April 2021

23rd AFMLTA International Languages Conference

Date: 5 - 6 July, 10am - 4.30pm AEST to be held online via zoom

Register now to access Early Bird rates for the 23rd AFMLTA International Languages Conference.

This event will see international and local speakers present on topics relevant to teachers of languages at all levels.

Keynote speakers:

Janice Aubry - Former President of the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers, Director of the Institute for Innovation in Second Language Education and the Director of Curriculum at Edmonton Public Schools, Canada

David de Carvalho - Chief Executive Officer, ACARA

Professor Anne-Marie Morgan - James Cook University

Professor Martin Westwell - Chief Executive, SACE Board

Keith Horwood Memorial Lecture: 
Professor Ken Cruickshank - University of Sydney 

Call for papers

Teachers, researchers and academics are invited to submit an abstract for a 30 minute presentation (including question time) related to one of the conference themes. Proposals for presentations that are related to theory, research and practice in the area of Languages teaching and learning are welcome. Languages include all languages other than English learned as a second or additional language, or as a heritage language, in schools or in community language settings.

The Conference themes include:

• Leadership in languages education
• Languages in preschool and the early years of schooling
• Intensive languages education (including CLIL, Bilingual education)
• Teaching and learning of Indigenous Languages
• Teacher education for language education
• Responding to diversity in the classroom
• Heritage/background/community language education
• Programming, planning and assessing language learning
• Application of digital/mobile technologies in languages education
• Virtual/online learning
• Innovation in teaching and learning languages

Please note, to submit a presentation proposal, you will be asked to set up an account.

• Submit your name, contact and bio details in the Author section.
• Submit your session title and abstract (max 300 words).
• You do not need to upload your paper

Conference program

The draft conference program will be available here soon.

Conference partners

Please contact us if you would like to be a sponsor of our 23rd AFMLTA International Language Conference.

AFMLTA National Plan and Strategy - Teacher Survey 3 open

ALL TEACHERS OF LANGUAGES ACROSS AUSTRALIA ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS BRIEF ONLINE SURVEY

What teaching and learning resources do you use/need in your Languages program? Participate in this survey to inform an understanding of the resources used and needed to provide quality Languages education opportunities for Australian students. This includes the teaching of Additional Languages, Community Languages and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. This survey is part of the AFMLTA project being conducted for the Australian Government.

AFMLTA Awards Open

NOMINATIONS FOR AWARDS CLOSE 9 MAY 2021

The AFMLTA is committed to recognising and encouraging outstanding contributions to the field of Languages education and so encourages state and territory Language Teachers’ Associations to nominate members for the following awards:

• AFMLTA Medal for outstanding service to language teaching
• AFMLTA Certificate of Merit.

Please read the criteria for each of the awards carefully before making a submission. We also recommend a review of the previous award recipients listed on our website.

AFMLTA Promotional video

PROMOTIONAL VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE!

AFMLTA has produced a video to promote the work of the federation and share the strategic directions that form the work of the Executive Committee.

Representation

Elected officers continue to maintain a high profile for the AFMLTA as the peak national body for languages educators in Australia and engage in collaborative partnerships.

NSW Curriculum review

AFMLTA’s representation and initiative has resulted in this recommendation for compulsory primary languages curriculum provision in NSW:

Recommendation 20 That the NSW Government adopt the Masters' recommendation for the study of a compulsory second language.

AFMLTA highlighted that the benefits of studying multiple languages were well documented: The learning of any language, we know, is beneficial, and even moving from one language to another language during the course of a student's education is cognitively and socially beneficial. Students with two languages perform better on NAPLAN tests. 

AFMLTA reported that the study of languages was already included as one of the key eight learning areas for Australian students and that it provided opportunities for young people to become 'global citizens' and engage with other parts of the world.

ACARA Review of the Australian Curriculum

ACARA staff have provided regular briefings to AFMLTA elected officers about developments in the review of the Australian Curriculum: Languages. AFMLTA will provide feedback on these developments and we urge all teachers to actively participate in any opportunities for feedback through your own school, state system or sector processes or MLTA/LTA. Public consultation will also open on 29 April. It is essential that the voice of as many languages teachers as possible is heard throughout this review process.

Languages and Cultures Network for Australian Universities (LCNAU)

AFMLTA has enjoyed a productive partnership with LCNAU since its founding in 2013.

AFMLTA President and LCNAU President Jean Fornasiero recently met to discuss various aspects of our collaboration, including formalising reciprocal registration arrangements for conferences.

Various MLTAs have raised concerns with AFMLTA about the reduction or closer of university language programs. This was discussed at length and LCNAU has been actively lobbying in this space. AFMLTA is committed to working with LCNAU to support this advocacy and campaigning, as appropriate.

With the impending closure of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, AFMLTA and LCNAU are working with the Centre to plan the future co-managing of the Patji-Dawes Language Teaching Award.

European Union Delegation to Australia

The Delegation is responsible for a vast array of initiatives and programmes to strength and expand cooperation between Australia and European nations. The Delegation became interested in AFMLTA after hearing about the National Project and have offered collaboration and support in promoting European languages and cultures in Australia. As specific strategies are established, these will be communicated through our website and future editions of NIB.

Conferences

Dyslexia & Language Teaching

19 April – 16 May 2021 - Online over four weeks (registration remains open until the course concludes), offered by Lancaster University in cooperation with FutureLearn.

CLIL 2021 The ADiBE Project: Addressing Diversity in Bilingual Education

19 June 2021 - free online webinar in the UK

2021 Chinese Language Teachers' Federation of Australia National Conference

1-2 October 2021 - Charles Darwin University, Darwin

Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) Spring Conference 2021

28-29 October 2021 - online conference