LOTE

Use this space to share resources for Languages and also ESL

General information
The National Capital Language Resource Center. (2007). //The essentials of language teaching//. Retrieved from 9 Aug, 2011. [] >
 * This website provides excellent information about being a LOTE teacher. The website illustrates effective teaching methods and guidelines for instruction. Various teaching resources can be downloaded from the pages on the website. The website explores how a LOTE teacher can cater for learners' development of micro-skills for listening, reading, writing and speaking.

ACARA National Draft Shape Paper: Languages
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2011). //Draft Shape Paper: Languages.// Retrieved 9 August, 2011 from: [].
 * This documents provides shaping curriculum information relevant to all Australian LOTE teachers; units and minimum curriculum standards for their content area and a guide for teachers on where they can improve their pedagogical content knowledge but provides enough scope for teachers to implement a national curriculum to their class given their pedagogical learner knowledge.

Assessment Design Principles
QSA. (2010). //Assessment Design Principles Practice//. Brisbane: Department of Education and Training QLD Retrieved from [].
 * This documents is a highly useful assessment supporting tool for Japanese teachers for grades 11/12. The tool assists LOTE teachers of Japanese how to create and assess authentic assessment items as well as how to incorporate items such as Blooms Taxonomy, and provides clear descriptors, sample rubrics along with sample work items and includes key words that can be used in assessment to prompt orders of thinking and either the 'cognitive', 'affectual' or 'psychomotor' domains.

Cognitive, Psychomotor and Affectual Benefits of Studying LOTE
Dellit, J. (2002). //Making Languages work: School models to consider//. Adelaide: Department of Education and Training QLD. Retrieved August 10, 2011 from: [].
 * This documents charges teachers with purposefulness to what they teach their LOTE students - the benefits LOTE has on their everyday lives and emphasises the significance of the authenticity of the classroom study. The document contextualised LOTE within the "real world" and can help teacher realise the way language learning affects other areas of their schooling, psychomotor development and affectual capacity. Whilst the doument takes a curriculum focus, it does highlight the linguistic and mathematical benefits of studying a LOTE.

Sustainable Language Programs
Norris, S. (2000). //Using the LOTE planning framework.// Retrieved August 10, 2011 from: [].
 * Sustainable language programs are highly crucial within a school for the development of uncommon define skills in students and for the future of language learning as a whole, along with LOTE teacher employment, efficient community services and international business success. This documents provides teachers with clear and explicit suggestions on what sustainable language programs include and do. Such a document would be useful in the education of pre-service teachers given it incorporates daily facets of the role of a teacher such as gathering particular resources etcetera. This would assist in making the pre-service teachers' knowledge transferable to other subject areas, and could well be changed into a powerpoint presentation at a staff meeting or language convention.

Language Syllabus for Y1-9
Queensland Studies Authority. (2008). //Languages.//Retrieved August 4, 2011 from [].
 * This document provides a curriculum outline for teachers on the minimum requirements for teaching Languages within Queensland. It charges them with responsibility and provides a content learning framework for Years 1-9. As a core document to teaching LOTE and one which cannot be taught about at a later date given its purpose, it is highly useful in the education of pre-service teachers in a curriculum unit, however it would also be useful for current LOTE teachers before conducting moderation processes, to review specific areas of the syllabus to provide for validity and reliability in their marking, along with before planning units and afterwards in evaluating the effectiveness of them.

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians
Barr, A., Gillard, J., Firth, V., Scrymgour, M., Welford, R., Lomax-Smith, J. D., et al. (2008). //Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australian//. Melbourne: Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs. Retrieved August 10, 2011 from: [].
 * As the name discreetly suggests, this government document is an initiative of MCYEECDYA (Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs) on educational goals which professional educators and government should be striving towards. One of the focuses is literacy development and cultural learning through LOTE. Whilst the document does not pertain to specific subjects and year leels it is highly pertinant to preservice teachers and current educators' bank of knowledge, to contextualise where their role is in terms of literacy development and cultural awareness and second language learning through LOTE subjects. The document is unintentionally influenced by pragmatist and constructivist theories. Would be useful to reflect on at a school level through staff meetings as well as district or union meetings, to discuss progress and where areas of need are, to focus on achieving the targets.

Previous (2000) Queensland 4-10 Japanese Syllabus
Office of the Queensland School Curriculum Council. (2000). //Languages other than English: Year 4-10 Syllabus (Japanese)//. Brisbane: Queensland School Curriculum Council.
 * While this document is somewhat dated, this aids in its usefulness in guiding formative assessment. The syllabus was very Japanese specific rather than LOTE broadly. This means, Japanese teachers can use this as reference material to support their future planning, particular content and standards at that time along with possible ways of teaching that very specific topic. Pre-service teachers could use this reference material as part of a case study to investigate why curriculum documents, especially in the areas of languages, are in flux and changing, from the role of government and the affect of this in the classroom and on the learner and teacher. A useful exercise in universities.

Japanese Verb Conjugation Help
Yamada, K. (2010). //Grammar Conjugation//. Armidale: University of New England.
 * This rather simple document is a wonderful resource for the Japanese teacher, especially first year teachers, as all possible verb conjugations in regards to grammar rules is included and explained in simplistic tabular format with quick hints to remember the rules. The document helps double as both a teacher reference and also as a printout that can be given to students for revision actvities and exam preparation. Verb conjugation is rather complex in Japanese and so it is important students have a grasp on this skill which is such a crucial prerequisite for any further Japanese learning. It could be used not as professional development but as a document issued to all Japanese teachers with a secondary list of ways to use the document with students in the classroom.

Syllabus for Senior Years
[|German] Queensland Studies Authority. (2008). //German (2008) (authority subject).//Retrieved August 4, 2011 from []

[|German Extension] Queensland Studies Authority. (2008). //German extension (2009) (authority subject).//Retrieved August 4, 2011 from []

Leisure, recreation and human creativity
Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus (2011). //Deutschland das reiseland//. Retrieved 9 Aug, 2011, from []
 * This website is about tourism in Germany and provides rich information about German cultural aspects, such as cities, historical heritages, music and so on. This website would be suitable for Year10-12 students as the website does not employ complex language elements. The website contains a lot of pictures and videos of popular German tourism spots. Thus it may stimulate students’ interest towards German culture and it caters for diversity in students’ learning styles.

Alcester Grammar (2001). //German crosswords//. Retrieved from 8 Aug, 2011. []
 * This website contains German crossword puzzles. It allows learners to play crossword puzzles about various topics, such as leisure, tourism, education and so on, and helps learners to expand their vocabulary in those areas. The website also allows learners to create their own vocabulary games.

BBC (2011). //Languages: German//. Retrieved 9 Aug, 2011. From []
 * This website provides excellent resources for language learning. The website caters for beginners and intermediate learners of the German language. The website allows learners to test their language skills. Learners are allowed to partake in short courses which cover many topics including, food, shopping, traveling and etc. The website provides a different phrase every day whichhelps learners to learn particular idioms or expressions.

Goethe-institut (2011). //Step into German//. Retrieved 9 Aug, 2011. From []
 * This website focuses on German music and soccer. The website illustrates what Germany is like through demonstration of German music and soccer. The website provides a wide variety of study materials related to music and soccer.

Dunaway, I. (n.d.) //H//ä//nsel und Gretel//. Retrieved 9 Aug, 2011. From [|http://www.angelfire.com/va/hanselgretel/marchen.html#start]
 * This website provides a German version of a text and audio of a popular children’s story, Hansel and Gretel. It helps learners’ micro-skills for reading and listening. The story is fairly long so it might be suitable for learners of an intermediate level. My suggestion is to use both English and German texts so that the learners can compare the two texts and guess the meaning of the German sentences in the text.

[] [|The Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University]created this website, which provides extensive resources for teaching Eastern Asian history and culture, including lesson plans, videos, maps, time lines, primary-source documents, and more. Well worth a look, particulalry bearing in mind the National Curriculum's emphasis on Asian studies.