About
This online space is for early childhood teachers and language teachers/educators delivering the Early Childhood Language Program to access important program information, professional learning resources and register for upcoming events.
Our friendly and experienced team of mentors are dedicated to helping you unpack any issues or challenges you are experiencing and help you find solutions so you can focus on your practice. Whatever your question, we are always happy to help however we can.
You have lots of options to reach out and get the support you need. You can post your questions on the Facebook group for your community to consider, email us or you can pick up the phone and contact us at fka Children’s Services (03 9428 4471). We look forward to working with you to support your delivery of a high-quality language program.
You can expect your mentors to be available to listen to you and work with you through your questions or challenges without judgement. We also expect our community members to treat each other with respect and with an understanding that our end goal is the same: to work together to deliver the best Early Childhood Language Program we can!
You can expect fka Children’s Services to build your community with the shared goal of driving quality practice. This includes supporting the individual goals of everyone involved. For mentors to adequately meet your needs, we need you to get involved and let us know what is happening in your space. Remember no one is being assessed; we’re here to help you reflect on your practice, work together to find solutions for challenges and celebrate successes.
Mentors
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Fay Stewart-Muir - Aboriginal Languages
My name is Fay Stewart-Muir. I am a Boonwurrung, Wamba Wamba Elder. I'm a teacher with a Bachelor of Arts in Education (Primary). I have been working as a Cultural Educator in both primary and early years settings for many years, sharing my cultural knowledge and resources with children and their educators. My work with the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, reclaiming my language, allows me to share my knowledge and experience with children and teachers alike.
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Kylie Farmer - Modern Languages
Kylie Farmer is a Languages Education Consultant and an experienced teacher of languages in the early year's space. She is passionate about supporting the provision of quality language learning for young learners and is excited by the opportunities the Early Childhood Languages Program presents.
Kylie provides Professional Learning to support language teachers at all levels and has facilitated the Melbourne Graduate School of Education Early Childhood Languages training. She is keen to draw on these experiences and to engage in professional conversations with those involved in implementing the Early Childhood Languages Program to provide support, guidance, challenge and inspiration to together improve and enrich the possibilities and experiences for all involved.
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Dr Siobhan Hannan - Early Childhood & Language
Siobhan Hannan is a kindergarten teacher and university lecturer. She established the NWBK Italian kindergarten program which is now one of ten ECLP bilingual programs. Siobhan has a PhD in early childhood bilingual pedagogy, and she lectures in early childhood education. Siobhan has contributed to the rollout of the ECLP in several ways, including working with teachers to describe current EC language teaching practices in Melbourne, and developing and delivering training for language teachers. She is currently teaching in the Learn Languages Program.
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Linton Roe - Language Aquistion Specialist
Linton is a teacher, school leader and languages educator. Linton presents at state, national and international conferences and has facilitated numerous workshops in Languages, Science and Music Education. Linton strives to design and implement practical, in-house professional learning programs for teachers and leadership teams, with an emphasis on demonstration, modelling and connecting student needs with program design.