Hptacls

We are a small, non-for profit organization based in Newcastle that supports communities in teaching their first language, or "mother tongue" to children in their community. Formerly known as HPTACLS, we now call ourselves Hunter Community Languages but you may still see us called Hunter Parents's and Teachers' Association of Community Languages Sc... hools or HPTACLS (pronounced Hep Tackles). Our organization receives funding from the NSW Department of Education every year AND in 2016 we received a one-off grant from Multicultural NSW to improve engagement and participation of students, schools and community. We have a committee of volunteers who come from many different language backgrounds that make up our committee and this committee meets four times per year. Our schools are growing in number and in 2016 we have 21 member schools. Some of our schools receive funding from the Department of Education's Community Languages Schools Program. Most of our schools operate one afternoon each week for 2 hours, or for 2 hours on the weekend. They usually run in public school buildings (the host school). At Hunter Community Languages we have an Education Officer who is employed to support our schools in many ways. In 2016, Heidi Lindgren and Ela Krukowska-Alterman are sharing this role. How can we help our schools? We can do the following: - Provide free workshops for your teachers - Lend your school our equipment for free including P.A. system, laminating machine, set of class ipads etc - Provide free colour photocopying for our member schools - Advocate for or represent community organizations - Liaise between your school and other community groups/stakeholders - Assist with applying for funding - Help develop program resources - Run events for schools and competitions for students - Train your teachers Our schools have a connection with a language speaking community and therefore, when students enrol in these language classes, they learn much more than just language. We want to promote intercultural understanding ...Read More