Shine Magazine, Issue 3, April 2010 - Department of Education and ...

inFRAstRUCtURe
New infrastructure
supports ESL teaching
THE BUILDING the Education
Revolution (Ber) program is providing
40 government secondary schools with
new learning spaces specifically designed
to enhance the teaching and learning of
languages. The Department’s state-ofthe-art
standard design for science and
language centres supports teachers to cater
for a generation of students with multiple
learning styles who are technologically
skilled.
Wellington Secondary College’s $1.97
million refurbished science and language
wing will provide spaces for teaching
French and will support the school’s strong
English as a Second Language (ESL)
program. Principal Mary Jo Putrino said
the Ber funding was providing a fantastic
opportunity for their school community.
“More than 90 per cent of our students
have a background with a language other
than English so we have a large number of
ESL classes,” she said. “In our new science
and language centre, we will have purposebuilt
spaces for languages with audio and
visual equipment to help with aural and
verbal development.
“Wellington Secondary is also an accredited
English language centre and our 20-
week English program will be run in the
new facility. This is a program open to
international students who are either
attending Wellington Secondary or who
plan to go to another school in the area.”
Construction on the science and language
centre at Wellington Secondary College is
currently underway and is scheduled for
completion in September 2010.
VCE international students from China,
Vietnam and Korea outside Wellington
Secondary College’s refurbished science
and language wing.
For more information, visit www.education.vic.gov.au/buildingrevolution or call the beR information line on 1800 679 938.
58 Shine APRIL 2010