Page 3 - Accents December

Accents
Languages in NSW
President’s Report
by Fiona Boughey
2019 has been a year of change for Language teachers in NSW. We have been through a process of rethinking many aspects of our teaching practice as we have implemented (or are planning) a new syllabus K-10. This transformation has been likely for a number of years as we seek to adapt to the changing needs of our students. While many of us are still wrestling with curriculum change and its (hopefully positive) effect on our classrooms, slowly we have seen new ideas emerging and exciting conversations about pedagogy taking place. We hope that the articles that follow will be of interest to all our members as you continue to work harder than ever on providing meaningful and engaging language lessons for your students.
Since our last issue of Accents, our association held its AGM in June at our workshop held on the same day called Creative Approaches to Planning for the New Syllabus. We welcome a number of new committee members and have already benefited from their enthusiasm and willingness to help on the team. At our workshop we heard from three experienced and innovative language teachers, Celinda Corsini, Ken Wong and Liberty Campbell, with their method for using the redesigned K-10 Language syllabuses.
We have represented members in various ways including the NESA curriculum committees, Languages network group and with our submission to the NSW Curriculum Review. Excitingly, in September this year our application to become a NESA Endorsed Provider was approved, after much work behind the scenes. This is a bonus for all of us in the association as we can now offer a more streamlined process for our professional learning events to ensure members get accredited hours.
Many of us travelled to Hobart in July to attend the 22nd AFMLTA International Languages Conference to learn from a variety of local and global presenters on the theme: Languages - Breaking through walls. The MLTANSW sponsored three members to attend, awarding $1000 each to the lucky applicants. You can read more about their experience further in this edition of Accents. In term 3 we held a very practical webinar with the
Volume 23 Number 1 Page 3