WATESOL response to draft Senior English Curriculum

Over the last few months WATESOL has worked hard to organise meetings with members and with a wide range of stakeholders and experts in WA to seek feedback on the draft Senior English curriculum. This feedback has been collectively reveiwed by members with expertise in curriculum development for learners of English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D).

The result is a focused clear response to the issues that members of WATESOL and EAL/D teachers in this state feel are essentially important. For more information please download the WATESOL response to the draft Australian Senior English Curriculum as a PDF document here.

WATESOL welcomes the opportunity to consult with ACARA and to collaborate in the ongoing development and implementation of the national senior English curriculum. 

Notice of the Annual General Meeting 2010 on the 23rd of September

THe WATESOL 2010 AGM will be held on Sept 23rd 4.00pm at the ESL Resource Centre, Jacaranda Ave, Mt Claremont. More information on this event including details about the speakers as well. Watch this space!

Important information about changes to WATESOL membership fees

WATESOL made some changes to the fee structure at the last AGM. Please read about them here.

Further information for Current Members here.

Further information for New Members here.

Welcome to WATESOL's website

WATESOL is the professional association for all ESL teachers in Western Australia. It covers all sectors of English language teaching: ELICOS; Adult migrant colleges; Catholic Education; Independent schools; Education Department of WA (ESL and Aboriginal); All levels of instruction: primary, secondary and tertiary levels within these.

WATESOL is able to provide vital information through:

• local, national and international speakers, presenting a wide range of TESOL issues,
• reports from members who participate in seminars, conferences, and education tours,
• affiliation with ACTA – Australian Council of TESOL Associations – a national co-ordinating body and lobby group, representing, at national and international level, all the TESOL teachers and teacher educators.

On this website you can...

...read news about WATESOL and related news

...find out about WATESOL events 

...submit contributions to TESOL Links Magazine

...find out about advocacy activities undertaken by WATESOL

...join WATESOL

...get involved in WATESOL

...find information about TESOL education and employment in WA

...get contact details for WATESOL

...browse links to other related websites

Collegiality & Collaboration: The Story behind WATESOL’s New Website

When the WATESOL Committee decided to revamp the website in July 2009, they looked up other Australian TESOL websites in the hopes of finding one upon which to model their new site. While all of the ATESOL sites were very informative, the ATESOL ACT’s website captured the hearts of the Committee with its simple layout, ease of navigation and clarity.

So, I, Samantha “Sam” Vanderford, self-appointed “Website Project Manager”, offered to contact ATESOL ACT’s “Editor” to get contact details for the designer of the website. How lucky I was that the “Editor”, Lesley Cioccarelli, was not only the editor of the content but the designer of the website as well! Lesley collegially provided me with comprehensive information about how she went about the design of ATESOL ACT’s website, which I shared with our President, Belinda Stewart. My idea was that we would design the website based on Lesley’s information. However, quick-thinking Belinda offered Lesley a paid job to create our website initially which we would maintain after. Lucky for us again, Lesley graciously accepted to not only create our website but to provide us with training so that we would be able to maintain the site (for which we are grateful as we know that Lesley gave up some weekends and holiday time to fit us into her heavy workload of teaching and studying!). Over the next couple of months, Lesley patiently got me up to speed with the software programs I would need and showed me how to do various things via her self-made step-by-step tutorial PDFs while Belinda and I passed on the content for the website.

On Friday, 9 October 2009, after a two-hour training collaboration session between Lesley, Belinda and me, using Lesley’s Elluminate virtual classroom (which is really cool!), we launched WATESOL’s new website!

Lesley is kindly and patiently continuing to support me in these website endeavours- she’s a true educator, providing ongoing support and feedback. This project represents collegiality and collaboration between two Australian TESOL organisations with a fantastic result!

I hope you will enjoy the new WATESOL website and find it informative and easy to navigate. Your additions are welcome, please email them to webmaster@watesol.org.au

In addition to exploring our new WATESOL website, please check out Lesley’s ATESOL ACT website- it’s a wealth of information that is easily navigable and clear.

Kind regards

Sam