PD Update

19 February 2015

Registrations are now open for the English Australia QLD Branch PD Fest to be held on 21 March. This one day Fest showcases best practice in English Australia member colleges and is always extremely popular, so register now to avoid missing out. 

NSW Academic Managers: want to know more about effective attendance monitoring procedures? The English Australia NSW Academic Managers Special Interest Group (NSW AMSIG) is holding a session on this topic on Weds 25 February, 3.30-5pm. The session will cover all the key issues affecting ELICOS managers and centres striving to do the best by their students and all other parties as regards attendance monitoring. At this stage, the plan is to have a representative from DIBP attend the session to answer any burning questions about attendance monitoring. Please visit the Events page on the English Australia website for more details: http://www.englishaustralia.com.au/workshops.html To register, please email: dos@access.nsw.edu.au

Interested in finding out more about the Occupational English Test (OET) for health professionals in Australia? Join Katherine Brandon for OET as she leads a webinar focusing on the Speaking sub-test on 26 February. For information click here. 

Are you a Melbournian who is interested in language assessment? There are 2 talks at the Language Testing Research Centre at the University of Melbourne by visiting scholars on 25 February. There is no need to register for these events:

English Language Assessment in China - Challenges and Reforms

When: Wednesday, 25 February 2015, 2pm

Venue: University of Melbourne, Babel Building- Room 407

Presenter: Professor Jin Yan, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

IELTS test preparation: classroom practices and student perspectives

When: Wednesday, 25 February 2015, 3pm

Venue: University of Melbourne, Babel Building- Room 407

Presenter: Dr Lyn May, Queensland University of Technology

This new Guide from British Council takes things a lot further than just suggesting mobile learning apps: it incorporates a pedagogical framework for for mobile assisted language teaching and learning. Of course, it also provides lots of practical language and mobile learning activities, app links and further resources too. Definitely worth a look! http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/E485%20Mobile%20pedagogy%20for%20ELT_FINAL_v2.pdf

English Australia Journal Executive Editor, Dr Phil Chappell from the Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, NSW has recently updated his TESOL Teaching and Learning Websites: useful links for English Language Teachers. It includes fantastic links to TESOL articles, lesson plans, activities and sites about technology for language teachers: http://t.co/cS06lkMyku

Don’t forget to download your copy of the English Australia’s new Guide to Best Practice in Managing Professional Development in ELICOS: http://www.englishaustralia.com.au/best-practice-guides The Guide covers the following areas:

• Key features of best practice in managing professional development

• Professional development goals

• Staff induction

• Professional development initiatives

• Professional development for experienced staff

• Professional development for managers

Hurry: Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) is now calling for proposals to present at their 2015 conference, which will be held in Adelaide from 6–9 October 2015. Proposal deadline is 2 March. This year’s theme is ‘International education: global, responsible, sustainable’.Click here for submission guidelines and to submit a paper: http://aiec.idp.com/call-for-proposals?utm_source=AIEC2015%20IEAA%20Alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AIEC2015%20IEAA%20Alert

The deadline for abstract submission for presentations at the fourth combined conference of the Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA), the Applied Linguistics Association of New Zealand (ALANZ) and Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australia and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) to be held in Adelaide from Monday 30 November to Wednesday 2 December 2015 is next week (28 February 2015).

We are really pleased to announce that English Australia is sponsoring 10 provincial teachers to attend the CamTESOL conference, which takes place next week in Cambodia. 

February

28-1 March CamTESOL Conference , ‘English: Building Skills for Regional Cooperation and Mobility’, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Remember you can sponsor a Cambodian teacher to attend this too.)

18-20 Language Testing Research Colloquium , ‘From Language Testing to Language Assessment: Connecting Teaching, Learning, and Assessment’, Toronto, Canada  

April

25-26 International Conference on English Education, ‘English for Specific Purposes (ESP): Global Trends and Local Practices,’ Taipei, Taiwan 

May

7-8 NEAS Management Conference, Pyrmont, Sydney

8-9 Innovate ELT, ‘Innovation in ELT, now and into the future,’ Barcelona, Spain, call for papers open

June

11-13 CAES (Centre for Applied English Studies) International Conference, ‘Faces of English: Theory, Practice and Pedagogy,’ Hong Kong 

September

23-25 English Australia Conference, ‘Looking ahead: change, challenge and opportunity’, Brisbane Hilton, QLD 

24-26 Argentina’s Federation of English Teachers’ Associations (FAAPI) annual conference: ‘EFL Classroom in the New Millenium – Local Developments and Global Concerns,’ Argentina, call for papers now open: contact Ms Mariana Agnolin for details

October

6-9 Australian International Education Conference (AIEC), Adelaide, call for papers now open until 2 March 

November
23-26 4th Language Education and Diversity Conference, Auckland, New Zealand 19-21 The 14th Symposium on Second Language Writing, ‘Learning to Write for Academic  Purposes,’ AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand, call for papers now open until 27 February

30 Nov-2 Dec 4th ALAA ALANZ ALTANZ 2015 Learning in a Multilingual World, University of South Australia, call for papers now open until 28 February 

December3-5  TESOL International Association Regional Conference, ‘Excellence in Language Instruction: Supporting Classroom Teaching and Learning, National Institute of Education, Singapore, call for proposals now open until 15 April 2015  

Did someone else at your college forward this to you? If you have an English Australia member college email address you can sign up for PD Updates directly – just contact easec@englishaustralia.com.au .
Please feel free to email me at sophieokeefe@englishaustralia.com.au with any questions.

Kind regards,

Sophie O’Keefe

Professional Support & Development Officer