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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 via the online "Can't Come Sheet".
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 the
co-ordinators on Saturday- it will be ready for you the following week!
2. 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.
Diary dates
1.
The week 5 tutor talks for 2006 occur on 8 April, 13 May, 17 June, 22
July, 2 September (SAIL's birthday), 7 October, 11 November, 16
December (Christmas)
2. If you are interested in attending any upcoming African Australian events click here for the details. Please read this newsletter in the following week, it gives updates on SAIL past, present and future!
Week Five Talks Tim Burch will be coming back for a repeat performance of his popular tutor talk for this coming week five. Following lunch and drop-offs on Saturday 15th
April at 1.15pm, Tim will be visiting to talk to tutors about teaching
strategies with children and managing difficult behaviour. Themes There are just two weeks of Commonwealth Games left, and the final week will culminate in a Mini Games of our own. The SAIL Games will include world class events such as three-legged races, egg and spoon races and others. The SAIL Games will take place during lunch of week 5. As at the real thing, we expect Australia will win everything. The
next theme will be ‘threatened and extinct species’ which includes any
animals that are currently under threat, or a species that is already
extinct - this could include dinosaurs or civil libertarian politicians! The display board has been looking rather bare this year. If
students would like to display their work please feel free to hang it
up for all to see and appreciate, whether it is related to the theme or
not. Coordinator in training We are very pleased to welcome Nik Tan as a SAIL Coordinator in training! Nik,
a former Footscray SAILor who jumped ship, will be attending Dandenong
every Saturday and assisting Matt and Jackie with the logistics of the
program. Please feel free to approach Nik for help or advice on
Saturdays. Church Garden and car-park Just a quick reminder to keep an eye on students when outside in the church grounds. Children need to be supervised at all times and care taken to ensure that the gardens and flowers are well looked after. Please
encourage everyone to use pathways and to walk around flowerbeds.
Thanks to those who are already discouraging children from playing in
the carpark, and particularly from playing around cars. A
small note: while it is possible that the next Mozart is in our midst,
please encourage the potential Mozarts to practice at home rather than
on the piano in the hall. We understand that it has requested advice
for an intervention order as a result of a recent bashing of it by a
two year old.
Excursions There have been a couple of fabulous excursions for SAILors over the last few weeks. Thanks
to the connections of Nicole and some assistance with transport from
Dianne and Danielle, four of our littlest students were treated to all
the sing-a-long skivvy excitement of a Wiggles concert. On Tuesday this week two familes experienced “Suessical” the musical at the Mt Scopus Memorial College. This all-singing- and-dancing musical extravaganza was based on the characters and stories of the children’s author, Dr Seusss. Thankyou to Leon for assisting with transport on the night. Teacher consultants Tracy and Karen are continuing to do a wonderful job with assessing our students’ reading. If your student has not yet been assessed please let Jackie know. Tracy
and Karen will be assisting you to use the assessments and reading
focus recommendations to assist with guiding students’ reading and to
record progress. Please see Jackie if you would like to know more about this program. WholeSAIL news SAIL About and experience the Sights, Sounds and Tastes of Africa! If
you are looking for an excuse to take SAILors into town, here’s an
option! The Arts Centre and the African community present free music,
dance, storytelling and performances, and food for purchase with the
foyers of Hamer Hall transformed into a thriving African marketplace.
Please fill out the usual forms if you intend to SAIL away to the Hall
for this. Free Activities 23 April | 12noon -5pm | the Arts Centre, Hamer Hall foyers
SAILor’s Long Journey
Most
SAILors have amazing stories to tell but few are documented. This has
just changed for one SAILor, Sara Karim, about whom a book has just
been released. By Melbourne journalist, Peter Browne the book was
recently published and titled “The Longest Journey”.
It compiles first-hand interviews of refugees, policy makers, aid
workers and officials to track the Sudanese refugee journey from
Nairobi, Kakuma, Geneva, Canberra and Melbourne. The author discusses
the opportunities and obstacles facing refugees in the resettlement
process, and asks if Australia’s resettlement policy is really fair. An exceptional read and great insight into the experience of the majority of SAILors. SAIL About to Portland The
first SAIL camp of the year saw 8 SAILor teens hiking the Great South
Western Walk, near Portland, Western Victoria. In spite of some torrid
weather that saw everyone in bed at 8:30pm one night, the camp was a
great success. Of
note were the four boys who attended and spent half the camp writing
raps and the other half collecting shells on the beach (‘aw man, this
is fully beautiful’). In honour of this mixture of activities and the
dress code adopted by the SAILors in attendance, the camp was labeled
‘Gangstars and seashells’. Big-up yo! A fuller report is on the website of the organizers from the Friends of the Walk – click here.
Job offer - Beacon Foundation Project Coordinator Victoria’s
Beacon Foundation is seeking a full-time Project Coordinator to manage
the foundation’s projects and to provide support for the rest of the
team. The Foundation is currently focused on the “No Dole” project,
which specifically targets Victorian youth and aims to strengthen
connections between students, business, industry and the community. For
more information, contact Jane Artup on 0404 465 493 or the Foundation at (03) 9248 3367 Totally Trivia A Sudanese man was forced to marry a goat after the animal’s owner caught him having intimate relations with it. The BBC reported that the
goat’s owner, Mr Alifi from the Upper Nile State had heard a loud noise
around midnight on 13 February 2006 and immediately rushed outside to
find Mr Tombe with his goat. "When
I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the
goat, so I captured and tied him up". Mr Alifi then called elders to
decide how to deal with the case. "They said I should not take him to
the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used
it as his wife," Mr Alifi said. This idea has been referred by us to the Victorian Law Reform Commission. Further submissions would be welcome.
We
would like to thank everyone for such a brilliant and smooth start to
the year, and to welcome back all our old vollies, alongside a very
warm welcome to our newest tutors. We also give special thanks to all those who have been assisting with the packing up of the hall each week. It makes an enormous difference!
Matthew and Jackie |