It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So the following is compiled by Iron Roger Rackham (my name in Pirate speak!)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Garden Progress
Look how it's growing! Click on August to the right to see what the garden looked like only three weeks ago.
We will be going to King’s Park on the last day of term, Friday 28 September. To mark the culmination of Mary Crogan’s project there will be a half hour display by Aboriginal dancers. Children under school age are welcome to come but school aged children should be at school. See flyer for all other details.
Please make sure you put in your PD program by Friday, either to the office or electronically.
AMES has awarded three 12 month contracts in the pool process- congratulations to Janice and Veronica for being among them.
Samantha will be back next week, having completed her three week teaching prac (in a Year 1 class- bit of a contrast to Balga!). The office staff will certainly welcome her return.
Two new readers compiled by Sonia and Mary- “Cars” and “Computer Talk”.
All class photos will be on the student blog by the end of the week. Thanks to Mary A for doing all the legwork and Alison for posting them on the blog.
"The Australian Citizenship Amendment (CitizenshipTesting) Act 2007 was passed by Parliament on 12 September with Citizenship testing to commence on 1 October 2007. The Prime Minister has agreed to series of initiatives (totalling $16.9 million over four years) to support the implementation of the citizenship test. The following initiatives will provide assistance to citizenship applicants with low English proficiency and little experience with computers to prepare to sit the Citizenship Test: 1. The Let's Participate course will be updated (within the next 12 months) to reflect the new material in the citizenship test resource book Becoming an Australian Citizen and will be available on-line. A range of learningactivities and teaching resources will also be developed as part of the initiative.2. Additional citizenship test preparation assistance will be provided to citizenship applicants, particularly those with little or no formal education and limited experience with computers. The test preparation will include computer assistance / familiarisation training, presentation of the citizenship test tutorial and practice test and discussion sessions based on the resource book. A citizenship test preparation web page will be developed to help applicants understand the full range of advice available, including information on the Let's Participate course, a practice citizenship test and test tutorial..Below is the link to the resource book available on the minister's website: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/resource-book/index.htm "
We obtained some clarification from DIAC about the future status of the certificates awarded in the citizenship courses. In brief it seems that they will no longer have any validity – all applicants will have to sit the computer test.
Branka leaves tomorrow for a European trip and Carmen will be away for the last few days of term on a holiday to New Zealand. Bon voyage!
An interesting web site from Mary C: http://www.gurtong.org/people.asp Gives very detailed information about the many ethnic groups in Sudan.
Please make sure you put in your PD program by Friday, either to the office or electronically.
AMES has awarded three 12 month contracts in the pool process- congratulations to Janice and Veronica for being among them.
Samantha will be back next week, having completed her three week teaching prac (in a Year 1 class- bit of a contrast to Balga!). The office staff will certainly welcome her return.
Two new readers compiled by Sonia and Mary- “Cars” and “Computer Talk”.
All class photos will be on the student blog by the end of the week. Thanks to Mary A for doing all the legwork and Alison for posting them on the blog.
"The Australian Citizenship Amendment (CitizenshipTesting) Act 2007 was passed by Parliament on 12 September with Citizenship testing to commence on 1 October 2007. The Prime Minister has agreed to series of initiatives (totalling $16.9 million over four years) to support the implementation of the citizenship test. The following initiatives will provide assistance to citizenship applicants with low English proficiency and little experience with computers to prepare to sit the Citizenship Test: 1. The Let's Participate course will be updated (within the next 12 months) to reflect the new material in the citizenship test resource book Becoming an Australian Citizen and will be available on-line. A range of learningactivities and teaching resources will also be developed as part of the initiative.2. Additional citizenship test preparation assistance will be provided to citizenship applicants, particularly those with little or no formal education and limited experience with computers. The test preparation will include computer assistance / familiarisation training, presentation of the citizenship test tutorial and practice test and discussion sessions based on the resource book. A citizenship test preparation web page will be developed to help applicants understand the full range of advice available, including information on the Let's Participate course, a practice citizenship test and test tutorial..Below is the link to the resource book available on the minister's website: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/resource-book/index.htm "
We obtained some clarification from DIAC about the future status of the certificates awarded in the citizenship courses. In brief it seems that they will no longer have any validity – all applicants will have to sit the computer test.
Branka leaves tomorrow for a European trip and Carmen will be away for the last few days of term on a holiday to New Zealand. Bon voyage!
An interesting web site from Mary C: http://www.gurtong.org/people.asp Gives very detailed information about the many ethnic groups in Sudan.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Adult Learners' Week
Thanks to Sonia for nominating Carole and Ann and representing Balga at the Award presentations. The function, held at the Duxton, was very enjoyable and Carole was thrilled to be nominated.
Details of PD sessions in October will be available soon. Alan Williams from the AMEP Research Centre will be giving a workshop on Thursday 11th and there will be a FLAN session at Joondalup on Friday 12th. Our centre meeting will be on Wednesday 10th. Casual staff are reminded that they must attend the moderation session on the Tuesday 9th morning if they want to continue working for AMES and they did not attend earlier in the year.
Scott informs us that replacement computers are on the way for both students and staff- we look forward to receiving them!
We’ve been having technical problems with the blog over the past few days but all seems OK now. Photos of Anna’s classroom display, class photos etc should be on the student blog soon.
Scott informs us that replacement computers are on the way for both students and staff- we look forward to receiving them!
We’ve been having technical problems with the blog over the past few days but all seems OK now. Photos of Anna’s classroom display, class photos etc should be on the student blog soon.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Vegie Garden Latest
The effectiveness of our fine-looking scarecrow is in serious doubt as birds have been seen vandalising the scarecrow by plucking straw from his head and body in (order to build their nests, presumably). The poor fellow looks as if he’s just finished a Jenny Craig course!
Alison has has just completed her blog training and will be responsible for the student blog. Staff are encouraged to take photos of class outings/ functions so that they can be posted on the blog. Ask at the office if you want to borrow the centre camera. And speaking of blogs, it’s never too late to learn, as proved by 107 year-old Olive Riley. The tales of her youth make for fascinating reading. http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/
Further to the email about free T shirts, Sophie writes: “For admin staff and anyone who will not be attending FLAN in October, we need to get a list together with suitable size (generous S, M, L, XL) and they will be sent out to your centre. Staff members need to sign for their T Shirts.”
Further to the email about free T shirts, Sophie writes: “For admin staff and anyone who will not be attending FLAN in October, we need to get a list together with suitable size (generous S, M, L, XL) and they will be sent out to your centre. Staff members need to sign for their T Shirts.”
Footy Tipping
The footy tipping comp went right down to the wire, with Andrew catching Mary Aitken in the last round.of 22 (both on 113 points) Branka was a close third on 112. Many thanks to her for taking on all the work involved in running the comp, which brought an added common interest for staff. An end-of-season morning tea and presentation took place on Tuesday.
NCELTR Survey
Would you all lecturing staff please go to
http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/amep/survey.asp
and complete the survey there, which should take about 5 mins.
Thank you. Philip
http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/amep/survey.asp
and complete the survey there, which should take about 5 mins.
Thank you. Philip
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Hoola Hoop Demo by Dubravka
It's not easy technically to load videos onto the blog (this is the shortest video clip I have) so for more scintillating staff/ student hula hoop action, go to http://www.youtube.com/ and enter "AMES Balga" in the "search" box.
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