2020-4 Spring Newsletter
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From the President, Spring 2020
Welcome to Term 4 and the JLTAV Spring Newsletter. Our year continues to be a challenging time for students, parents, families and teachers. We sincerely hope our colleagues and friends in the Japanese teaching community in Victoria and further afield continue to keep safe and well.
Even though we returned to remote learning and teaching in Term 3, as an Association we were still able to support our members in a number of ways. This year the materials prepared for the Year 12 Morning were shared to members via Google Drive. The materials included:
- Videos explaining the oral and written exams for Japanese Second Language
- Good and bad mock oral example videos
- A practice exam with suggested answers
- Listening texts to accompany the practice exam
- A booklet outlining information about the oral and written exams
- A university presentation prepared by Dr Robyn Spence-Brown, the JLTAV Tertiary Liaison from Monash University
Many thanks to Julie Devine who prepared the resources for this event. Julie brings a wealth of knowledge and vast experience to the Year 12 Morning each year and we greatly appreciate Julie’s support.
To further support VCE teachers we have developed two additional practice exams and these are available for purchase by JLTAV and non-JLTAV members. Each exam package costs $100 (JLTAV member) and $170 (non-JLTAV member) and includes:
- A copy of the practice exam
- An answer key with suggested marks for each question
- Sample responses to the writing tasks
- Listening tracks
Click on the link below to place an order for the first practice exam:
Click on the link below to place an order for the second practice exam:
A file has been included on the JLTAV website and in this newsletter that maps the content across the three exams.
Please note that the VCE materials produced by the JLTAV have not been endorsed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
As an Association we are committed to the wellbeing of our members during this challenging year. On Wednesday 9 September, Debbie West presented through Google Meet ‘Mindfulness with a Zen Focus’. This was a wonderful opportunity to relax and unwind at the start of the evening. Many thanks to Debbie for presenting this session and for sharing her wealth of knowledge. Many thanks also to Kenny Chan from Drawing With Us who kindly recorded a manga drawing class for Japanese teachers. This has been uploaded to the JLTAV YouTube channel and can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEZMQupnFKk
This video will be available until Monday 9 November.
We continue to update the JLTAV Facebook page and throughout this term we have shared interesting links focusing on wellbeing during this pandemic.
2020 JLTAV Calligraphy Competition – Important changes to the due date and submission of entries
We are pleased to advise that the due date for entries for the 2020 JLTAV Calligraphy Competition has been extended until Thursday 5 November given the onsite return date for students.
Details of this competition can be found on the JLTAV website at: https://www.jltav.org.au/events/calligraphy-competition-2020/
Given the current situation, we will also accept entries completed with a brush pen if a calligraphy brush is not available. Entries completed with a calligraphy brush will still be accepted.
Due to delays with the mail caused by the recent restrictions, we will accept scanned or photographed entries sent as PDF files only (photo files are too large to email). Please organise a separate file for each student and the file name saved with the name of the student and their school. For example, Monash SC Mary Smith.pdf. Please send the entries to jltavcommittee@gmail.com.
Entries will still be accepted by post. Please note that all mail will be collected on Thursday 5 November only and late entries will not be accepted. We suggest sending entries via Express Post or email as outlined above.
Shortly we will launch our membership forms for 2021. We are pleased to keep the membership fees the same in 2021. Even though we have been unable to run many of the events we would usually run during the year, we have been able to support members in 2020 through:
- Short instructional tutorials on the JLTAV YouTube channel for Classkick, Gimkit, Nearpod, PowerPoint, Seesaw and Google Classroom, to support colleagues during remote learning and teaching
- Year 12 Morning Google Drive folder of materials
- Two practice exams in addition to the practice exam created for the Year 12 Morning. A total of three practice exams have been created to support students studying Unit 3/4 Japanese Second Language and to prepare them for the new exam format for 2020.
- ‘Mindfulness with a Zen Focus’ professional learning session presented by Debbie West
- Manga drawing workshop presented by Kenny Chan from Drawing With Us
- Calligraphy Competition
- Organising online exchanges with schools in the Osaka Prefecture through the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau (OCTB)
- Posts on the JLTAV Facebook page before the return to face-to-face teaching in Term 4 sharing different teaching ideas and resources
We look forward to 2021 and being able to offer more events and activities for teachers and students.
I wish everyone a successful Term 4 and all the best with report writing and assessment as the year draws to an end. I wish all the students studying Unit 3/4 Japanese great success in their end of year exams. Take care and stay safe in this current environment.
Nathan Lane
President, JLTAV Inc. (Reg. No. A0024691U)
Invitation to Online Exchanges with Schools in Osaka Prefecture
Dear Sensei-gata
Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau (OCTB) is organising an online exchange program with schools in Osaka.
For more information, please refer to the documents below:
(The ‘Confirmation Form’ enables teachers from Victoria and Osaka to communicate and understand each other’s rules and to ensure the protection of all students involved.)
2020-3 Winter Newsletter
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From the President, Winter 2020
From the President
Welcome to Term 3 and the JLTAV Winter Newsletter. Term 2 was a disjointed term as we moved from face-to-face teaching and learning to an online environment, and then back to face-to-face classes. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for everyone. We hope our colleagues and friends in the Japanese teaching community in Victoria and further afield continue to keep safe and well.
At the beginning of Term 2, we held our Annual General Meeting online. Many thanks to our members who attended the online AGM and a very warm welcome to the 2020 JLTAV Committee.
Unfortunately due to the current situation, the events we usually hold during Terms 2 and 3 have been postponed. We are still very much committed to the professional learning of our members. For a number of years we have run a successful YouTube channel. To support our colleagues during this time, some of our tech-savvy teachers put together short downloadable videos to help navigate some of our favourite online tools for teaching and learning Japanese. These tools include: Classkick, Gimkit, Nearpod, PowerPoint, Seesaw and Google Classroom. We very much appreciate the expertise, generosity and incredible talent of our colleagues who put these videos together: Jan Chalmer, Shingo Gibson-Suzuki, Irene Ong and Andrew Truong. The JLTAV YouTube channel is available for any languages teacher to access.
At the start of Term 3, we usually run the ‘Year 12 Morning’. This year a new Study Design for Units 3 and 4 languages has commenced. It is important for students studying Units 3 and 4 Japanese that they understand the new requirements for the oral and written exams. As a way to support both teachers and students, the committee decided to make the resources distributed at the Year 12 Morning available to our members for free via Google Drive. This includes a recording of the information that would usually be presented on the day of the event. During Term 3 we will inform teachers when the materials will be ready, how to access them, and for how long access will be available. In order to receive the link to these materials, please complete the form here:
https://forms.gle/FVCN9zctYsh4D8zM8
Please register your school once only. Materials will be made available to JLTAV members only.
To further support VCE teachers we have developed a second practice exam. This is available for purchase by JLTAV and non-JLTAV members. The exam package costs $100 (JLTAV member) and $170 (non-JLTAV member) and includes:
- A copy of the practice exam
- An answer key with suggested marks for each question
- Sample responses to the writing tasks
- A CD of the listening tracks
Please note that the practice exam materials produced by the JLTAV have not been endorsed by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
Click on the link below to place an order for this exam:
Thank you to the students at Santa Maria College Northcote for putting together a set of image-based hiragana mnemonic flashcards. The flashcards are available in two pdf files on the JLTAV website. In order to complete the set we are looking for mnemonics for the following hiragana characters: つ、ぬ、ね、る、れ、ろ、ゆ、ま、み、め. If you have students who could create mnemonics for these characters could you please let me know via email: nlane@mackillopsh.vic.edu.au. We hope this will be a useful resource for teachers and students.
Over the past few years we have held a highly successful immersion weekend. This is the perfect opportunity for non-native teachers of Japanese to focus on developing and extending their Japanese language skills in an immersive environment. We hope to organise this event later in the year. Given the uncertainty around when international borders will open and travel between Australia and Japan will resume, this weekend will be the perfect opportunity to feel like we are in Japan.
Towards the end of the term on Monday 14 September our second Model UN Conference in Japanese will be held at the Treasury Theatre in East Melbourne. Many thanks to Taryn Young from the Department of Education and Training, and Dr Sally Northfield from the UNAA Victoria for their support in organising this event.
It was difficult to choose a winning entry for the 2020 JLTAV Events Poster Competition so we chose three winning designs. Congratulations to the following students:
Chrysandra Ingles (Year 10) from Santa Maria College
Reegan Davis (Year 8) from Lilydale Heights College
Ashley Jackson (Year 9) from Kambrya College
These posters will be included on the front cover of the 2020 Year 12 Morning booklet and materials to promote the Primary Professional Learning Day and Immersion Weekend.
Our highly successful calligraphy competition will again be held during Term 3. Details of this competition will be launched shortly.
We welcome members to complete our professional learning survey (here). As an association we are committed to providing professional learning to our members. Your feedback is valuable in setting the direction for the events we organise in the future and we will take on board your suggestions.
Term 3 is the time when secondary students make decisions regarding their subject choices for the following year. As a way to support teachers during this time, links to advocacy resources have been included on the JLTAV website. We hope you find these resources useful.
The JLTAV Committee continue to work hard to organise events throughout the year and I thank them for all their hard work, generosity and commitment to the Association. Contact details of the 2020 committee have been included in this newsletter.
I wish everyone a successful Term 3 and thank you for your support of the JLTAV Inc. Take care and stay safe in this current environment.
Nathan Lane
President, JLTAV Inc. (Reg. No. A0024691U)
2020-2 Autumn Newsletter
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From the President, Autumn 2020
From the President
Welcome to Term 2 and the JLTAV Autumn Newsletter. I hope everyone had a great start to the new school year. We are currently in an environment we have never experienced before and on behalf of the JLTAV Committee I hope all our colleagues are staying safe and taking care throughout this very difficult time.
It is with great disappointment that we had to postpone our Primary Professional Learning Day in Term 1 and Annual Conference at the start of Term 2. We are working with the conference venue to organise the event for 2021. The 2021 JLTAV Annual Conference will be held on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 March.
We held our 2020 Annual General Meeting online on Friday 17 April and I extend a very warm welcome to our 2020 committee. Many thanks to our committee who generously give up their time to support the Association. The 2020 committee member details can be found on the JLTAV website under ‘About Us’.
As an Association we are committed to supporting our colleagues and ensuring Japanese Language Education continues to flourish in Victoria. To support our colleagues as we move to online learning in Term 2 we are in the process of putting together some videos on how to use various digital tools to learn and teach Japanese. We will upload these onto the JLTAV YouTube channel as soon as they are finished. We have also put together a survey for JLTAV members to find out from teachers the support they require throughout 2020.
In this newsletter you will find details of the Year 12 Morning in July at the Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University Clayton (Sunday 19 July) and at Loreto College Ballarat (Sunday 26 July). We are pleased to be able to support our colleagues in regional areas by again offering the seminar in Ballarat. The venue at Loreto College holds 144 seats and as soon as this venue becomes full, students and teachers will need to attend the session at the Robert Blackwood Hall in Monash University Clayton. Teachers will be informed of this and we encourage teachers to register early to avoid disappointment. The same content will be presented in both locations. Details on how to register are included in this newsletter.
In 2020 the JLTAV is again combining with The United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria Division) to simulate a session of the UN General Assembly in Japanese. This Model UN Conference will be held on Thursday 23 July. This is an exciting opportunity for senior students to use their Japanese in an authentic context. Students will be provided with support materials in Japanese to use on the day. Our inaugural Model UN in Japanese held in 2019 was a great success and we hope lots of schools will participate in this year’s event. Further details and registration information can be found here.
I wish everyone all the best for Term 2. Stay safe and take care.
Nathan Lane
President, JLTAV Inc. (Reg. No. A0024691U)
Refund form for the conference
Dear Sensei-gata,
Thank you for your patience as we have put together the refund form for the conference. Please submit one form per school and make sure all details are correct. The form can be found here.
May the holidays provide a time for you to relax and unwind. Above all, please stay safe and take care in this current environment.
Thank you for your support of the JLTAV Inc. We look forward to seeing you at our conference in 2021.
Regards,
Nathan Lane
President
JLTAV Inc. (Reg. No. A0024691U)
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Nathan Lane
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning
p. 03 5032 9771
2020-1 Summer Newsletter
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From the President, Summer 2020
Welcome to Term 1 and the JLTAV Summer Newsletter. I hope you have all had an enjoyable holiday break and are refreshed and energised to start the new school year.
Another year begins and we are pleased to continue to offer teachers and students a range of events and activities throughout 2020. We will promote our events through the JLTAV website, Nihongo Victoria, the JLTAV and Japanese Language Teachers of Australia Facebook pages as well as through the Department of Education and Training Languages Regional Project Officers.
Thank you to the students and schools who supported our 2019 calligraphy and sticker competitions. We have included the results of these competitions in this newsletter. Please encourage your students to submit an entry for our 2020 JLTAV events poster competition.
Our language immersion weekend to support non-native teachers of Japanese was held early in Term 4, 2019 from 11 to 13 October. The event was held at a new venue, the Mantra Lorne. A report on this event is included in this newsletter. Many thanks to Kathleen Duquemin for organising the weekend and to our mentor teachers: Yuichi Deguchi, Takanori Hayakawa and Junko Nichols who generously gave their time to facilitate this weekend and shared their wealth of knowledge with us.
We look forward to seeing you at this year’s JLTAV Annual Conference on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 April at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Wharf. Our annual conference keeps going from strength to strength and we have again been able to put together an exciting program. Many thanks to our colleagues who will be presenting this year. Our conference is becoming a national event as we are seeing more presenters and delegates from interstate. Further details on the conference program will be launched at the start of the new school year. Our Annual General Meeting will again be held at this year’s conference on Friday 17 April from 5.00 to 5.30pm. We encourage members to nominate themselves to join the JLTAV committee for 2020. One gains a lot of satisfaction from being involved in the Association and ensuring Japanese Language Education continues to flourish in Victoria.
In 2017 we launched the JLTAV Award, however, we are yet to award this to one of our member teachers. Details of the nomination process for this award are outlined in this newsletter. We extend our thanks to the MLTAV for allowing us to adapt and use their wording.
Sincere thanks to the Department of Education and Training (DET) for their great support and for providing a yearly grant to enable us to organise student events and professional learning for teachers. We look forward to the ongoing support from the DET in 2020.
It was with great sadness towards the end of 2019 that we reported the passing of Mrs Mioko Wood, a life member of the JLTAV. Included in this newsletter is a vale to Mrs Wood written by Anne de Kretser and myself.
In 2020 we see the full implementation of the new Study Design for VCE Japanese Second Language. We will be offering sessions on the new Study Design at the conference. We wish all our VCE students great success in their Japanese studies in 2020.
On behalf of the committee I thank you all for your support of the JLTAV. I wish everyone all the best for the start of the 2020 school year.
Nathan Lane
President
JLTAV Inc. (Reg. No. A0024691U)