Minutes 2007 March

Mnutes of the NZALT Executive Meeting held at ILANZ, 150 Cuba Street 17-18 March, 2007

Present. Anne Jacques (President), Adele Scott (Vice-President) James Donaldson, Philippa Doig, Pam Mabin, Jenness Riethmaier, Sue Sutherland (Secretary)

Apologies

David Hall, Jo Rittey, Gail Spence, Frances Salt

Welcome to Pam Mabin, newly elected RO, Auckland. Pam will take over the Curriculum and Assessment portfolio

Matters arising from the Minutes

Certificates of Excellence. These are to be collected by Regional Officers at the meeting. Asia New Zealand. No report received as yet from Janet Sirisomphone . NCEA booklets. Orders will be accepted until end of Term I Badges are being sold at $2.50 per badge. All orders must go through regional officers. Spanish, German and Japanese are sold out. Others are selling well, although there had not always been a positive reaction to the French “Embrasse moi”. Philippa reported that she had many good additional designs arising out of the competition These could be used now when badges were being re-ordered, or in the future, maybe on stickers or T Shirts. 1200 badges of the competition winners had been stamped. James is to take over the project. He will investigate producing stickers. 658 badges have been sold. No more will be ordered until the $1400 cost is covered. Thereafter reprint of the four most popular designs plus two others. Necessary to order 1000 at a time. Year 7-8 representation. No rep found in Wellington yet; Adele to contact Noeline re current Year 7 and 8 membership. There was discussion around offering a reduced rate for Years 7 and 8 members. It was decided to make no change, since they already pay the $48 rate and to publicize to Years 7 and 8 teachers the advantages of NZALT membership Margaret Hardiman is to be approached to encourage promotion of NZALT. among regional advisers. Ideas included a dedicated brochure outlining the advantages, Langsem posters faxed to full primary, intermediate, and area schools. Next Executive Meeting AGM at Canterbury Langsem 27th July followed by the Executive meeting 28-29 Executive members advised to book early. Jo Rittey will book accommodation Dissemination of the Minutes of meetings This was discussed at length. Who needs the minutes? The President undertook to liaise with National Facilitator Margaret Hardiman . Aim: communication with Year 7 and 8 teachers and relaying of Exec discussions and decisions. James will continue summarizing the minutes to allow regional officers to disseminate to members and to the Specific Language Association. His summary will be posted on the web. A vote of thanks to James was made.

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Realignment of regions. A change was made to the Working Rules with the resolution that the Victoria region be re-defined as Wellington and Waiarapa and that Nelson and Marlborough join the Canterbury region. Philippa/Doig / Jane Lee Is there a need for a subregional officer for Nelson/Marlborough ? Jo Rittey to be asked to investigate this. President in liaison with MH will seek advice on alignment in other regions e.g Northland/Auckland Regional officers need to be aware of parity issues when allocating the $5 capitation money.

Correspondence In

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• • Out • • •

From Gail Spence giving apologies for non-attendance and advising of her departure from the Ministry of Education. Secretary to write a letter to Gail to accompany a gift of Hawkes Bay wine. Letter will thank her for her strong advocacy of and passion for languages. The Association is especially grateful for her willingness to inform and discuss and that as a life member she will be able to fulfil her wish to continue to be involved. From Peter Spratt and Fiona Craven about the subject association facilitation. Various Min Of Education Research papers Governor General re patronage (no reply) Report from TRCC conference. Positive feedback. Weather prevented arrival of key speakers. As successful as it possibly could have been, given inclement weather. 35 participants. 5 were teachers of Latin Mairi Ferguson, Debbie Rattray, thanks for conference orfganization

TRCC (Philippa) The TRCC report was tabled Philippa Doig reminded the meeting that since TRCC Conferences were always held in holidays, organizers need to be aware that they lose some of their holiday in the two weeks prior to the conference itself. TRCC support.is appreciated It was moved that Mary Gray be thanked for her initial approach to TRCC for funding and TRCC for their support. Jenness/Adele

Website and memberships (Jane in the absence of David Hall)

It was moved that an annual draw of six members be held as an incentive for early renewal. Anne Jacques/James D 2007 draw winners Gessine Warringsholz Lisa Marshall of Cambridge High School Jo Guthrie, University of Canterbury College of Education Katrina Martin, Reporoa Colege Peter Werner, Epsom Girls’ Grammar Adele Scott ( Massey University) Relationship with Katipo.is difficult. Money is being held until some problems have been solved e.g. the need to print a receipt . It was noted that the Assoc. paid nothing for the software

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It was agreed that Jane and David will approach Katipo especially in the light of Richard’s leaving and ask for a meeting to negotiate and resolve the matter. The Assoc will not pay in the meantime

Finances

The treasurer, Jane Lee, presented the accounts up to 1 Jan Receipts $51,911.01Expenditure $58,99.65 The Projected Budget was discussed..A question about the value of Polyglot and New Zealand Language Teacher was raised. Decision on change, if any, deferred. The report was accepted Jane/Adele

Membership (Jane Lee)

Discussion about online payment and the receipt of cheques in spite of directive to pay on line. It was decided that the cheques recently received would be returned by Regional officers with a personal approach to persuade to online payment. Further cheques, received through the post box, will be retained by the secretary until the July exec meeting.

Human Resources (James Donaldson)

2007 Competition It was decided that it will be an audio, song rap, jingle competition - no more than 30 seconds– to promote the learning of language, can be in any language. No more than ten entries per school. Copywright and sampling issues to be noted. SLAS Langsem Canterbury – there are difficulties in communicating with the Chinese teachers. Question: how do we improve the relationship between Chinese teachers and the NZALT. Suggestions included inviting SLA Presidents to Exec meetings. James to write to SLA presidents or their representatives inviting them or their representative to attend an executive meeting at their convenience. Letter to include a reminder about applying for the Specific Language Association award PD Award There were two applicants 1 Vivienne Lee to attend an intensive course in Barcelona, Spain 2 Jane Lee Travel expenses to Stage d’hiver It was decided to award $1000 to each

Conference (Philippa Doig)

Conference 2006 Report was received. Thanks expressed for the report and cheque. Sec to write a letter of appreciation to Mairi Ferguson and Debbie Rattray.. Honesty of the report will help future organizers. Jane will enquire about Association’s current GST status. Conference 2008 Philippa (convenor) and Sue (organiser) have met and drawn a committee together. First meeting of the full committee will take place in the week beginning 30 April. The committee consists of Sue - paid conference organizer, treasurer, responsible for food and venue, Philippa – secretary, responsible for outings, Eric Yates – refereeing papers and CD, Pauline Kotzé- sponsorship/ book displays/ competitions prizes Language section convenors: French, Janet McCallister; German, Judith Geare; Japanese, Hidemi Fuke; Spanish,TBA; Chinese, TBA; Y7 and Y8,TBA.Latin TBA? 3

Spanish, TBA. Payments to be transparent from the beginning. Sue to be paid $10 000; other committee members $1 000. Venue: QMC Theme: Motivation Indecision about how and when to call for papers – Eric needs to consult with Martin East. Asia New Zealand Secretary is to write a letter to Janet Sirisomphone asking that the Asia New Zealand Report for year ending 2006 be sent to NZALT. This is now an urgent matter, which is causing distress and embarrassment to the Executive accountable for the portfolio. Report was due October; Janet has been asked officially three times. Once the report is received it will be possible to pay the honorarium If this cannot be done, the association must be informed so that the materials can be uplifted and a report made. Jo Rittey will be approached to do this if necessary Calendar It was decided that a calendar be distributed annually after the March Exec. meeting 2007 . Members’ Calendar for 2007 Langsems Auckland Thursday & Friday 9 & 10 August Massey 16/17 August Waikato 10 September Victoria 25 June Canterbury 27 July Otago No langsem. There will be an afterschool IT session date to be advised AGM 27 July in Christchurch Closing dates for applications PD awards – 28 February SLA Award – 16 July Asia New Zealand – 16 July Exec meeting dates 28 -29 July Christchurch 27/28 October Wellington International Languages Week 19-25 August Student jingle competition - closing date for entries 31 August Conference 2008

6-9 July in Wellington

Year 7 and 8

The Year 7 and 8 survey. Adele reported on this survey. She has used the free programme Survey Monkey. She has sent emails to the Year 7 and 8 teachers on the NZALT data base (Friday 16 March).. Among the survey asked questions – how NZALT can support Yr 7 and 8, what skills can you offer. Thanks to Adele for the initiative and the time that she is going to spend in collating and analysing the information. No Year 7-8 Teacher has been identified to be co-opted to the exec. 4

Philippa and Adele to continue the search. Adele will continue to be the Yr 7 and 8 rep in the meantime.

Public Relations

President’s ex officio roles President Anne reported that she has been involved in three selection processes for Ministry contracts. She also took part in Consistency review for NCEA Level 1 She represents NZALT on the new Advisory Group for ILANZ and on Subject Associations Liaison with ERO Frances Salt from ERO has offered an opportunity to NZALT o liaise with the Review Office and share ideas re implementation of 8th Learning area. Adele will liaise with Francis to see how NZALT can be involved.

Curriculum and Assessment

(Pam Mabin has agreed to take over this portfolio. Prior to the arrival of Richard Steel James asked a question about marking in NCEA productive language tasks. Ans: There are three areas assessed content, level of language, communication; if any one of those is not achieved, there is no achievement overall. NZQA The meeting welcomed Richard Steele, NZQA He commented first on the additional moderation at the end of the year in September to assuage concerns about the robustness of NCEA internal assessment. All schools are to send eight Level 3 random samples in September – this might be better called an audit rather than a moderation. There will be selections from every school, every subject, one Level 3 standard. NSNs will be used for random selection. Workload issue discussed. Audacity files needed for recording of speaking tasks. Questions from around the table 1 Teacher has asked that speaking tasks be mandatorily videoed. This question was judged as being inspired by teacher’s distrust of other teachers’ judgements and practices. Auditory evidence only required by NZQA. 2 Use of Powerpoint in speeches? A. Allowed. Can use Powerpoint as substitute for cues on card. 3 Need to send teacher feedback to the student on to the moderator? No The distribution of NCEA 2006 stats showed that writing was the least attempted task in all language subjects The discrepancy in levels of achievement in German and French writing, 90 in French 80 in German has been addressed by adjusting the marking. French excellences low % (Pam Mabin) 5000 candidates necessary to provide reliable statistics. Language cohorts do not reach that number; therefore it is necessary to accept more variability in language achievement from year to year. Samoan tightened up on the rule that Reading answers be in English therefore lower achievement. There was a question from Pam about PEPs and native speakers. Richard: presence of native speakers will shine through in the marking – exceptions will be made when there is a valid reason to go outside the band of expectation.

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Discussion around language students who miss out on scholarship when far less able students achieve scholarship in for example in 2006 Economics, Geography, Chemistry, Biology. Scholarship is awarded to 3% of level three cohort, Outstanding to .14% These percentages are extremely small given the intellectual quality of the cohort, The question was raised as to how outstanding performance in language could be recognized, as NZQA is not going to shift from the present position Privacy issues mean that NZQA could not make Scholarship results available to NZALT. The feeling of the meeting is that it is sad that language students are left feeling that it is not worth entering for Scholarship. Adele suggested that an NZALT Certificate be awarded to all outstanding candidates. There was discussion around the process of awarding these certificates. It was agreed that NZALT recognize the top five per cent of scholarship candidates in each language with a certificate. Adele/Pam A subcommittee of Adele and Pam will discuss the following: Name – Diploma of Excellence/Excellence Award/the Gold Award , Procedure - onus on student to apply, thirty per subject etc. Et alia Re assessment in Scholarship – scholarship been marked 4 times – rank order unlikely to change Richard was thanked for his attendance and also for his article in the recent Polyglot

Publicity and Marketing

Applications for the position of Editor of NZLT were received from Gayleen Mackereth and Martin East It was agreed that the editorship of NZLT be offered to Martin East, There was discussion re honoraria. Honaria are to be set at $1000 for NZLT and increased to $1500 for Polyglot to acknowledge the complexity of the position. (Jenness/Pam). Adele suggested that more advertising to be sought to offset costs, e.g. from embassies, Sasakawa, TRCC Present costs: $120 for half page and $200 for full Jenness to seek advertising, and negotiate with Taieri Print to reduce the price (i.e. black print, matt not gloss). Marketing: Can NZALT market the association through the Education Gazette? Jennes to investigate the possibility of an article, and ongoing input into the Gazette. Executive to think of creative ways of increasing the membership through marketing eg. New members, join a friend at half price? Give a badge to each new member? Jenness to advertise editorship of Polyglot on the web.

Projects

1 Request from Massey Region that NZALT fund the release of teachers to make resources for senior languages. More detail required. 2 Years 7 and 8 survey

International liaison Adele, Anne and Sue to go to the AFMLTA Conference in Perth

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Regional Reports . These had previously been circulated and were received. Working rules

The following amendments to the Working Rules were proposed during a Conference Call between Anne Jacques, Adele Scott and Sue Sutherland, Saturday, 3 March 2007. They were accepted and ratified by the meeting Anne/Adele The underlined sections are the amendments IV Biennial Conference and Business Meeting A. The venue of the Conference shall be decided two years in advance. B. It is NZALT’s Conference run by a branch of NZALT. Reference should be made to this in Conference material C. At a suitable time, funding shall be made available from NZALT’s Conference, to enable preparations to commence. D. The NZALT Executive member for the region in which the Biennial Conference is to be held will liaise between the Conference Convenor and the National Executive. (to replace the present E ) E The appointment of the Conference Convenor and Conference Committee is the responsibility of the regional executive member. F The Conference is to be budgeted to produce a profit for the Association. The Association will cover an unexpected loss. (to replace present D The Conference should make every effort not to run at a loss. G A budget for Conference is to presented at the July Executive meeting in the year preceding the conference for approval by the Executive. H The Conference convenor and committee will decide on the amount and number of honoria to be paid to committee members. I The Convenor must keep the Executive informed on the organization of the Conference and seek their advice on key matters such as Conference date, theme, costings and principal speakers. A report including these items must be made to the Executive in the year preceding the next Conference. J The Conference Committee should arrange a venue and time for 1 Two Executive meetings before and after the AGM 2 The Annual General Meeting 3 A meeting between the Executive, Regional Associations and Specific Language Associations 4 A general, social discussion between Conference participants and the Executive. K It should include FIPLV and AFMLTA, if applicable on a suitable rotational basis. L Time should be offered to Specific Language Associations to hold their own Annual General Meetings. M Consideration will be given to incorporate the Conference of other related organizations e.g Universities’ Triennial Conference. O Profits from Conference may be used at the discretion of the Executive to send a member of the Conference organizing committee to the AFMLTA Conference in Australia in the year preceding the Conference. . Executive Travel 7

E F G

Executive members are expected to share transport from the airport to an Executive meeting whenever possible. Funds will be made available for the President and/or Vice-President to represent NZALT at an international conference. Funds will be granted to one person annually, or to two biennially. Should the President be invited to attend further international events the Executive will consider offering financial support depending on the availability of funds. At such an event it is expected that the president will make every effort to raise the profile of the New Zealand Association by, for example, chairing a conference session, taking part in a panel discussion.

David Hall, the webmaster, will be asked to amend the Working Rules accordingly on the web.

Archives

Regional officers to bring archives to the next meeting It was agreed that Anne Jacques will invite Fiona Craven to the next exec meeting in Christchurch. She will be asked for advice on retention and storage of archival material. Regional Officers to inform sec re quantity

General business

AGM needs to be notified on the web and remits called. ROs to send nomination to Secretary Reimbursement of memberships. Treasurer to write the cheque out for the member. and post to the institution. Meeting closed at 14.40 Confirmed as a true and correct record of the meeting 17-18 March, 2007-07-26 President 28/07/07

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