Read Write Now offers specialist workshops throughout the year for tutors to attend so as to increase their skills base and expand their personal and professional networks. Centrally based workshops are conducted twice a year (Tutor Conference) and local workshops are organised by Regional Coordinators. Workshops in the past have included: Word Processing, Pronunciation, Working with Beginner ESL students, Grammar, Spelling, Multiple Intelligence, Brain Gym, Dyslexia and Blogs and Wikis.
August 2009 Keynote presentation for this conference by Dr Lorraine Hammond Senior Lecturer and Special Education Coordinator at Edith Cowan University. Topic: Teaching all brains to read. 'One of the most exciting discoveries of the twentieth century is neuroplasticity - our brain's capacity to change in relation to learning. Countering traditionally held views that the brain is 'fixed' or 'hardwired', researchers have demonstrated that the brain can change its structure and function, even into old age. The implication of this finding has great significance for us all, especially anyone trying to learn something new like learning to read and write. Come along and find out how any brain at any age learns how to read.' PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here.
|
RWN Manager Marcia Barclay and Dr Lorraine Hammond |
March 2009 152 tutors came along to hear Daniel Midgley from the University of WA's Linguistics Department talk about "English - Why it is the Way it is" in the TAFE's main lecture theatre. What an entertaining and informative keynote it was with Daniel keeping the audience enthralled with his knowledge and humour. The faces of the tutors as they came out of the theatre said it all and the level of conversation noise at morning tea confirmed the interest. 10 specialist workshops were offered to tutors and feedback was very positive on all of them. Our thanks to all volunteers for coming along and to the presenters for making themselves available.
August 2008 saw approximately 150 tutors attend morning sessions and 90 of those stayed on for afternoon workshops. It was a very exciting day with a lot happening and there was a real buzz throughout the building as tutors caught up with each, shared knowledge and talked about the sessions they had attended. Keynote speaker was Traci Gamblin from Volunteering WA. Her presentation can be accessed by clicking here.
In March 2008, over 150 tutors attended the conference. The keynote presenter was Janet Gunn from the Australian Bureau of Statistics who presented results of the 2006 Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey. She also provided background information on the actual survey tool - how many households were chosen and how, the types of questions asked, pieces of text used etc. This is an international survey and comparitive results with other countries were also discussed.
The August 2007 Keynote speaker was Ian Lillico who presented his findings on ‘Predominant Learning Styles of Males and Females.’ A copy of his presentation can be accessed by clicking here.