News

The NZALT Language Perfect World Championships 2012... 10 days to go!
11 May 2012

The World Championships have hit the media already! Be part of the action! You still have time to register for the World Championships 21 - 31 May 2012. Even if you are not subscribed to the website you can register for this event. Students compete for prizes worth over $20 000! Click the above link for further details.

It is that time of the year again for the NZALT Language Perfect World Championships to be held from 21 - 31 May 2012. Even if you are not subscribed to the website you can register for this event. Students compete for prizes with over 100 000 other students from around the world! Click the above link for further details.

Please respond to the membership survey. It will take just a few minutes and will provide useful information for the Executive to help meet your needs in 2012.

NZALT Rotorua Conference Reminder
4 April 2012

A reminder that the Early Bird Rates for Conference will only be made to those sent with tomorrow's postmark or email. Equally there is more information on accommodation located near Conference. This can be found by clicking the "Rotorua Accommodation" section located at the top of the Conference page of our website. Click here for direct access.

This year's Certificates of Excellence have been sent to Regional Officers who will forward them to teachers who have sent their requests in over the next couple of weeks.

There is a message from NZQA regarding the updating of the Level 2 resources on the TKI website. They hope to have this done by 24 March. The above link also has NZQA links for all Languages, Standards and Conditions of Assessment.

This is a reminder to all teachers who use these Certificates as part of their programme that the registrations close on Friday 4 May 2012. This year you go in the draw for a book voucher and there are downloadable posters at this link that promote the certificates. The competition dates are 7 - 9 August.

More detailled information about the Rotorua Conference is available on the website by clicking the above link. For the new draft programme please click here. If you would like to save money on registration the Early Bird Fee is available up until a month from today.

The Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) invites you to submit an abstract for the inaugural ALTAANZ Conference to be held at The University of Sydney, Australia between 8 and 10 November 2012. For more information click the above link.

To entice you even more to come to Rotorua in July, apart from the obvious holiday setting, you can now view the Draft Programme for the NZALT Rotorua Conference "V.A.L.U.E.S." for Day 1 by clicking the above link. It is on the right hand side of the page.

To fully benefit from a special NZALT rate for conference goers at the Rotorua Holiday Inn you need to scroll down and click on the links on the "Accommodation" part of the page.

International Languages Week is from Sunday 19 August to Saturday 26 August. For ideas, downloads and a wiki to advertise your events visit the above link.

If you are not on our database then you will have to fill out a New Member form which you fill in on your computer, print out and send in to receive an invoice.

If you are on our database you should have received an invoice for your NZALT membership subscription for 2012. If you did not it could be that your email has changed so check your previous email account. Otherwise contact your Regional Officer if you need another copy of your 2012 invoice. We will again be holding our Membership Refund draw this year at our March meeting for all subs paid by 28 February 2012. Otherwise this year's subs should be paid by 31 March 2012. All necessary details are on your invoice.

Welcome back. We hope that you are enjoying the end of a well deserved break. NCEA results are a big focus at the start of the year so why not process your Certificates of Excellence at the same time? The changes for this year are: new criteria for level 1; an earlier due date of 15 February 2012 and certificates are to be sent in digital format. So visit the above link, download the file, enter the required details, save it to your computer and attach this file to an email and send it to your Regional Officer. Please note: Most changes are in response to members' concerns.

Current 2011 NZALT members should all have received an email from us indicating that Polyglot is now available for you to download. The email includes the password that you will need to view it. Happy reading and Happy New Year!

We are pleased to announce that the work on splitting the L2/L3 vocabulary lists for French, German and Spanish has been undertaken and completed. These lists are now available on the NZQA website via the individual subject pages, under the section "Other resources". Many members had been requesting this and as a result of discussions on your behalf between NZALT and the Ministry of Education, this work has now been completed.

An international course on using Methodologies and Technologies to promote oral communication in Language Education will take place in the Northern Hemisphere summer. If you are interested in combining a trip to Europe and some Professional Development or interested in web 2.0 or intercultural teaching this may be of interest too. The course costs start from € 750

Just a reminder about Rotorua Conference in July 2012. The call for papers has been extended to 15 January 2012 so if you have not had time to think about presenting there is still time. You can also register for conference on the above link as well.

As mentioned in your Members' newsletter, the regional advisor service will no longer exist as at the end of the year. There is still time to make your feelings known to the powers that be and make a difference. NZALT has produced a letter template to help you to do this if you click the link above you can download it and read about the people you can lobby to.

French teachers - we have an updated membership form for our sister organisation, The New Zealand Association of French Teachers(NZAFT). Click the above link to download their 2012 membership form.

TPDL assists existing and new teachers of languages improve their language and culture knowledge and apply pedagogy that has a real and positive impact on student learning.

Teachers can gain internationally recognised language qualifications as well as accreditation in language teaching.

TPDL is a year-long programme funded by the Ministry of Education. More than one teacher per school may apply.

Up to 60 places are available for teachers of Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish and up to 20 places for teachers of Cook Islands Maori, Niuean, Samoan, Tongan and Tokelauan.

Native speakers of the language they are teaching may learn another language.

For enquiries and applications contact: TPDL Project Director Wendy Thomson w.thomson@auckland.ac.nz or 09 623 8899 ext 46310.

http://www.tki.org.nz/e/community/language/pdfs/tpdl_2010-12_brochure.pdf