Early years and primary teachers have a unique opportunity to apply their strong teaching practices, classroom management and understanding of childhood literacy development to teaching a language. This paper reports on a project from Independent Schools Queensland to increase language programs in schools by retraining classroom teachers.…

In 1935, the then Minister of Public Instruction established the delivery of two foreign languages under the title of a special experiment taught at Mac.Robertson Girls' High School in Melbourne. This was the first step in the creation of what is known today as the Victorian School of Languages (VSL). It was at the time the small, seemingly…

This article presents selected findings from an ethnographic study of classroom-based assessment practices in languages classrooms (Indonesian) in the final year of primary (Year 6) and the first year of secondary (Year 7), respectively. In particular, the paper focuses on differences between the respective year levels in how learning was assessed…

This paper describes the need to reconceptualise teaching and learning programs for intercultural language learning. The shift is from concepts such as "content" and its "coverage" (intended to address "learner needs and interests") to developing programs focused on meaning making in interaction and on learners as…

Feedback provided by ILTLP Project team members to participants in Phase 1 is analysed to provide insights into the process of developing programs. The questions provide a starting point for considering current programming practices in developing units of work and long- term programs to support intercultural language learning.

The significance of questioning in intercultural language learning was highlighted during Phase 1 of the project as project team members worked with teachers preparing units of work and long-term programs. This paper explores the types of questions asked by team members to elicit teachers' thinking regarding students' learning and teachers' roles…

During Phase 1 of the Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP) Project Nhu Trinh, a teacher of (Mandarin) Chinese, was one of a number of teachers who worked with project team members in a feedback process to develop intercultural units of work and longterm programs for their classes. The changes to Nhu's programming that…

In 2005 the AFTMLA (Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations) developed its Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching of Languages and Cultures. These were published in a special edition of "Babel" in February 2006. Among the recommendations contained in the document, there is a section headed Program…

Presents a model for studying the process by which students decide to continue with, or to terminate, their second language studies. Previous research in the area is discussed. (MSE)

Focuses on the teaching of languages other than English to those Australian learners who come from monolingual or primarily monolingual English speaking backgrounds and who have had little contact with other languages or few opportunities to use a foreign language in authentic communication during their school years. (Author/VWL)

The issue of multi-level classrooms and of the increasingly differentiated nature of students' learning experiences continues to be a major challenge for language teachers. It's safe to say that wherever two or more language teachers are gathered together, the "problem" of multi-level classrooms will figure somewhere in the conversation.…