Learning Area LOTE 1

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours

Teacher Candidates must meet the minimum academic study requirements for teaching in specialist areas, in accordance with the Victorian Institute of Teaching's Specialist Area Guidelines, for entry into this subject.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject introduces teacher candidates to the theory and practice of teaching Languages. With an emphasis on the nature of Languages education within Australian schools, and the Victorian education system and curriculum in particular, this subject examines the needs of language learners in the middle and senior years of schooling. Beginning with a theoretical foundation based on contemporary research in second language education about how languages are acquired and a communicative framework for understanding language teaching and learning, the subject then focuses on practical implications related to planning for, developing, and assessing learners’ communicative competence in a language other than English, together with intercultural understanding and awareness, number systems, and multimodal text types.

On completion of this subject, teacher candidates will have the knowledge, skills, and understanding to enable them to:

• Explain the theory and principles of second language education.
• Plan lessons, tasks, units of work, and assessment strategies that develop and evaluate learners’ skills in Languages.

The subject covers a range of the National Professional Standards for Teachers (for Graduate Teachers). In particular, the subject will contribute to students attaining the following standards:

1.2 Understanding how students learn

1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds

2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area

2.2 Content selection and organisation

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

3.1 Establish challenging learning goals

3.2 Plan, structure and sequence learning programs

There are 2 assessment tasks:

• Designing a communicative lesson (1600 words) due mid semester, 40%
• Designing a unit of work (2400 words) due end semester, 60%

Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Collection of readings.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On the completion of this course graduates will have the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to:

• Understand Secondary education as part of a spectrum of learning and development, linked to primary schooling and to post-schooling outcomes of further study and/or employment.
• Develop in-depth knowledge of the complexity and diversity of primary students’ learning and development
• Be expert in the disciplines they teach and committed to continual updating of their discipline knowledge;
• Be able to intelligently and creatively plan, implement and critique mandated curriculum.
• Be able to use data to identify and address the learning needs and capacities of individual students
• Be able to intentionally draw on a range of teaching practices to extend individual student’s learning and development
• Shape and deliver responsive and inclusive curricula.
• Be a self-reflective teacher who can work constructively and innovatively through relationships with parents, colleagues and the community across a range of contexts