Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages paper

[Cris Edmonds-Wathen]

If you look at p. 32, you can see that the 300-400 hours is intended to cover the entire time from Foundation to Year 6 - closer to 1-2 hours per week. I hope a lot more than that is allocated to bilingual programs

Cris Edmonds-Wathen

-----Original Message-----
From: RNLD Admin <contact.rnld at gmail.com>
To: r-n-l-d at unimelb.edu.au
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:38:06 +1100
Subject: Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages paper

Forwarded from Adriano Truscott <Adriano.Truscott at det.wa.edu.au>

Hi all,


In case you haven't seen this yet, the Draft Shape of the Australian
Curriculum: Languages paper has been released for consultation.  You can
give feedback at <http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/languages.html>. The
consultation period ends 7th April.

Language specific curriculum will be written, so it's important to let them
know how you feel about your language program. A "Framework for Australian
Languages" will also be written (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
languages are grouped now as "Australian languages").

On p.23, the document recognises some of the different contexts for
language, including mother tongue/first language. On the same page, it gives
300-400 hours over the year for LANGUAGE AS A SUBJECT programs (which works
out to about 3 hours a week from year 1-6), but it also says how more time
will be needed for bilingual programs, too (Language as 'medium of
instruction'). This....is a good thing.

Take care,
Adriano



An article about this was published on 1 February — Push for indigenous
languages<http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/8750129/push-for-indigenous-languages/>by
Bethany Hiatt The West Australian



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