Thank you to all who attended our cross-sector Network Meeting last Wednesday - over forty EAL/D teachers from the Department of Education, AISWA and Catholic Education came together to share knowledge and ideas, in what was a very fruitful meeting. A huge thank you to everyone who presented.
Please find a summary of the key information below:
2016 Good Answer Guide (Khalin Driver)
Based on the 2015 EAL/D Stage 3 WACE examination, this is a truly excellent resource which provides analysis of questions, sample answers (showing what is really possible under exam conditions!), markers’ comments and suggested approaches and activities to use in class to prepare students for the upcoming exam.
It is worth paying particular attention to pp.8 -10 which has helpful guidelines for approaching the Reading & Viewing Synthesis question.
Sample answers can be explored with students through the framework of the marking keys.
Available for purchase through WATESOL.
2015 WACE Exam – Examiner’s feedback (Sophia Sabatier)
Practical (Oral)
• Part A - should be used as time to show off
• Part B - the image is a stimulus only, designed to get you thinking and speaking about an idea
• Part C – students must refer to texts in response to questions about both units of study, therefore text selection by teachers is important – you should choose texts which enable students to address the unit themes and issues, cross reference and make connections.
• In general, it is up to the student to show what they can do, not up to the examiner to prompt them.
Listening
• When writing answers students should be precise and answer the question to show understanding. The scatter gun approach of writing all possible options in the hope than one will be correct will not work, all will be marked wrong.
Reading & Viewing Synthesis
• See the Good Answer Guide (above) for planning/structuring/answering tips, especially pages 8 - 10
Extended Writing
• Students must answer the question! (Essays cannot be pre-learnt and regurgitated)
• Students should know the text’s author/director and themes
• Genre structure & conventions should be taught explicitly
• Personal response essay questions still require a formal essay response, students are being asked to assume an analytical position
• Idiomatic language is not appropriate in formal written English (some exceptions for feature articles and speeches)
• Students should take this opportunity to show off their vocabulary and punctuation skills
• Students must write in pen! (Exams are scanned on to computers for marking, pencil cannot be read easily)
SCSA Update (Louise Dodman)
Extra time for OLNA!
Any student in Year 12 who has been approved as eligible to study a Year 12 EAL/D course (Foundation, General or ATAR) in 2016 will automatically be given 10 minutes extra working time for the numeracy, reading and writing OLNA components in the September round of OLNA, 2016. This is regardless if the student is actually enrolled in an EAL/D course.
Resources on http://wace1516.scsa.wa.edu.au/
• Year 11 ATAR graded work samples: Log on to the extranet >Year 11 & 12 > ATAR > Grading > Yr.11 Grading > work samples
More coming for other courses!
• K-10 Resources http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/principles/guiding-principles/stu…
Scroll down to documents: Overview & advice, Annotated Content Descriptors for English, Maths, Science, HASS
OLNA Preparation materials (Kelly Rodrigues & Lynette Van Ravestein)
A cross- sector working party has been designing additional OLNA practise materials, including packages to practise particular skills and practice tests created on Google forms. The working party is seeking more willing helpers/contributors and will share the resources designed at a later date.
TDS Mock Exam (Shannon Helbig & Kate Simeon)
WATESOL has once again collaborated with the Secondary DOE Teacher Development School, this time to produce a Year 12 ATAR EAL/D WACE Exam - both Practical (Oral) and Written. Teachers from all three sectors have worked together to write the exams which will be available for members to download at no cost, from the WATESOL website, by August 29. (Please note, the copyright notice attached to this exam covers it for use as a formal assessment and not as practice materials.)
Revision courses (Khalin Driver)
Thanks to some excellent lobbying by WATESOL, a private organisation has agreed to include EALD in their ATAR WACE exam revision program this year. This is great news because to my knowledge it has never happened before. It will occur during the first week of the school holidays Monday 26/9 – Friday 30/9, 3.50 – 5.50pm. As it’s the first time the price will be greatly reduced. We'll advertise specific details about this when they're available so you can let your students know.
However, in the meantime they need to employ a/some teachers with knowledge of the course to run the program! If you are interested or know someone who is recently retired or part-time who might be interested, please ask them to email belinda.stewart@education.wa.edu.au ASAP