LOTE
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1.1 Communicating in a language other than English |
VELS Disciplinary Learning Domain LOTE (languages other than english)
Communicating in a language other than English
Students learn relevant KSBs for the language they're studying. Skills include:
- listening
- speaking
- reading
- viewing
- writing
- use of body language, visual cues and signs
- knowledge of linguistic elements, including vocabulary and grammar
- familiarity with a wide variety of texts and genres in print and electronic form.
Intercultural knowledge and language awareness
Fluency in another language fosters intercultural knowledge and "awareness of language as a system".
This dimension aims to develop students' knowledge of the connections between language and culture, and how culture is embedded throughout the communication system.
Students explore the influence of culture and language on their own life.
Multi-cultural communities organise social relations, information, and values in many ways.
Students develop the ability to rationally discuss and compare cultural differences.
Curiosity and openness to a variety of values and practices is encouraged and students gain in-depth knowledge of the diverse cultural traditions of the "source societies".
Software
Audacity - The Free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Audacity is useful for developing speaking and listening skills and for recording learning and assessment tasks.
OpenOffice.org - Free, multi-lingual Office suite
OpenOffice is a complete productivity suite that contains a word processer, spreadsheet, presentation, database and drawing program. It can be installed in many different languages, and active involvement in development of native language versions is encouraged. http://projects.openoffice.org/native-lang.html
Examples
- http://www.tsof.edu.au/research/Reports04/lowes.asp - Online tutorials in German language learning: "Audacity is also a useful programme for recording student oral language skills and in particular for teacher evaluation of any ‘common’ pronunciation difficulties."
- http://www.tsof.edu.au/research/reports05/mackey-smith.asp - Podcasting as a publication option: This study examines a group of students demonstrating a lack of engagement in traditional high literary focus subjects (English, LOTE, SOSE etc) in a radio broadcasting environment. The research goal was to test improvement in student engagement and confidence; therefore an increase in productivity in various literacy modes. "One of the most touching moments of this project came about when a boy with a learning difficulty (who does not share orally at all with the class) and another boy (who had no interest in engaging with anything the rest of the class were doing) spontaneously started playing with Audacity (audio editing program). These were not students who normally would choose each other to work with. The teacher of this class was very moved to see both students step well out of their comfort zones to experiment with their voices and work together."
- http://www.tasite.tas.edu.au/events2006/podcasts.html - In the LOTE (Languages other than English) area, a teacher may choose to produce learning materials that make use of a series of spoken phrases. They can produce these, perhaps using a native speaker, and release them via podcasting. Students can then have these downloaded to their computer or portable device for study off-line
- http://www.vitta.org.au/pubs/infonet/view.php?id=221 - Digitally Recording Oral Outcomes. In LOTE, all oral outcomes for the VCE have to be recorded and kept for archival purposes. Many LOTE teachers I know record their oral outcomes on cassette tape, which, as you can imagine, eats up an enormous amount of precious office space. Thankfully, there is no need to keep on using this 1970s technology because digitally recording oral outcomes is very easy, it saves space, and it is much more efficient because you can name each recording for easy retrieval.
References
- LOTE (http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/essential/discipline/lote/index.html) | Discipline-based Learning (http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/essential/discipline/index.html) | P-10 Curriculum and Standards (http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/essential/index.html) | VELS HOME (http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/)
- MLTAV (http://www.mltav.asn.au/) Modern Language Teachers' Association of Victoria Inc
- AFMLTA (http://www.afmlta.asn.au/) Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations Inc.
- NZALT (http://nzalt.org.nz/) New Zealand Association of Language Teachers Inc.
