Tēnā koutou!  你好!  안녕하세요  Kia orana!  Bonjour!  Guten Tag!  こんにちは。Salvete!  Faka’alofa lahi atu!  Talofa lava!  ¡Buenos días!  Mālō e lelei!  Malo ni!

We hope you had a great holiday with plenty of rest and relaxation.  Term 2 is an exciting term for Language Teachers with four LangSems taking place around the country, cluster meetings, NCEA change teacher only days, student video competitions, and various language weeks taking place to name a few events. We are looking forward to seeing some of you at some of these events.  All the best for another busy term.  Stay safe and well and  please keep in touch.

Juliet Kennedy
Annabelle Sinclair

Focus for this Newsletter:

• Upcoming LangSems
• Cluster dates for this term
• NZALT AGM
• Student video competition
• NCEA change
• Language Weeks

LangSem coming up soon in your region

LangSem is a one-day mini conference held regionally for language teachers every two years.  At LangSem across the country this year we have Liam Printer, a language teacher who has specialised in motivation in the language classroom, as our keynote speaker via video presentation for LangSem. The Learning Languages team from the MoE will be attending and presenting at LangSem to support us with the NCEA change, and National Language Advisors and local teachers will also present. It will be a great day to reconnect with colleagues.

We have 5 upcoming LangSems in Terms 2 and 3. Please find the links below to register for the LangSem in your region:

Canterbury LangSem, 29th April, Papanui High School

To find out more and register, click here.

Waikato LangSem, 13th May, Hamilton Girls’ High School

To find out more and register, click here.

Hawkes Bay LangSem, 2nd June, Napier Boys’ High School

To find out more and register, click here.

Wellington LangSem, 24th June, Wellington High School

To find out more and register, click here.

Auckland NZALT-Tui Tuia LangSem, 5th August, University of Auckland-Epsom Campus

To find out more and register, click here.

Term 2 cluster dates

NZALT cluster groups are locally-run support networks for language teachers.  They are a great forum for sharing and finding new ideas for the language classroom, troubleshooting issues, moderation, and much more.  Here are the dates and details for the upcoming cluster meetings in Term 2.  If you would like to join a cluster or facilitate a cluster in your area, please contact Juliet Kennedy.

• Invercargill Cluster: Wednesday 3rd May, 3.45pm, James Hargest, Facilitator: Karen Thomson
• South Canterbury Cluster: Thursday 4th May, 3.30pm, Opihi College, Facilitator: Hiromi Horsley 
• Porirua-Kapiti Coast Cluster: Tuesday 9th May, 3.30pm, Paraparaumu College, Facilitator: Naomi Connolly
• Hutt Valley Cluster: Thursday 11th May, 3.30pm, Heretaunga College, Facilitator: Philippa Watson
• Wellington Central Cluster: Thursday 11th May, 3.30pm, Wellington High School, Facilitator: Angel Lin
• Christchurch Cluster: Thursday 25th May, 3.30pm, Papanui High School, Facilitator: Michelle Dalley
• Whanganui-Manawatu Cluster: Thursday 25th May, 3.30pm, Cullinane College, Facilitator: Andrea Ceron  
• Nelson Cluster: Thursday 15th June, 3.30pm, via zoom, Facilitator: Juliet Kennedy

We will send through other cluster dates for Term 2 and locations as they are confirmed.

Upcoming NZALT AGM - 2nd June

The NZALT AGM will be held on 2nd June at Napier Boys’ High School, at 1.30 -2pm during the Hawkes Bay LangSem. For members unable to attend there will be a zoom link sent out closer to the time. If you are unable to attend via zoom and would like to have your say about an agenda item at the AGM please contact Juliet Kennedy.

If you are a paid NZALT member for the year 2023 and are interested in serving in a role on the National Executive of the NZALT, or would like to nominate someone else, please copy and complete the nomination form and return it to Jo Hawes as a PDF file by 5.00p.m., Wednesday, 31 May. You can read more information about the AGM here on our website.

NZALT Languages week student video competition

Languages Week 2023 - Term 2, Week 7 (June 6 - 9)

This year’s NZALT competition is a collaborative class competition for students in Years 7 - 10. Classes are asked to submit a 2-3 minute film highlighting the benefits of learning another language. This competition is only open to students whose teachers are NZALT members. 

Prizes: $150 for the best film in each year level (7,8,9 & 10).

The competition is a superb activity for Languages Week as well as an opportunity for teachers to gather material to use in advertising the benefits of learning a language.

We ask that schools select the best entry in each category and share this with completed media consent forms to the NZALT Secretary, no later than Friday 30 June.

Download the competition poster for your classroom here. 

NZALT Membership

As we have mentioned in previous newsletters, this year we have a new system to manage our NZALT membership database and website.  We encourage you all to log into our website to update your membership information.  If you are unsure of your membership status or how to log in, please visit our membership website or contact membership@nzalt.org.nz

For 2022 members who still haven't received an invoice for 2023 but were expecting one, please also contact membership@nzalt.org.nz

NCEA Change

A lot is happening in the NCEA change space and many of us will be involved with NCEA Teacher Only Days early this term. Please remember there is a MoE support team who can support us with our understanding and unpacking of the new standards. Here are the NCEA implementation facilitators contact details.

Belinda Sydenham  

Annelies Mead

Upcoming Language Weeks

Term 2, Term 3, and Term 4 have many language weeks for celebrating. Here are the upcoming dates: 

• May 7th - May 13th, Fäeag Rotuam - Rotuman Language Week
• May 28th - June 3rd, Gagana Samoa - Samoan Language Week
• June 6th -9th, International Languages Week
• July 9th - 15th, Te Tae Tae ni Kiribati - Kiribati Language Week
• July 30th - August 5th, Te Reo Maori Kuki Airani - Cook Islands Maori Language Week
• September 3rd - 9th, Lea Faka-Tonga - Tongan Language Week
• September 11th - 17th, Te Wiki o te Reo Māori
• October 1st - 7th, Te Gana Tuvalu - Tuvalu Language Week
• October 8th - 14th, Vosa Vakaviti - Fijiian Language Week
• October 15th - 21st, Vagahau Niue - Niuean Language Week
• October 22nd - 28th, Te Gagana Tokelau - Tokelau Language Week

You can find ideas for celebrating these weeks here:

• Pacific Languages Weeks 
• International Languages Week
• Te Wiki o te Reo Maori

NZALT resources

We are currently developing classroom and professional learning resources for NZALT members to access on our website.  Please watch this space as we will begin to publish them soon.  

From our clusters we know that some topics currently of interest to language teachers are:

• NCEA change support
• Gianfranco Conti methods in the language classroom
• Discovering ways to promote student engagement in the interact standard and using the target language in class
• Learning how to work with AI tools such as ChatGPT in the languages classroom
• Games for learning languages

We hope to provide some resources based around these current areas of interest soon. If you have a resource you would like to share or are interested in finding some resources for your classroom or professional development please contact Juliet Kennedy.

Contact Details

NZALT President
Annabelle Sinclair

Networks of Expertise Co-ordinator:
Juliet Kennedy

Online PLD Co-ordinator:
Madlen Kunath

If you are aware of language teachers who are not receiving this newsletter, please email coordinator@nzalt.org.nz

If you would like to post any notices in our newsletter or on our website please contact Juliet Kennedy.

NZALT Networks of Expertise Newsletter, Number 5, April 2023.