Talofa lava! Happy Samoan Language Week and Week 5 of Term 2!
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!
Talofa lava! We hope term is going well! As usual there is a lot going on for schools with open days, parent teacher interviews, strikes, language weeks ... the list is long. Kia kaha for this second part of the term and keep in touch!
Mitamita i lau gagana, maua'a lou fa'asinomaga
Be proud of your language and grounded in your identity
Ngā mihi nui,
Juliet Kennedy
Annabelle Sinclair
Focus for this newsletter
In this newsletter you will find information about:
- The NZALT AGM, 2nd June, 1.30-2pm, Napier Boys' High School
- Upcoming LangSems - Hawkes Bay 2nd June, Wellington 24th June, Auckland 5th August
- Updates and information from the MoE about NCEA change
- Round two of Exploring Effective Practice (EEP) Awards
- The NZALT video competition for students
The NZALT AGM - 2nd June, 1.30 - 2pm
We invite all members to join us via zoom or in person for the NZALT AGM. We appreciate it is during the school day so if you are unable to join please send through any points you wish to have brought up to coordinator@nzalt.org.nz
You can find the agenda here.
Here is the zoom link to join the meeting.
Meeting ID: 894 8372 1047 Passcode: 668158
Upcoming LangSems - Hawkes Bay, Wellington, and Auckland
We have a great line-up of presentations and workshops at LangSem this year including Liam Printer (The Motivated Classroom), Tui Tuia presenters and local teachers. The following LangSems are coming up:
Hawkes Bay, Napier Boys' High School, 2 June, 9am-3pm.
Wellington, Wellington High School, 24 June, 9:30am - 3:30pm.
The Auckland LangSem is August 5th at the Epsom Campus of the University of Auckland.
Find out more detail and register here.
NCEA change updates and information from the MoE
Here is the latest update from the MoE about the new Learning Languages NCEA materials.
Updated Level 1 language subject Achievement Standards, sample internal assessment activities and vocabulary and structures lists have now been published on the new NCEA website for Asian, European and Pacific languages. NZSL subject materials are still to come. External assessment specifications for all 2023 Level 1 Pilot subjects will also be published shortly. Sample Level 1 Course Outlines have also been republished on the Teaching tab of each language subject alongside the updated vocabulary and structures list.
In addition, an NZALT member raised an important point regarding how language programmes might look if schools drop Level 1 assessment. We thought both this point and its response from Monique Anderson, our Learning Area Lead at the MoE, were very worth sharing.
"The management in my school has decided not to run NCEA level 1, but they have now decided that they want every subject to offer one NCEA level 2 standard, which is impossible for [my language]. I am trying to gather all the evidence I need so that I can prove I cannot offer a L2 standard in Year 11."
Monique's response
The Ministry of Education does not provide a recommended number of study hours to achieve at a particular NCEA (or curriculum level). This is because NCEA is a deliberately open qualification, which allows students to show evidence of their learning regardless of where/how they acquired it or how fast (or slowly) they proceeded towards it. The idea is to make sure that the system does not unintentionally cause barriers to students having their skills recognised.
I acknowledge that this can be potentially problematic for language teachers who are striving to keep a viable programme going. On the one hand, it does mean that any student who arrives from another jurisdiction or has naturally acquired language can still participate in assessment, even if they have done no official study prior to this within our system. This may solve some issues for classes with marginal numbers. However, there is also a risk that language departments may be more vulnerable to school restructures which do not adequately take into account the time-intensive and progressive nature of language acquisition.
That said, it is important to note that while NCEA is a multi-level qualification with no mandated prior study requirements to access Level 1, 2 or 3 assessments, schools are free to set their own recommended proficiency pre-requisites for entry into a particular course of study. Schools are much better placed than the Ministry to judge whether a particular programme is adequately placed to set up individual students for success in national assessment.
NZALT EEP awards round 2
The second 2023 round of Exploring Effective Practice (EEP) awards are now open. If you are interested in applying for funding to enable you to visit other language teachers, this is an excellent opportunity as this award pays for:
- one day of relief to visit other teacher(s) of your language(s)
- travel costs (reimbursement of petrol costs, airfares when applicable, accommodation when applicable, airport transfers when applicable)
Travel and relief will be paid for directly by NZALT and other approved expenses will be refunded on receipt of an invoice.
We especially encourage beginning teachers and geographically isolated teachers to apply. Applications with clear intentions and plans for visits will be prioritised.
The deadline for Term 3 and 4 2023 applications will be Friday 30th June, 2023. The award must be used by the end of Term 4 2023.
You can find more information on our website.
NZALT Languages Week Student Video Competition
If your students would like to enter the NZALT video competition, please visit our website for more details. There are great prizes, and the video entries are due on 30th June.
Posting Notices
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 7, June 2023
