Tips for New Language Teachers
Are you a newly graduated teacher ready to embark on your language teaching journey?
Or have you come from another profession and moved into teaching languages?
Are you feeling overwhelmed, over your head and not sure where to go next?
The tips below can give you some guidance:
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You should never be working alone. Your school should have a structure in place as support. Reach out to the HOLA (Head of Languages) in your school or your line manager for regular briefings and support catch ups.
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Get to know the WA Curriculum documents for your language (French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian and German). Languages not covered by the WAC come under the Australian Curriculum and can be found here.
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Sign up to the SCSA extranet which is where you will find sample assessment tasks, work samples and the very valuable yearly outlines for each language (Year 3-7 at present).
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Sign up to the SCSA circulars to keep up to date with new information.
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If you have not studied a Languages Curriculum unit during your university training, consider signing up to the AISWA Many Languages Methodology Course. This is a professional learning course for teachers wishing to develop knowledge and skills in Languages Curriculum. You will develop theoretical insights, gain practical language teaching ideas and opportunities to network with other language teachers.
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Contact your local single language association and join up. Many of the associations run regular PDs relevant to the language you are teaching. There are single language associations for Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Greek, Spanish and EAL/D.
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Join the Modern Language Teachers Association of WA (MLTAWA). By becoming a member, you can nominate to join a single language association and you will automatically become a member of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association (AFMLTA). Some schools cover the cost of membership of professional associations within the learning area budgets.
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Join national professional learning networks (PLNs) for free. On Facebook there are groups for Auslan, Japanese, Indonesian, Italian, French, German and Chinese.
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Contact your local language & cultural centre or consulate and ask what services they provide for schools.
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Contact Clare, AISWA Language Consultant for more advice and support at cslyth@ais.wa.edu.au
