NEWSLETTER: Dandenong campus (September2005)

The 'let us know' list

1. If any of your contact details have changed, please let us know.
2. If you are planning to have contact with your student outside of SAIL hours you must let us know first and complete the contact request form.
3. If you intend to bring a friend to SAIL please direct them to the website first and direct them to apply online or just let us know beforehand.
4. Let us know if you are going to miss a Saturday by email, phone or the "Can't Come Sheet"- now also online here!
5. Please check and read your emails each week- if possible, Friday is best!
6. Please let us know before you speak publicly or publish an article about SAIL.

Ongoing offers

1. Photocopying- for any SAIL related photocopying, simply mark the pages from the books you want copied and give the book to Matthew, Jackie, Matt or the library crew on Saturday- it will be ready for you the following week!

2. If you would like to post an ad or some other information relating to SAIL or another not-for-profit venture in which you are involved, please email it to SAIL@africanoz.com to be included in the next newsletter.

3. The Tutor Resources section of the website is available at all times to provide tutors with ideas, games, work-sheets and support. We strongly suggest that if you are experiencing difficulties of any kind when working with your student, you post a request for advice on the SAIL Panel of Experts Bulletin Board (accessible from the Tutor Resources section). Tutor Resources can be accessed from here!


Please read this newsletter in the following week, it gives updates on SAIL past, present and future!

Come one, come all to SAIL’s 4th Birthday Carnival on Saturday 3 September! Prepare for party food, party activities and party performances on Saturday 3 September to celebrate four years of SAILing! The celebrations will kick off at about 12.15pm when we will be graced by a performance by a West African Drumming Group, presentation of family portrait photos to students, plus a couple of other surprises for students, including a balloon artist and photo show covering images of the history of Dandenong SAIL… This will be followed by the cutting of the SAIL birthday cake!

A birthday party needs one thing; a birthday cake…. or twenty! For those with a penchant for cake baking, your contributions are very welcome on the day! Please deliver them directly to the celebrated culinary team!

We hope you will join us at the annual cross-campus celebrations at 7:30pm at 82 Perry Street Collingwood where you can meet fellow Footscray tutors, say hello to the Dandenong and Altona folks, swap stories of the year gone by and celebrate another year of SAIL. Please BYO drinks and we’ll provide the nibbles.

We are most interested in your feedback about the program, as we are always looking for new ideas and suggestions as to how we can make things work even better and offer more effective support for both tutors and students. In the coming fortnight a survey will be sent by email. We hope you will participate and offer us some guidance on how the SAILing can be even smoother. Please don’t hold back on all your exciting ideas (or your constructive criticisms) – we are seeking every contribution from the tutor perspective!

Students will also have their say, and this Saturday 27th August we will make available a student survey, which is to be completed during the session. Not all questions will be relevant for every student, nor will students have answers for every question, however all we ask is that you assist students to answer as best they can. You may find some students struggle with the English required; in such cases pair up with another student who can assist with interpreting. Please Jackie or Matt if you have any other questions at all about this.

We just wanted to remind SAIL tutors of the policy regarding taking SAILors on excursions outside SAIL time. No activity is to happen without the consent of both the parents AND the SAIL co-ordinators. In addition, a request form must be completed before the excursion takes place. This mandates that SAIL excursions must be attended by at least two volunteers at any one time. This form, in English and Arabic is available from the website here! If you have any queries about this, please let us know.

What a birthday present! The SAIL Dandenong Library once seemed but a dream, however after one and a half years, we now have the reality of our very own library. In a matter of days Des has built the space, putting up walls and building in the shelves. The entrance is from a door on the stage in the main hall, and thanks to the SAIL Librarian extraordinaire, Leonee, the library will soon be a fully functioning resource for all SAILors. The library will also house a couple of computers. Over the next few weeks please pop up and check out all the valuable materials that will be available for assisting with planning your lessons.

Some might have noticed there have been some changes in the way that our littlies are being looked after on Saturdays. With the increasing numbers we are currently trying to give the Junior SAILors a space of their own, and hence the right-hand back corner of the hall is being set up as a special place just for them. The other exciting SAIL Junior news is that Belinda has kindly accepted the position of the first ever SAIL Dandenong Junior Coordinator, and will be working with all of our committed Junior tutors to provide lots of activities and games for the littlest SAILors.

As the current theme “Space, Space Travel and the Planets” draws to a close next Saturday, we are planning ahead with the announcement of the next theme: “The Environment”. There are a few environmentally minded tutors about, so if any of you have any particular ideas about sources for worksheets or lesson ideas we would be happy to arrange for photocopying or sharing of such information.

Over the next few weeks Matt will be sorting through the two boxes containing all the students folders with the aim of having some sort of alphabetised system in place to make access easier for all. To make Matt’s sorting sustainable, please ensure that folders are returned to the correct place in the box.

On top of general (yet still well deserved thanks) for all our volunteers, a huge thankyou also to those who contribute to tidying up tables and chairs every Saturday afternoon, your services are invaluable and
much appreciated!

Socially unacceptable as it is, we ask for all your SAIL-related photos as a birthday present, but we will pay for it… which arguably does not make it a present, ah well. In an effort to keep good records of SAIL’s endless growth and development, we put out an annual plea for copies of these photos. SAIL will be glad to pay reproduction costs.

While we are on the topic, and courtesy of two web-savvy SAILors there are two online photo galleries which now display images from the SAIL Program. The first, taken by Pavol at Footscray campus Christmas last year, is available here! .

To see snaps of the newest ship in the SAIL fleet, SAIL Altona, visit here! . Here you will find snaps from the whole campus camp to the Wimmera where a group of SAILors went tree planting.

For the second year running, the good producers of the Medicine Revue at Melbourne University have offered to donate all proceeds of their shows to the SAIL Program. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support and to plug their laugh-a-minute (or so they tell us) show.

25th to 27th August, 8pm at Union Theatre, ground floor Union House, University of Melbourne, $10 concession/$15 full Bookings: 8344 7447 or go to www.union.unimelb.edu.au/mudfest

The library at Footscray now boasts a series of rare books especially concerned with all things Sudanese. The following titles are available through the Sudanese Australian Research Centre part of the SAIL Footscray library. Volunteers are welcome to use these texts for academic purposes at any time after consultation with the library team.

1. Cleaned the Crocodile's Teeth, Nuer Song
2. Dinka of the Sudan
3. Dinka Vowel System (Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics, 82)
4. Divinity and Experience: The Religion of the Dinka
5. Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Minnesota
6. Socio-Political Order (Studies on Emergencies and Disaster Relief, 9)
7. South Sudan: Forgotten Tragedy
8. Sudan: North Against South (World in Conflict)
9. Who Is Ruling in South Sudan?: The Role of Ngos in Rebuilding

In addition, and with great excitement, we are thrilled to announce the pending arrival of the world’s first Dinka (predominant language of SAILors at Footscray and Altona campus) dictionaries. We have placed an order through the Sydney publishing house for numerous copies of the picture dictionary. They will be available through the library within the next month. We especially encourage those with newly arrived students to make use of them as a ready-made beginner’s tool in SAIL time.

It has been another hectic cycle of SAILing out and about!. 12 SAILors went to see Rove Live… live! The highlight of the evening was seeing evidence that there is no minimum IQ requirement for Big Brother participants: the latest evictee, Melanie, showed her immense lack of brain activity when she forgot the question she had just been asked?! A gaggle of SAILors went to see Circus Royale in action complete with cavorting cows and five SAILors saw the Production Company’s version of Kiss Me Kate.

Care of the SAIL About team, SAIL has had a number of tickets donated to ACMI for film screenings. There are plenty of tickets to take SAIL Adults with their babies (the “Film Bub” sessions are on Tuesdays at 11am) or for some of the Australian classics on Saturday afternoons. If you would like to take SAILor buddies to one of these, please email sail@africanoz.com – they are valid for two months.

We are also keen to hear from all SAILors who would like to join a local tree planting excursion on 24 September 2005. It will be a good day of outside activity (bring on spring-time?!) and community building. If you would like to join the trip, please email Matthew at sail@africanoz.com for details. Transport will be provided.

The SAIL About team have compiled the following list of upcoming free events for SAILors. If you do go on one of these events, please ensure you read the webpage at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sail/tutor.htm#work7 first.

ARTPLAY
ArtPlay Garden
Come and get your hands dirty and help the ArtPlay garden grow. Take away a planting of your own too!
Date(s) Sunday 23 October
Time 1pm to 3pm, for ages 6 to 10.
How to book To book, call 9664 7900 (www.artplay.com.au)
Where ArtPlay is easy to find in Birrarung Marr, next to Federation Square. Catch a train or tram to Flinders Street Station or drive and park in Federation Square carpark. If travelling by bus, parking is available nearby on St Kilda Road and drop of points are available in Russell Place.

ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image)
Free animated kids flicks
Animated story-time favourites and Disney classics including Winnie the Pooh and Doctor De Soto.
Date(s) Mon 19 Sep - Fri 23 &
Mon 26 Sep - Fri 30
Time Starts 11am.
Running time: 48mins
How to book Tickets from Box Office essential. To book, call 8663 2583. (www.acmi.net.au)
Where Located: Federation Square, Flinders Street
The Arts Centre
The Magic Tent: The Fantastic World of the Circus
The Magic Tent is a free exhibition exploring the wonder and excitement of circus through the eyes of children. The exhibition is on display at the Arts Centre from 16 July – 2 October and is designed for children 5-12 years of age. A hands-on, interactive exhibition with dress ups, a colouring table, wobbly carnival mirrors and musical instruments to play, The Magic Tent is designed to engage children in a fun learning environment.
Date(s) 16 Jul 2005 - 2 Oct 2005
How to book Tickets from Box Office essential. To book, call 8663 2583. (www.acmi.net.au)
Where The Arts Centre, George Adams Gallery
100 St Kilda Road
MELBOURNE VIC 3004
Federation Square

NZ Big Day Out
The Waka and Te Kotahitanga will be part of a New Zealand Day. Federation Square will come alive with Maori kapahaka and Polynesian cultural groups from 12.00 onwards. At 5.30 pm the Bledisloe Cup will be screened LIVE at Federation Square. There you will be able to learn the Haka and join the All Blacks for a simultaneous Haka. Then the award winning film, the Whale Rider, will be shown at ACMI. To top this remarkable day off Rawiri Paratene, the grandfather in the Whale Rider film, will be here in person as a guest of the New Zealand Paratene, will be here in person as a guest of the New Zealand Consulate and community.Te Kotahitanga will provide a special insight into the uniwue and spiritual world of the Maori people. A day of indigenous culture form the Tangata whenua the indigenous people our nearest neghbor in not to be missed.
Date(s) Saturday 3 September
Time 12.00pm to 5.30 pm
How to book No bookings necessary
Where Federation Square, Flinders Street
The Magic Word: Musical Theatre
A spacecraft crashes to Earth and Zanna the alien is on a special mission to find the secret code to make people feel good & win friends. From award-winning Brainstorm Productions. No bookings necessary.
Date(s) Monday 19 September
Time 10.00am & 1.00pm, suits ages 3-10 years
How to book No bookings necessary
Where BMW Edge, Federation Square, Flinders Street

The Jellybugs Musical Show
Highly popular children’s music band of four funky performers and their mascot Jelly. It’s music, drama and dance just for fun.
Date(s) Tuesday 20 & Thursday 22 Sep
Time 10.30am & 1pm, suits ages 2-8 years
How to book No bookings necessary
Where BMW Edge, Federation Square, Flinders Street

If you want a piece of the action for ticketed events, please email sail@africanoz.com to register your interest in taking other SAILors!

As part of the Australian Football League, Football Victoria and Department of Victorian Communities sponsored Multicultural Football Program, families representing several multicultural communities as well as other Australians attended a game of Australian football for the first time as part of the AFL's Family Weekend Round of matches. Families from the SAIL Program went along to experience Australian Football by watching the Western Bulldogs v St Kilda game on Sunday 3 July 2005 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The families travel by bus to the MCG and upon their arrival were officially welcomed by the Western Bulldogs President, David Smorgon and the St Kilda President Rod Butterss. All the children among the families were presented with Australian football introductory packs by Victorian Multicultural Police Officers.

There has been a big public reaction to the TV mokumentary currently airing on the ABC called “We could be heroes; finding the Australian of the Year.” People have responded especially to the Ja’mie character who “holds the Australian record for the largest number of children sponsored through Global Vision.” All the children are Sudanese, as is her friend who is in immigration detention.

The images of the Sudanese children she sponsors were all taken in Sudan last year by SAILor, Matthew Albert (that’s the trivial bit?!). For the record, though, to the best of our knowledge the notion that Southern Sudanese people have been put in detention, as shown in the program, is inaccurate. A number of Northern Sudanese people were put in detention for extended periods (including one man who was inside for over 7 years) but none from the South have been processed this way.