Lexis Education

QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS

Teaching young children in English in multilingual contexts

Course Overview

Young children (aged 5–8) beginning schooling are embarking on their developmental pathway of learning to use language in schooling contexts, such as reading and writing. This makes them more reliant on spoken language and a range of other meaning-making resources such as visuals (both static and animated) and sound (music and sound effects).

Teaching young children in English in multilingual contexts is a rigorous professional development course for all teachers working with young students between 5 and 8 years of age.

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Outcomes

  • Development of teachers’ understanding of the notion of meaning making and how we can use that to inform the kinds of scaffolding that will build the meaning-making capacity of students in multilingual classrooms
  • Development of teachers’ understanding of the need for explicit teaching practices that will build up students’ repertoires of meaning-making resources so that they can be successful learners
  • Provision of a positive context for teachers to reflect critically and openly on their teaching and develop shared understandings about scaffolding in order to improve the effectiveness of whole-school collaboration.

All Lexis Education’s professional development courses are intended for classroom teachers and are comprised of a Tutor Training and a Teacher Course

Tutor Training

The Tutor Training is an intensive 4-day train-the-trainer program that covers the content of the Teacher Course and also develops tutor skills and knowledge. It is delivered in Host schools around the world to small groups of up to 20 teachers.

Licensed tutors then deliver the Teacher Course, providing their school with cost-effective, school-managed professional development.

The cost of the Tutor Training is AUD$4,850 (plus GST to be applied for Australian venues). The cost covers the training, training materials and lunches and refreshments on the training days. It does not cover other costs, such as for transport or accommodation.

Teacher Course

Licensed Tutors deliver the Teacher Course in their schools.

The course incorporates a program of classroom-based action research and readings.

The course entails 18 hours face-to-face learning in 7 modules which, when combined with between module readings and activities, is equivalent to more than 40 hours professional development for teachers.

Course Content

Module 1: Meaning making in multilingual contexts

In this first module, we begin with an exploration of meaning-making as a way of discussing the challenges that our students face in schooling contexts. From there, we consider how we develop language, our most complex meaning-making system, by looking at the role of parents and caregivers in the early stages of language development and reflect on the implications for our work as teachers. We experience a lesson in an unfamiliar language as a way of looking at supportive scaffolding practices.

Module 2: Scaffolding learners

In this module, we are introduced to an explicit teaching and learning cycle that will be an informing framework for the rest of the course. We consider the notion of scaffolding and consider three broad levels: macro-, meso- and micro-scaffolding, and the role each plays in providing the support students need to take up the meanings expected of them in the early years of schooling.

Module 3: Getting active with language

This module deals with actions and the language of hands-on activities. The focus is, therefore, on the procedure genre and, through small teaching and learning cycles, we learn how to develop students’ understanding of how a procedure is structured. We also learn how students can analyse the language patterns of these texts in hands-on ways such as through patterned questions and colours.

Module 4: Understanding stories

In this module, we work with the generic structure of narratives. Stories are a dominant genre in early childhood settings, yet the meanings—visual and verbal—in these texts can be highly complex. However, as we see, the complexity also makes stories a rich source of opportunities for the development of language and learning.

Module 5: Learning the language of stories

The focus in this module is on the language of narratives. The specific aspects of language considered are the resources for: locating events in time and place; describing, classifying and qualifying; and expressing actions, thoughts and sayings. The module concludes with activities around the evaluation of settings, characters and events in narratives.

Module 6: Learning to explain how things happen or are done

In this module, we build on previous work on procedures by considering how we can provide a macro- scaffold for students to begin developing control of two new genres: procedural recount and explanation. The activities include moving into more technical fields, recounting accurately, learning to behave scientifically, and explaining how wastewater is treated.

Module 7: Planning for meaning-making success

In this final module, we bring together all the understandings developed in the previous modules and apply them to a program of work that participants intend to deliver. Participants will share this program with others in the course and, in doing so, will be modelling the importance of opening up our pedagogical practices to our peers.
  • “A very valuable course which has helped me a great deal and prepared me well to help others to help their students, which is the most important thing we can do.”
  • “It was a great course and a wonderful opportunity for our team to learn together. I'm excited to see where we go as a school.”
  • “Very professional, yet easy-going group and environment... It has been valuable for me and I gained more understanding of how to scaffold and why it is important...”
  • “I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I enjoyed how intellectually stimulating it was and how it made me consider my teaching and how I can improve it. I can’t wait to run this course...”
  • “I truly enjoyed every single day of the training... discussions were very interesting and productive... I can’t wait to go back to school and start to apply all things covered.”
  • “...Provided me with much food for thought about language development and ways I can re-think my beliefs about how we can teach and learn best and most meaningfully.”
  • “Absolutely loved the course. It... has had a major impact on me as an EAL teacher struggling with an impossible role that has now been made very possible!"

Upcoming Venues

Teaching ESL students in mainstream classrooms

Location: Suzhou (Shanghai), China
Date: 24/09/2018 - 28/09/2018

Teaching ESL students in mainstream classrooms

Location: Brisbane, Australia
Date: 24/09/2018 - 28/09/2018

Literacy for Learning: International edition

Location: Suzhou (Shanghai), China
Date: 10/10/2018 - 13/10/2018

Teaching Young Children in English in Multilingual Contexts

Location: Suzhou (Shanghai), China
Date: 15/10/2018 - 18/10/2018

How Language Works

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Date: 07/11/2018 - 13/11/2018

Teaching Young Children in English in Multilingual Contexts

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Date: 07/11/2018 - 10/11/2018
All Upcoming Venues