SAIL NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER: Dandenong campus (May 2006)

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!

Hall Clean Up Thank-you

Once again, we want to thank each and every person who contributes to the clean-up of the hall every week.  It is an incredible effort, and again this week chairs and tables were quickly put away and the hall swept clean. Your efforts are hugely appreciated!

 

Community Talks

Tutor Talks:

Maria Foster from Victorian Legal Aid (VLA) will be coming on May 20th 1.15pm-2pm to present their new booklet 'Kit to Educate Young People about Legal Issues.' This kit will be explained at the tutor talks and a copy will be distributed to each tutor who may then use this resource with their  students. This is an amazing offer kindly provided by VLA and we urge all tutors to pencil this talk in their diaries.

 

Community Talks:

SAIL Senior Tutors please note that there will be a community talk on May 20th from 12pm-12.45pm. Monica Haverkamp from the Deafness Foundation will  be presenting information on rubella infection and protection: immunisation  against rubella. There will be a DVD shown in Arabic as well. Please inform the Sudanese SAILors of this talk.

 

Theme

There are just two weeks left of the current theme - “Extinct and Threatened Species” - and the pinboard is longing for some dinosaur decorations.  Please feel free to pin your students’ works up on the board - we have noticed that some students have been busily working on projects in the past few weeks, and this Saturday we would love to display some of the finished products.  We would also like to encourage students to present their work to the other students if they are interested in participating in show and tell.

 

The next theme will commence in three weeks time on 27th May and will be called a ‘Law and Me’.  There will be a good lot of materials for this topic presented at the Week 5 talk by Victoria Legal Aid including discussion points and worksheets.

 

If you find some relevant worksheets or have some ideas that others might be interested in, please let us know. By the way, ideas for the next theme are very welcome!

 

Week 5 Celebrations – The Commonwealth Easter Games

SAIL Dandenong received a visit from a very furry friend over the Easter weekend, who kindly left chocolate eggs for all. After the main hunt, students celebrated in style by competing in the egg and spoon race, three-legged race and wheelbarrow race. Many thanks to those who acted as officials and supporters in the inaugural Commonwealth Easter Games.

 

Penpals

As some of you will remember, towards the end of last year we launched the WholeSAIL Penpal Scheme.  This was a very popular initiative, and many of our students delighted in sending letters to and receiving mail from SAIL students in either SAIL Altona or Footscray. 

 

Now that everyone has had time to well and truly settle into the year, we would like to revive the Penpals scheme and start encouraging students to begin writing again.  If your student has forgotten who their penpal is, please ask Jackie, or if they don’t have one and would like a penpal, again please see Jackie.  The mailbox is in the library, and Postman Matthew will be visiting regularly!

 

Fattening Up the SAILStar

Just a reminder that the SAILStar, our very own student newspaper, is published every week 3, and is full of stories, reviews and reports written by SAIL students from across all three campuses.  Dandenong students were rather under-represented (ie. not all all!) in the latest edition, so this is a call for submissions.  It is always a bit of a buzz for students to see their work in print, so please put forward your students’ work no matter how long or short – any topic is welcome!

 

Email issues: A Small Request

Please ensure that the following email addresses are on your email “safe list”. This will aid us in keeping you in the ‘SAIL loop’ on an ongoing basis.

 
sail@africanoz.com
saildandenong@africanoz.com
sailtransport@africanoz.com
sailadmin@africanoz.com            

 

Truck Required to  SAIL away Library

With three new campuses springing up, in Braybrook, Maidstone and St Albans we need a little help moving library books to them.  If you or someone you know you would be willing to donate a truck to move SAIL bits and bobs, please let us know by emailing sail@africanoz.com.

 

WholeSail News

 

SAILAbout to the Footy – Collingwood v the Bulldogs

Friday 26 May | Melbourne Cricket Grounds

 

The footy season is well and truly back, and for the first time this year we have tickets available for any SAILors to attend free of charge. As a special event, attendees will meet the presidents of both clubs, David Smorgan and Eddie McGuire and will be given show bags. Please email Matthew at sail@africanoz.com to reserve your tickets. The only catch is that tutor SAILors will be asked to organise transport for the Sudanese SAILors they propose to bring.

 

SAILAbout to the Como Historic House & Garden

Corner Willams Road and Lechlade Ave, South Yarra VIC  3141

 

For those who would prefer to go somewhere a little more quiet than the footy, free passes are available for a visit to the Como House, a little piece of history right in the heart of Melbourne. A walk through the house and gardens reveals what life was like for the colonial residents of the home in the late 19th and early 20th century. And if history gets too much for you, the manicured gardens are also the perfect spot for a picnic! Again, email Matthew at sail@africanoz.com to get your hands on a couple of donated passes.

 

Sudan fundraiser photo exhibition

Fed Square is about to play host to a fundraiser for Sudan. From 30 May to 9 June 2006, the Atrium will house a series of images by Australian photographers including Ken Duncan, Andrew Chapman, and David Simmonds. Ten images taken by Matthew - of Sudan and the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya - will also be on display. The exhibition’s main objective is raising funds for and general awareness of the current and continuing humanitarian crisis in Sudan. All profits will go to World Vision’s Sudan Crisis Appeal but entry is free.

 

SAIL in context: Australian Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Lecture on the conflict in Sudan.  

Wednesday 17 May | 6:00-7:30pm | Percy Baxter Theatre (D2.193) Deakin University Waterfront Campus, Geelong | MEL 577

 

For those SAILors interested in the back-story of their students, an event coming up may be the perfect opportunity to get it. This is the second in a series of four lectures on the history, politics and the victims of war in Sudan. The lecture will be presented by Professor David Dorward, the director of the African Research Institute at Latrobe University and Nicole Batch, who spent 9 months as a Tracing caseworker for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sudan. Entry will be by gold coin donation and all proceeds will go to International Committee of the Red Cross and Crescent Sudan Appeal.

 

New Tutor Resource: Harmony and Understanding Friendly Families - My Extended Family: the Sudanese way of life

 

Blake Education has come up with a handy teaching tool, for all SAILors wanting a little more inspiration. Written by Gary and Shelley Underwood, this children’s book tells the story of a little Sudanese girl starting a new life in a new country, having left war-torn Sudan. SAIL students are likely to identify with little Agueer, who learns quickly to fit into a new community. 

 

Totally Trivia

If you thought SAIL was free of paperwork and bureaucracy, we are very glad. Truth be told, behind the smooth SAILing of a Saturday are over 1700 documents. Each of these form the administrative backbone that the co-ordinators negotiate to ensure that the good ship SAIL continues on its merry course.

 

In addition, the SAIL Pulse computer system, on which SAIL now operates, exists because of about 10,000 pages of computer code. Copies of the code are available on request.

 

Thank you for your time and energy donation each week. We look forward to seeing the benefits of it as the year continues!

 

Matthew, Jackie and Nik