Creative partnerships between online teachers and classroom teachers brings language learning opportunities to students and their teachers.

Classroom teachers are brushing up on their language skills alongside their students as they take part in online classes led by experienced language teachers. 

Access to ultrafast broadband in schools has enabled children on multiple devices to connect with their online teacher using Zoom webconferencing. Real time virtual learning is supported by Google classrooms, where children can share their work, access learning resources and activities and communicate with their teachers and classmates. Whānau are also able to access these virtual environments to follow and support children's learning progress.

Through this collaborative model, classroom based teachers work with the online teacher to support their online learners whereby they:

• Reinforce and support expectations
  
• Model learning
  
• Encourage participation
  
• Give feedback to the online teacher
  
• Assist with technical support
  
• Differentiate for learners
  
• Supervise and support learning between online classes
  
• Assist with administrative & assessment tasks
  

With a focus on teacher professional learning, this collaborative partnership can extend to be a teaching apprenticeship model where  classroom teachers develop the skills, confidence, curriculum knowledge and access to shared resources that will empower them to teach introductory languages themselves. This  collaborative model has been working in VLN Primary classrooms to support the teaching of te reo Māori, Mandarin, French & Spanish.

There is a growing need for language learning in schools, particularly for te reo Māori, which has been highlighted by the Languages in Education Strategy 2019 - 2033 and Education (Strengthening Second Language Learning in Primary and Intermediate Schools) Amendment Bill currently before parliament. This type of creative partnership which helps share expertise and grow teacher capability across schools can be an effective strategy, combined with other PLD opportunities,  to increase access to language learning opportunities for NZ learners. 

Learning starts online, becomes blended learning as it continues in the classroom setting and then becomes face to face classroom based learning when the apprentice teacher takes over. 

If you are interested in teaching languages in your school consider joining our online classes with your students and start your learning journey as a languages teacher.