Welcome to the Term 4 NZALT newsletter, part of the Ministry of Education’s funding package under the Networks of Expertise.
No doubt term 4 is very busy with seniors having left for external examinations and junior examinations and possibly some alternative programmes underway. We wish your students and you every success and hope that the External Achievement Standard workshops held by Annabelle Sinclair over the past two terms have provided you and your students with excellent revision ideas and techniques.
You may have noticed the format of our newsletter has changed along with our website design. We are excited about these changes and are bringing these online as we are fine-tuning our information and systems. Currently, the membership login on our website is disabled but once we have added the finishing touches to this section, this will again be made available to members.
Thank you for the positive feedback which we have had about the newsletter. If you are aware of language teachers who are not receiving this newsletter, please email coordinator@nzalt.org.nz
Focus of this newsletter:
- Networks of Expertise funding for Learning Languages 2017-2018: NZALT Awards – Exploring Effective Practice; Inquiry Clusters; Use of funding - Best Practice workshops; External Achievement Standard workshops
- 2019 NZALT change to subscriptions
- Looking forward to further funding in 2019-2020
- NZALT Study Awards 2018-2019
- NCEA Certificates of Excellence deadline 1 March, 2019
Networks of Expertise funding
This funding is enabling NZALT to support all learning languages teachers, including te reo Māori, Pasifika and NZSL. This support provides a newsletter every term and support for teachers to attend PLD and inquiry clusters.
To date, we have awarded Exploring Effective practice awards to seventeen teachers. Teachers are able to apply for these awards again next year. They provide secondary teachers and primary teachers with $1,000 to explore effective teaching practice, for example, by visiting other schools with successful language learning programmes. Further information about the criteria for applications is on the Exploring Effective Practice Awards Application form. The deadline for term 1 applications will be advertised in our first newsletter of 2019.
Inquiry Clusters
The NZALT Inquiry Clusters have run in Christchurch, South Canterbury, Nelson and the Hutt Valley this year. We have had new teachers joining these clusters in term 3 so that they can start preparing their inquiries for 2019. If you wish to attend the final cluster meetings, please email coordinator@nzalt.org.nz.
Teachers have the opportunity to work with other language teachers around their specific inquiry. Funding is available for travel and relief costs where necessary. The dates for the next cluster meetings are as follows:
- Christchurch: 15.30, Wed 21 Nov, St Andrew’s College
- Nelson: Tues 27 Nov, UC Education Plus office, Collingwood Street, Nelson
- South Canterbury: 14.30, Wed 28 Nov, Opihi College
The Inquiry Clusters will continue to operate in 2019. If you are interested in joining one of these clusters or would like a new cluster to be set up in your area, please contact Jeni Lemberg.
External Achievement Standard Workshops
NZALT will be providing a final online Zoom workshop this term around preparing for the external assessments in the Learning Languages area, both the listening and reading external assessments, as well as the scholarship examination.
Annabelle Sinclair, President of NZALT and HOD Languages at Wellington Girls’ College, will present the workshop.
The online Zoom workshop will be held after school on Wednesday 5 December. If you have already registered, you will be contacted, if you wish to still register for this online workshop please sign up HERE.
The workshops are being funded through the MOE Networks of Expertise contract, and so there is no charge for attending them.
2019 Membership Subscriptions
The Executive would like to introduce a single membership fee for 2019, and do away with the current system that is complex, unwieldy, and means that large schools are effectively subsidised by smaller schools and individuals. We discussed this at the AGM in Auckland in July and the idea received unanimous support. We initially suggested setting the fee at $40 per annum, but a number of members suggested we raise this to $50, and after reviewing the figures, we have decided that $50 (GST inclusive) is more appropriate. Membership would would continue to be free for tertiary students and first-year teachers.
The current full-time teacher rate ($95 + GST) is set by the terms of the constitution, which can only be changed at a General Meeting. We are therefore calling a Special General Meeting (see details below), at which members will be able to discuss and vote on the proposed changes. In addition to the change regarding subscriptions, we are also proposing amendments that clarify the situation around online attendance at SGMs and AGMs.
Please read this document for details of the proposed changes: Notice of Proposed Changes to NZALT Constitution
NOTICE of Special General Meeting
Thursday 21 February 2019
Wellington Girls' College
4.30pm
If you wish to attend via Zoom (online meeting platform) please register HERE.
NZALT Regional Officers
The following regional officers were appointed or re-appointed at the July NZALT Executive meeting: Florent Pieri (Auckland); Annabel Rowlands (Waikato); Annabelle Sinclair (Victoria); Anne Robertson (Canterbury/Nelson); and Christine Williams (Otago). Susan Johnson will be the local contact for Canterbury teachers and she and Anne Robertson will liaise to ensure that all language teachers are kept informed of regional and national events.
Contact Details
NZALT President
Regional Officers
NZALT Networks of Expertise funding: 2019 - 2020
NZALT has just learned that we have been successful in our application for further funding in 2019 - 2020. The details are still being finalized at this stage, but we would love to hear from you about how NZALT can support your practice as a language teacher in the classroom.
One of the initiatives which NZALT was able to fund this year was supporting regional teachers to organise their own Best Practice workshop.
The success of this is indicated in the following comment from the teacher who organised the day:
"We had our Best Practice workshop for the Hawkes Bay teachers last week with 13 attendees, which is the largest meeting of language teachers we’ve had in the area in the last 4 years. It was a fabulous day... there were so many questions from teachers and a really energetic vibe all through the day. There was a good mix of information-giving, group discussion, shared consensus about the profile of an excellence student and clarification around both curriculum and assessment issues. People new to the region formed moderation partnerships and several stayed behind afterwards to take the opportunity to moderate together. So all in all it was a very fruitful day.
We would like to thank NZALT for making it possible for so many of us to attend the day. I think it was really important that the local teachers all got the opportunity to really discuss these issues in detail and to come away with shared understandings, as we are all involved in moderating each other’s work."
Specific details about professional learning and development opportunities which will be offered in 2019 will be advertised early in the new year. The Inquiry Clusters will continue to run, so if you are interested in participating in a cluster in your area, please contact Jeni Lemberg at coordinator@nzalt.org.nz
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