Congratulations
We are very pleased to announce that the SAIL Program in conjunction
with the other activities run for the community in May Street, was a
winner of the National CommunityLink Volunteer Awards. We were one of
about thirty award winners in the State where the nominations totaled
2700!! Other winners included the Sacred Heart Mission in St. Kilda
and the Gay and Lesbian Help Line. We were by far the newest organization
to win and one of very few that cater for the immigrant community. The
award is a well deserved 'thanks' for all the people volunteering at
the SAIL Program. You can see our certificate hanging up in the foyer
of the church (although it is awarded under the name of the Southern
Sudanese Christian Fellowship - Father Don submitted our application
quite a while ago, before SAIL had its official name!).
Most of the $1000 we received will go towards the maintenance of the
bus which ferries the kids to and from the Program each week. We'd like
to thank Father Don very much for all the effort he put into the submission
for this award.
SAIL growing
It seems that every week the Program gets bigger. The reason for this
is that it is. Anyone interested in exponential growth would be pleased
to hear that just one year ago there was one tutor (Anna Grace) and
five students. Now we have about 25 tutors and nearly fifty students
- or at least that's what we had last week. Thankfully both numbers
still seem to be growing!!
E-SAIL / SAILing as you surf / SAIL caught in the Web…
Through both intentional and unintentional means we have managed to
get quite a presence on the internet. Most of the sites have the SAIL
Program as a place for either new volunteers or the African community
but a couple also have an article about us on them. If your are interested
or you know someone who may be please direct them to any of the following;
http://infowest.maribyrnong.vic.gov.au
www.eccv.com.au
www.govolunteer.com.au
Library
The library seems to be functioning without any major hitches. The
only problem seems to be tutors who don't know where books belong. Please
ask someone if you are not sure. It will save us time if we don't have
to check and replace books every week.
In short, there are three categories. Readers, which have different
coloured stickers on the spine, non-fiction, which always have a red
sticker on the spine and picture-story books which have a very naked
spine. Apart from these there is the tutor reference section and we
sincerely hope no-one gets these confused with the picture story books
just because they too have a naked spine!
Thank-yous
Thanks to everyone for keeping the library in order.
Thanks to Patrick for his help every week since the library was set
up doing something to make the library look or function better.
Thanks to Tessa and Rebecca for donating their old computers to the
Program.
Computers
At this stage computers may only be used by the older students when
there is a tutor present. In the near future we hope to have language-related
programs for them to use one at a time. If anyone has good programs
at home or knows any well-worth getting please let us know.
Chairs and tables are on their way
No longer will we have to deal with collapsing trestle tables and
wonky chairs! We have been emailing schools all over Melbourne, looking
for unwanted tables and chairs that are appropriately sized and suitable
for our kids to work at. The response has been overwhelming. Westbourne
Grammar, Korowa, Brighton Grammar, Camberwell Grammar and Ruyton are
all keen to help out. Now it's just a matter of collecting them and
setting them up. Anyone willing and able is more than welcome to help
collect and set up.
AMNESTY REFUGEE EXHIBITION
Amnesty International are seeking artwork from refugee youth to put
together an exhibition. We have been invited to submit some pieces for
this and for two of our students to come along to represent the community.
Any of the students who wish to, may do a drawing for this. Given that
the day is focussing on refugees the pictures should relate to the journey
to Australia, life in the camps, life in Sudan, what's good about Australia
and maybe even get a quote to put alongside the picture about Sudan
or Australia and anything in between. Be aware that some students may
not be comfortable with drawing some things- they don't have to contribute
if they don't want to. These must be done by the end of the session
on 1 December.
In-service
Review and Report
We are very grateful to Davina Lippman for taking the time to visit
us and talk about ESL with us. Here are a few of the ideas she gave
us:
A warmer
A 'warmer' is an informal activity done at the start of a session
that helps to clear the mind of unrelated stuff and focus. For example,
Davina got us to question other tutors about the places they had travelled
to, and then report back to the group. With the children, this could
be a simple questioning activity about their school, sport, family,
music or whatever interests them (allow them to question each other
and you, too, and not just answer your questions). It could even be
a song or a story that they like. The idea is that this will help establish
a routine, get them 'thinking in English' and settle them down a little
before the more 'structured' work begins.
Activities
Davina explained how groundwork for learning that was laid for most
of us at kindergarten and in the early years at school has been missed
by these children, many of whom have grown up without any formal education.
As such, the development of their gross and fine motor skills has suffered,
and she recommended some activities that we can do with them in addition
to their formal work (even with the older ones) to help improve on this.
Puzzles lift-the-flap books
painting pasting
stringing beads screwing and unscrewing jar lids
catch and throw mazes
hopscotch quoits
building block, skipping
stacking things weavin
Also - songs and games with actions are good - like Simon Says, What's
the time Mr Wolf, Open Shut Them, Incy Wincy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle.
It is also a good idea to use thick crayons or textas for writing, even
for older children, as many find writing with a thin pencil difficult.
Correction
Everyone agreed that it was hard to know how often to correct the students
- do you correct every single mistake they make? Do you correct mistakes
in their speech or just their written work? We discussed the fact that
speaking a language relates so much to ego and confidence, as it affects
how you present yourself and how you are seen by others, and we need
to be careful not to damage the kids confidence by pulling them up on
every single mistake. On the other hand, some corrections need to be
made in order that they learn to speak English well. We agreed that
a good way to correct the children's oral English is by 'modelling',
demonstrating the correct version of what they say as a part of conversation,
eg:
Student: Yesterday, I goed to the park.
Tutor: Oh, you went to the park? What did you do there?
A few people said that they tended to correct mistakes in the written
English more than the spoken, and Davina agreed that this allowed them
an opportunity to speak without hesitation, while they can still learn
the correct grammar and syntax through the writing.
Praise
Davina was impressed by how nice, friendly and encouraging our tutors
were. She stressed the idea that you CANNOT overpraise these children
in their learning, and Matthew even suggested the idea that for every
criticism you should give two compliments - and while this is obviously
not always possible, as a concept it's a good one for us to keep in
mind.
Pronounciation
Everyone has noticed that the kids mix up their 'ch' and 'sh' sounds,
as these letters are pronounced oppositely in their languages. Also,
the vowel sounds are very difficult to master, which led to a long discussion
on the various inconsistencies of English and how impossible it is to
learn! A few suggestions for helping them learn how to pronounce and
spell words correctly included: reading to them a lot, getting them
to read to you,
making lists or sheets of words that share the same phonics eg. all
these are 'ate' words - late, plate, hate. Also lists of sounds, eg.
all these letters can make the sound 'or' (as in you 'or' me) - or,
aw, oa, our, ore. Even lists or activities based around'blends,' more
than one consonant - like br, pl, dr, ck etc.
Student's behaviour
In terms of encouraging good behaviour, again, says Davina, we can't
praise enough! We can also encourage them to take pride in their work
by keep pencils sharp, their books neat, and getting them to help you
pack up etc. Davina pointed out that the children are looking as to
us what behaviour is or isn't acceptable. You need to set the limits
so that the children know whether or not what they are doing is right
or wrong.
Student's home life
Rebecca painted a very vivid picture of what she found when she visited
her students' house. Children everywhere, lots of mess, and the older
children responsible for a lot of the jobs, and for looking after all
the younger kids. Add to this the lack of English spoken by most of
the parents, and it makes a very difficult environment in which to do
any homework, or consolidate what is learned at school.
In conclusion
Davina was impressed by the good job everyone is doing, and urges
us to keep it up!
What is most important, she says, is that the kids know that for an
hour each week they have someone's full attention. This is a big deal
given that family life is fairly chaotic, and even better that the attention
you give them is in English!
THE SAIL COMING DOWN OVER SUMMER
We are aware that many people are going away over summer and also
that the kids probably need a break. We will definitely shut down over
the Christmas- New Year week but we would like to know, apart from this
time when people are unable or unwilling to come. Please fill out the
form below or tell Anna Grace or Matthew what dates you can't come.
Responses will determine when we close and when we start up again for
2002.
Thanks as always for your ongoing involvement in the SAIL Program.
Matthew and Anna Grace.
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