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.

Week 5 Tutor Talks
Our final tutor talk for 2008 takes place on 5th November. SAIL Tutor Talks are a brilliant opportunity to get some insight into volunteering from a range of professionals with extensive experience at SAIL and they also provide ongoing training for SAIL tutors.

Tutor Talks also give you the chance to discuss how you interact with your student and enable you to compare your experience with those of other tutors. The presentations are useful for both experienced SAIL volunteers as well as those who are just starting out. Best of all, dinner is provided between the two 30-minute presentations.

Our final tutor talk will be held at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 193 Hotham Street (cnr Clarendon St), East Melbourne, from 6:00- 8:00pm.

Double Xtend
For the first time, the Dandenong campuses ran two Xtend activities concurrently. This cycle has seen SAILors participating in dodge ball at our Robinson campus in addition to the ever-popular tennis lessons at Langhorne campus. Both activities have been a tremendous success and will sadly finish up on the 27th of September.

However, SAILors can look forward to our next cycle which kicks off on 11 October, and will involve bike education lessons at Langhorne!

The Xtend program runs every Saturday after lunch at SAIL for approximately one hour. If you would like to get involved in the Xtend program, or would like to nominate a SAILor for the bike program, please ask Aidan or Hannah on Saturday or via email.

SAIL’s 3rd Formal
The Formal was a wonderful success with numbers reaching the 100 mark. On the night, SAILors and tutors from all six Melbourne campuses came together to dance and socialise, and there was a strong Dandenong presence with more than 20 SAILors from Robinson in attendance. Check out photos from the night on our photo board!

SAILAbout to the Green Pepper:
Continuing with our food-themed SAILabout, which saw us visit Chinatown earlier this year, SAILors recently enjoyed an authentic Indian meal at the Green Pepper on Bourke Street. The spicy meal included exotic dishes such as butter chicken, curried goat and naan all washed down with Mango Lassi.

The meal was followed by a trip to Federation Square and Birrarung Marr. A big thanks to our resident chef, Chris, for organising the excursion.

Theme
The current theme is AFL football and AFL themed worksheets are available by the photo boards. An unofficial SAIL/AFL survey was undertaken and the results indicate that, unfortunately, we have too many Collingwood supporters at our campus. 

Thank you to all the SAILors who have been getting involved with the theme which wraps up on 4 October. Football will make way for our new theme “Fashion and the Melbourne Cup”, which starts on 11 October. 

Setting SAIL on time
We’d like to thank everybody for arriving early and helping set up. This is a gigantic help as it means our ship is ready to sail at 11:00am sharp. Just a reminder that we would like to start at this time every week so if everybody could do their best to arrive at 10:50am, that would be great.

If you or your SAILor are having difficulty arriving on time, please speak to Aidan or Hannah, who will do their best to assist you.

The development of each and every SAILor is of utmost concern to us and as we only have 90 minutes each week, we should aim to make the most of it – our SAILors need every second they can get!

WholeSAIL News
SAIL’s 7th Birthday Party Celebration
On Saturday, 23 August more than 600 SAILors from all six Melbourne campuses came together to celebrate Seven Years of SAIL. The party took place at Maribyrnong College and featured performers from SAIL Dandenong, Footscray and Braybrook, as well as a short film on SAIL News.

A presentation was also made to SAIL’s founder and past overseeing coordinator, Matthew Albert. Finally, a delicious chocolate birthday cake in the shape of the number seven kicked off the Birthday Lunch, an assortment of healthy salad rolls, delicious pies and cakes of all shapes and sizes.

Thank you to you all for celebrating in style with us. 

The SAIL Summit
On Saturday, 4 October, there will be a round table summit to discuss two key questions: What SAIL does now and how SAIL can better support the Sudanese community. Two student representatives and a coordinator from each campus will attend the summit. If you would like to have any input into the questions up for discussion and the outcomes of the summit itself, please chat to your campus coordinator or contact Nik and Cara at sail@africanoz.com

SAIL Tutor Drinks
Want to get to know other SAIL tutors outside Saturday mornings? The chance is fast approaching! On Saturday 11 October at 7pm, annual SAIL tutor drinks are being held for tutors from all campuses, at Panama Lounge, 3/231 Smith Street Fitzroy.

The evening is an opportunity to meet tutors from your own and all other campuses, to compare tutoring experiences and increase the sense of community within SAIL each Saturday. We would greatly appreciate an RSVP to this event on Saturday or via email.

SAIL Tutor Survey
In recent weeks, the yearly SAIL tutor survey will have made its way into your inbox. Thank you to those who have already responded with their valuable thoughts, ideas, feedback on all things SAIL. We ask that you take the time to complete it to ensure the good ship SAIL stays on the right course.

AMES Volunteer Training
Wednesdays, 15 October-19 November, 6-8.30pm, AMES Flagstaff, Level 1, 255 William Street OR Office Hours 23 October-27 November, 10am- 12.30pm, AMES Head Office, Level 4, 1 Little Collins Street

Want to improve your tutoring skills? AMES is running training courses for volunteer tutors who work with migrant and refugee school children, with sessions taking place on a variety of dates and times in the next two months. They are also offering a training course for volunteers who work with these kids in Homework Support programs on two Saturdays, 18 and 25 October at AMES Flagstaff, 255 William Street, with lunch provided.

If none of these dates or times suit you, please contact Liz Round on 9926 4633 or at rounde@ames.net.au, as there may be sessions available at other locations.

SAIL Total Trivia
Did you know?
The Sudanese flag is a red, white and black tricolour with a green triangle next to the hoist. Red represents the struggle of martyrs who gave their lives for their country, white stands for peace, optimism and love, black symbolises Sudan and the Mahdiya revolution, while green is for Islam, prosperity and agriculture.