Online games offer a unique blend of fun and educational content designed to help ESL learners grasp new concepts, from vocabulary to sentence structure, and even cultural nuances. Playing ESL games online creates a less intimidating environment for learners, allowing them to absorb language elements more naturally.

Building Blocks of Language: Vocabulary and Grammar

The most basic, yet crucial aspects of language learning, are vocabulary and grammar. ESL games often include exercises to match words with pictures, spell words correctly, and form sentences. This playful approach facilitates easier understanding and retention of language fundamentals.

Find Cool Games for Math: Making Numbers Fun

Why Play Math Games Online?

The conventional way of learning math-through rote memorization and repetition-often leaves students bored and unengaged. When you play math games online, you bring an element of fun into the equation, literally. Math games convert abstract concepts into tangible problems that require critical thinking. This makes it easier for young minds to grasp these concepts while having fun.

Math Gaming Categories

Whether it's solving puzzles, going on treasure hunts, or participating in virtual math competitions, online platforms offer a wide range of math games. You can find cool games for math that range from simple addition and subtraction to complex algebraic equations.

Play Science Games Online: Discover, Learn, Innovate

Science Games That Are Cool

How can you make science, often seen as a complex and challenging subject, enjoyable for primary students? The answer lies in integrating games into the educational process. When students play science games online, they experience hands-on learning that fosters curiosity and deepens understanding.

A Universe of Topics

The realm of science is broad, encompassing biology, physics, chemistry, earth sciences, and more. Online platforms often offer games for science that cover these various subjects, each designed to address specific educational standards and outcomes.

Primary Games for Holistic Learning
What Makes Primary Games Different?
When we talk about primary games, we refer to games explicitly designed for younger learners in the K-12 spectrum. These games are simplified yet engaging, covering the core subjects of ESL, Math, and Science. They are crafted to be age-appropriate, ensuring that students not only learn but also enjoy the process.
Primary the Games: Customization and Curriculum
The beauty of primary games lies in their customization options. Teachers and educators can tailor these games to align with the curriculum, making them an excellent supplemental learning tool.
FAQs: Why Are Games Important in Primary Education?
Q1: What is the significance of using games in primary education?
A: Games turn learning into an engaging and interactive experience. They help in improving focus, enhancing retention, and building problem-solving skills, all of which are crucial in primary education.

Q2: How can games be beneficial for ESL learners?
A: Games can offer a stress-free environment where ESL learners can practice language skills without the fear of making mistakes. They also facilitate better retention of vocabulary and grammar rules.

Q3: Are online math games effective for learning?
A: Absolutely! Online math games transform abstract concepts into interactive challenges, making it easier for students to understand and apply them.

Q4: Do science games offer practical knowledge?
A: Yes, many science games simulate real-world scenarios, encouraging students to apply scientific principles and learn through experimentation.

Q5: How do primary games align with traditional education?
A: Many primary games are designed to correlate with standard educational curriculums, making them an excellent supplement to traditional classroom teaching.

In conclusion, the digital age offers an abundance of opportunities to make learning a more engaging and enjoyable process. Whether it's ESL, Math, or Science, there's an online game tailored to make mastering each subject a thrilling adventure. So go ahead, enrich your primary educational journey with an array of games that not only educate but also entertain.

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Games for Learning English, Vocabulary, Grammar Games, Activities, ESL

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ESL Games Plus offers interactive online games for learning and teaching English as a Second Language. Our learning games are mostly suitable for teaching ESL Kids and Teenagers. There are activities for teaching and practising English grammar, vocabulary, sentences, listening and pronunciation skills.

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The programme seeks to improve the educational outcomes of children in the UK who use English as an Additional Language in order to benefit the individual child and society as a whole.

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Blog: EAL Children and the Early Years Sector - The Best Start?

In this blog, Professor Claudine Bowyer-Crane and Dr Silke Fricke look at the achievement gap for EAL pupils in early years, exploring the reality behind the misleading data and what this means for policy.

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The Bell Foundation - Changing lives and overcoming exclusion through language education

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The Bell Foundation is a charity which aims to overcome exclusion through language education by working with partners on innovation, research, training and practical interventions.

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The TEAL project is an online resource for teachers of primary and secondary level students who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Australia. It brings together a range of tools and advice for the assessment and reporting of the English language proficiency and progress of students within an ‘assessment for learning’ framework.

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Welcome to Tools to Enhance Assessment Literacy

The TEAL project, launched in 2015, is an online resource for teachers of primary and secondary level students who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Australia. It brings together a range of tools and advice for the assessment and reporting of the English language proficiency and progress of students within an 'assessment for learning' framework.

Check out the fantastic new units of work in the Annotated units of work section: Indigenous Superstars, Matilda text study, Minibeasts and Plants and Gardens.

For more information on the TEAL project, please follow the links below:

If you are using Internet Explorer and see error messages when trying to view videos on the TEAL site, please switch to Google Chrome or another web browser.

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Tools to Enhance Assessment Literacy | For Teachers of English as an Additional Language

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Welcome to Tools to Enhance Assessment Literacy The TEAL project, launched in 2015, is an online resource for teachers of primary and secondary level students who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Australia.

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PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. The simulations can be run online or downloaded to your computer. This website has been written so that it can be translated into other languages.

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Over 1.1 billion simulations delivered

160interactive simulations

97language translations

3001teacher-submitted lessons

Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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Binogi is a multilingual, digital learning platform for students in grades 6-9. Students are able to study math and science in a language of their choosing. Audio tracks and subtitles are easily switched between languages.

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Our short, animated video lessons help make any subject interesting. Testing your knowledge is easy with our interactive quizzes. Sign up for your account today.

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2lingual makes it easy to Google Search in 2 languages.

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Bilingual Google Search. Get Google Search Results alongside Google Cross Language Search Results. In addition, a Query Translation Option can be activated or deactivated for Google Cross Language Searches. 2lingual makes it easy to Google Search in 2 languages.

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Makes music fun and accessible with many different programs. I would suggest students wear their headphones with this program.

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How were these built?

All our experiments are all built with freely accessible web technology such as Web Audio API, WebMIDI, Tone.js, and more. These tools make it easier for coders to build new interactive music experiences. You can get the open-source code to lots of these experiments here on Github.

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Music is for everyone. Play with simple experiments that let anyone, of any age, explore how music works.

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The Displaced Refugee: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives

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The Displaced Refugee: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives

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In January 2017, Donald Trump signed an executive order stopping entry to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries and...

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AutoDraw’s suggestion tool guesses what you’re trying to draw and gives you refined artist images to choose from

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Fast drawing for everyone. AutoDraw pairs machine learning with drawings from talented artists to help you draw stuff fast.

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This site is fantastic for all ages. It has literacy and numeracy games, puzzles, quizzes, lesson plans etc.

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Written by teachers, designed for your students

Written by teachers, designed for your students

Discover the hidden word before it's too late

Reveal the picture by finding the word

The following is a list of some of the lesson plans which teachers have recently added to the site.

Mathematicians are Lazy, War Card Game - Modified for Subtraction Practice, An Equation is not a Process, The Death of Santa Claus, Guitar-Pick Friction Lab, Fun Christmas Math Problems, Students Inventing Theorems, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Physics, Assumptions about Diagrams, Elephant Gun Launch, Restructuring Definitions for Proofs, Planet Memory Foam, A Competitive Word Problem, Finding the Fun in Physics, Some, All, None and Logic, Rewriting the Substitution Property, Ten Million Problems, Squaring Binomials, Trigonometry Unit, Fractions - Making Simplification Simple, Nicknames for Factoring Rules, Derivatives of Products and Quotients, Proving the Quadratic Formula, Equation Based Factor Trees, Pineland - Friday on the Farm

The following is a list of some of the problems and puzzles which teachers have recently added to the site.

Taxing Situation, Quadratic Triangle, Square of a Sum, Three Digit Number, Coffee Math, The Good Ole Days, Donut Division, Consecutive Sum, Angles in a Triangle, The Great Pumpkin, Arrival Time, One for the Ages, Guitar Pickin', Fruit Basket, Four Unknowns, Three Equations, Waiting for Christmas, Spiders and ants, All the Letters, Picking Apples, Complementary and Supplementary, Two Boxes, Coin Muddle, Borders, Triangular Numbers, Birds of a Feather

These are some of the recent blog posts from Professor Puzzler

These are some of the recent blog posts from the Book Scrounger's blog

Lesson plans designed by teachers

The administrator of this site (AKA Professor Puzzler) is also a ventriloquist? You can see some of his work on youtube: Ventriloquist, teacher, song writer. Doug is also a math tutor and a music instructor.

Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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The Problem Site - Educational Games and Resources

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Problem Solving and Educational Games - solve problems, brainteasers and puzzles, and play educational games at The Problem Site

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Students enjoy this program and it helps with learning how to touch type. It has step by step lessons and levels.

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Learn touch typing online using TypingClub's free typing courses. It includes 650 typing games, typing tests and videos.

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Another good program. Suitable for Years 3-8

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Get Minecraft Education for your classroom. Find out how using this game will take your students' learning to the next level.

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Fantastic resource students are familiar with already. Introduces coding and creating animations with lights, sounds and movements.

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Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

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Great resource introducing simple programming block coding. Has numeracy aspects and includes movie makers.

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Games for tomorrow’s programmers. Block-based programming lessons for beginners.

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Khan Academy offers free practice exercises and instructional videos. Resources in math, science, computing, history, art history, economics, and more are/have been translated into 37 languages.

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