Welcome to our annual conference for teachers of VCE English Studies. It is going to be FESTIVE in 2021! We have webinars for teachers of English Language , EAL, Bridging EAL, Literature and English throughout February and March. Sign up for as many as you wish, for yourself or for a staff group at your school. When registering a group, please include each person's name and email address in the spaces provided.
Cost: $66 incl GST per session (for individuals or a school group).
Venue: each session will be held online via Zoom 4pm-5pm. Details to be provided closer to the date. Unable to make it on the day or to a session you are interested in, due to prior commitments? No problem - all sessions will be recorded!
Enquiries to the BBE office This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Debbie: 0407 176 660 or Janny: 0427 152 143
Program
16 February |
Cat on a Hot Tin RoofRhonda Brislin Rhonda Brislin is an experienced English and Literature teacher and has taught Literature in its many forms and study designs, from HSC to VCE. As a former English Domain leader she has led departments through changes in English and Literature and has considerable experience teaching in secondary schools at all levels. Rhonda is interested in designing challenging and engaging literature courses for mixed ability classrooms. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof This session will look at strategies for teaching this very popular play and will include some suggestions for assessment for Unit 3 or Unit 4 SACS, including ways to incorporate an oral component. Resources for the ‘Adaptations and Transformations’ task will be explored, and there will be opportunities to share and discuss approaches to the two perspectives tasks (exam and Unit 4 SAC). We will look at a range of theoretical perspectives and ways to ensure that our students can draw on these effectively in their writing. This will include a discussion of ‘integrated’ readings, the use of language to ‘signpost’ readings as well as the use of critical reviews. |
17 February |
EAL ListeningAllie Baker Allie Baker is devoted to improving the classroom experience for all students and educators. An experienced teacher and consultant, Allie has worked in classrooms in Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. She is passionate about sharing strategies that teachers can immediately implement in their own classrooms. Allie offers workshops, seminars and consultation in Australian secondary schools and her work has been published by Pearson Education, VATE and Drama Victoria. In her spare time, Allie loves to cook and eat great food and explore her local area in Victoria's beautiful North East. EAL Listening This session will unpack the Listening component of the EAL course and offer a range of strategies and classroom activities to improve EAL students' proficiency in both speaking and listening. The session will include tips for improving students' note taking skills, demystifying test questions, listening for features of language and clearly responding to questions. Strategies will be suitable for all year levels, including VCE. |
23 February |
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25 February |
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4 March |
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10 March |
Approaching the two Literature exam tasksSophia Kmiec Sophia Kmiec has taught VCE Literature for over 13 years and also teaches VCE English and English Language. She has particular interest in Shakespeare, Gothic fiction and postcolonial theory. Her thesis focused specificallyon the figure of the vampire and the ethnic monstrosity it was once often constructed with. Sophia has tutored many students across all VCE English subjects, presented VCE text and exam seminars, written study guides and exams, marked trial exams and SACs and undertaken VCAA assessing. Sophia has worked for BooBook for a number of years, particularly as an assessor for trial exams. Approaching the two Literature exam tasks Both the perspectives and close analysis exam questions will be considered in this webinar. The focus will not be on individual texts form the 2020/21 text list but rather on the tasks themselves and ways teachers can help students prepare effectively for their different demands. For Section A we will look at how teachers can assist their students to ensure not only that their perspectives are clear, but how to incorporate detailed and in-depth evidence from the text to effectively substantiate interpretations. We will also examine the importance of students having an interpretation. We will discuss what students often leave out of their responses, and how they can address this through their engagement with their texts. Close analysis is synonymous with the study of VCE Literature and constructing an interpretation about a text using three passages, as in Section B, is no easy feat. We will examine ways students can prepare for the task, how they can establish an interpretation and how they can weave the passages into their responses in order to reflect on the text as a whole. We will discuss what students often do and don’t do in this section of the exam and what differentiates the essays in the higher brackets to those in the middle and low descriptors.
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15 March |
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16 March |
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17 March |
Malala and PrideAllie Baker Allie Baker is devoted to improving the classroom experience for all students and educators. An experienced teacher and consultant, Allie has worked in classrooms in Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. She is passionate about sharing strategies that teachers can immediately implement in their own classrooms. Allie offers workshops, seminars and consultation in Australian secondary schools and her work has been published by Pearson Education, VATE and Drama Victoria. In her spare time, Allie loves to cook and eat great food and explore her local area in Victoria's beautiful North East. Malala and Pride This session will offer insights into the inspirational narratives of both texts in this pairing. We will discuss key ideas and moments in the texts that offer points of intersection and room for rich discussion. The session will also offer suggested activities and approaches to improve students' comparative writing. This session is suitable for teachers of both English and EAL. |
18 March |
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22 March |
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23 March |
Language in Aboriginal Australia: traditional languages, Kriol and Aboriginal EnglishesJill Vaughan and Debbie Loakes Dr Jill Vaughan is a sociolinguist at the Research Unit for Indigenous Language at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses currently on the sociolinguistics of multilingualism, and has involved work on Australian Indigenous languages of northern Australia, the Irish language in the diaspora, online language use, and variation in Australian English. For the past six years, she has worked with community members in the Maningrida region of Arnhem Land documenting local languages and conducting sociolinguistic research. Jill is a co-founder of the Linguistics Roadshow and has contributed for many years to the Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad (OzCLO). Dr Debbie Loakes is a phonetician who has worked on numerous projects relating to sound change and regional variation in Australian English, as well as the sound systems of Australian languages. Debbie is currently working on Language in Aboriginal Australia: traditional languages, Kriol and Aboriginal Englishes In this talk, we consider the connections between Aboriginal languages, land and social identity, and give particular attention to post-colonial contact varieties such as the diversity of Aboriginal Englishes across the country. Aboriginal English is an umbrella term for a range of varieties exhibiting regional and social variation. We discuss the many ways in which these varieties differ from other varieties of Australian English, and their function as important vehicles for identity. |
25 March |
Talking about argumentJohn Smith John Smith has been teaching VCE English since 2003. A Kiwi by origin, he currently teaches at Aitken College but has experience in a range of other schools and across 4 different senior school systems. John is an experienced marker of VCE exams, including for BBE. Talking about argument and persuasive language My focus in this session will be on strategies that help students to begin by understanding the argument and then looking at the language. If students can learn to slow down, put down the highlighters, read the whole piece, think about it, identify the contention, analyse the structure of the argument, and then pick up the highlighters and look for uses of language – they will be able to develop a much more analytical response. Listing language techniques is an easy way out, a route to a very average mark. |