 The GRT Early Years meeting will take place on Wednesday July 8th July, in Oldham.

Here are further details:

This will be at the Centre for Professional Development on Rosary Road, Fitton Hill, Oldham OL8 2QE - phone number 0161 770 3632. I have attached a map and directions.  

Lunch WILL be provided as will tea, coffee and water.  

The meeting will take place between 10am - 1pm and will be in room G4. 
The main agenda item will be to discuss how people have used and adapted the books that were sent to Early Years Centres, as follows:


Shaun's Wellies, Talk About Book, Come and Count With Us and Coletta Goes to School. 

EY centres also received a GRT Early Years poster.

I would like people to let me know if they are attending and also send me items for the agenda.

Linda Corfield, email address: linda.corfield@bury.gov.uk

Manchester Ethnic Minority Achievement Conference 09 (MEMAC 09)

Date 7th July 09
Venue Chancellors Hotel and Conference centre
Keynote speakers Jean Conteh - Leeds University & Milton Brown CEO Parents of Black Children Association
Workshops 1. Collaborative teaching for Bilingual Children -Stuart Scott. (Collaborative Partnership)
2 Teaching International New Arrivals in Primary Schools - Jenny Patterson ( INA/Traveller team)
3. Black Children Achievement Programme - Mamta Naik (Learning Strategy Officer, Manchester)
4. Community cohesion and the Schools Linking network - MM/JF

Cost £150 ( M/c Schools £140 and free to EMA partnership schools). 10% early booking discount.

Fancy flyer to follow

This is a course/module run by MMU for teachers of bilingual students

Manchester Metropolitan University,

Institute of Education

799 Wilmslow Road

Didsbury

Manchester

M20 2RR

Unit Title:                                        NEW  Teaching BilingualLearners

Tutor                                             JudithFlynn

Type of Unit:                                   Elective

Level                                                 M

CAT points:                                      20

Assessment:                                    3,500 words equivalence

The unit will run in thesummer term, every Monday evening between 5.30-8.30pm.

We also no longer run stand-alone units, all students would be expectedto sign up to a Postgraduate Certificate course (leading to the Diploma andMasters if required) and a candidate  would need to take 3x 20-credit units to complete this. It isnecessary  to sign up to either thePGCert Teaching Modern Foreign Languages course, or the more general PGCert inEducation course.

As of 08/09, allpostgraduate CPD courses are free.

The unit TeachingBilingual Learners explores a challenging area of increasing importance inschools. Whilst exploring the general areas of cultural and linguisticdiversity within UK schools, it will address some areas with particularemphasis; amongst these will be the particular needs of beginner learners ofEnglish, literacy development in a second language and appropriate andeffective pedagogy for teaching the bilingual child.

Information about the full MMU Institute of EducationProfessional Development Programme is to be found at; http://www.ioe.mmu.ac.uk

Applicationforms are available from Theresa Griffin at Didsbury admissions (0161 247 2088or t.griffin@mmu.ac.uk) or more centrallythrough Course Enquiries on 0161 247 6969 or courses@mmu.ac.uk.

Diploma in Bilingualism

In conjunction with the University of Birmingham, NASSEA offers a one year distant learning course leading to the Diploma in Bilingualism. This qualification can be converted into a M.Ed with further studay. If you are interested in please read the letter and contact Melanie Griffin

c/o CLAS, Seedfield Site, Parkinson Street, Bury, BL9 6NYTel: 0161253 6423 Fax: 0161 253 6439

m.griffin@bury.gov.uk

16^th January 2009

Dear Colleague,

Please find enclosed information on the University of Birmingham/ NASSEA Bilingualism in Education programme. This well-established and successful programme, devised by the University of Birmingham and adapted by NASSEA, has been running successfully for seven academic years and is open to qualified teachers for the next academic year, 2009 – 10.

NASSEA and the University of Birmingham form one of the consortia to which the DfES awarded funding for 2004-5 and 2005-6 for a national pilot programme of professional development for specialist teachers of English as an additional language. The DfES pilot aimed to ‘enhance the role of the specialist so that they can use their expertise to develop more effective partnerships with classroom teachers, to provide expert advice and lead whole school training.’

NASSEA’s successful applications to the Teacher Development Agency (TDA) for funding for 2005-2008 and 2008-11 to help support an accredited post-graduate EAL programme means that the programme is currently affordable to most teachers. Further details about the course are enclosed, but the key features are as follows:

· The programme is open to qualified teachers living or working in England working with pupils learning English as an additional language. This includes EMA teachers, mainstream teachers in multilingual schools, LEA staff who are qualified teachers, head teachers in multilingual schools, qualified teachers in other posts.

· The course is based on a programme that has already been successfully developed by the University of Birmingham and it is accredited to this university at Masters level and doctorate level.

· The programme includes:

Postgraduate certificate in Bilingualism in Education (1 year)

Postgraduate diploma in Bilingualism in Education (2 years)

M.Ed in Bilingualism in Education (3 years)

Ph.D; Ed.D Language Studies in Education (information on request)

· The credits awarded at certificate and diploma level can then be taken forward to work towards a Postgraduate Diploma or Master’s degree.

· The next available course will start in September 2009.

· The PgCert, PgDip and Masters will be delivered through established distance learning modules and these will be supported by 6 Saturday tutorials (PgCert and PgDip) or individual tutorials (year 3) and by a course launch and course conference.

· Participants may be supported by tutor observation and discussion.

· There is a reduced fee for NASSEA route students of £980 for one year’s study for the PgCert, PgDip or MEd for the academic year 2009-10 (the usual cost is £2080!)

· Fees for Ed.D and Ph.D available on request.

Enclosed with this letter is further information on the Bilingualism in Education programme.

Teachers who would like to apply for the course outlined in this letter should contact Melanie Griffin at the above address and an application pack will then be sent out. Previous consultation and the aim of the DCSF that specialist teachers of EAL should be appropriately qualified have led to a lot of interest in this course so we have also asked you to give some brief details about yourself. The number of places available is limited, so if we find that the course is over-subscribed, the information you provide for us will be used to choose those who will be invited to take part in the course.

I would be grateful if you would return completed application packs, which need to be accompanied by a passport size photo and two references, to the above address as soon as possible.

A national accredited qualification in EAL is an important development in our field. I am very pleased that the DCSF and TDA have recognised this need and offered us funding to continue and further develop an appropriate course and qualification that will give teachers in our field the opportunity to further develop their skills and gain a fully accredited post-graduate qualification.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

MELANIE GRIFFIN

NASSEA Programme Coordinator