The following information supplements information contained on the Early Language and Literacy Program’s listing on the Victorian School Readiness Program Provider Menu.

Please contact Philippa Pryor at ALNF at [email protected] if you are considering adding EL&L to your School Readiness Funding Plan for 2024 so that we can better meet your needs.

The Early Language & Literacy (EL&L) program provides adults working with children with practical, multisensory strategies to support the vital development of children’s early language and pre-literacy skills. Drawn from leading research and best practice from speech and language pathology and education, EL&L addresses phonemic awareness, oral language development, vocabulary knowledge, emergent writing and early comprehension skills.

Offered by ALNF since 2008, EL&L has been delivered and honed in urban, regional and remote communities across Australia. EL&L is currently offered in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria across over 100 early years sites as well as schools, libraries and other children’s services. In Victoria, EL&L has been delivered in the Central Goldfields and Latrobe Valley regions over a number of years. We extended into the Bass Coast, Casey, Hume, Moira and Mornington Peninsula regions in 2020 and further in other communities in 2021.

EL&L is for educators, early childhood teachers and teaching assistants, volunteers, parents and community members as well as others working directly with young children or those who require additional support with oral language and literacy.

The program is primarily offered in communities where children commonly experience challenges including health and developmental issues, trans-generational illiteracy as well as culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. These factors impact upon a child’s ability to learn and engage with education.

Although developed for children with language and developmental delays, EL&L strategies are appropriate for all children, particularly those aged 0-8 years.

External evaluations have found that EL&L strategies are accessible to educators, assistant teachers, parents and members of the wider community (ACER, 2015; Perrett, 2017). These evaluations report that EL&L was judged to be practical, achievable and adaptable, to have clear aims and to offer adequate and appropriate training and support to schools and teaching staff.

EL&L resources provided in the course are designed to be integrated into existing routines and learning experiences, both inside and outside.

Course participants are able to begin to use EL&L strategies immediately after the first two days of training to benefit children.

The workplace coaching provided in the program focuses on this integration of EL&L to assist with tailoring strategies to suit a range of age groups and learning dynamics.

EL&L is aligned with the Australian Early Years Learning Framework, the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, Australian Early Development Census Domains, National Literacy Learning Progression and the National Quality Standards.

ALNF’s model is a whole-of-community place-based approach to improving the capabilities of educators, parents and community members for the benefit of children. ALNF engages with early childhood education settings, schools, service providers, families and other relevant stakeholders to implement evidence-based, culturally appropriate EL&L practices for children’s early language and literacy development.

ALNF commonly trains and mentors a wide variety of participants in each program location. This allows for common strategies and terminology around early language and literacy which provides consistency for children, and sees children entering school with stronger foundational skills to equip them for success.

ALNF can provide assistance in linking centres together into community clusters for community capacity building and to combine centres to make up minimum training group numbers.

EARLY LANGUAGE & LITERACY COURSE

This can be completed as standalone training or as the nationally accredited 10652NAT Certificate IV in Early Language and Literacy (RTO: Ninti Training Limited (NTL), RTO 70018) which requires the completion of assessments and 100 hours of EL&L practice in their own workplace.

All course participants receive:

• Participant course materials including 2 manuals, 3 workbooks, participant bag with bespoke EL&L resources and assessment booklets
• 4 days of training (usually delivered in 2 blocks of 2 days, over two school terms, during COVID-19 restrictions usually delivered in 2 sets of 4 webinars across 2 days)
• Coaching and support sessions in the participant’s own workplace to support:
  • EL&L practice through modelling and observation (with or without children present as suits centre and participant needs)
  • The identification of children’s pre-literacy needs and recommendations for appropriate EL&L strategies
  • Participants as they log the 100 hours of EL&L workplace practice required for completion of the Certificate IV qualification (when chosen).

EL&L RESOURCES

ALNF has developed physical resources (including quality children’s literature), which are highly engaging and support targeted skill development. These include training participant resources, Centre Resources (a set of book and game kits recommended for each early learning centre), as well as accessible information and tools for parents and community members working with their own children.

ADDITIONAL MONITORING SUPPORT regarding children’s learning progress and recommendations for EL&L strategies which will meet children’s needs can be provided.

PARENT AND COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS are available to provide support for parents and other community members to support their child’s development.

The EL&L course has no educational pre-requisites.

Participation in the EL&L course requires access to children for the completion of practical assessments.

Enrolment in the Certificate IV option requires a government Unique Student Identifier (USI) number which can be obtained at usi.gov.au at no cost.

East Melbourne Group

• Days 1 and 2: Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 May, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Days 3 and 4: Thursday 15 and Friday 16 August 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Location to be confirmed dependent on service locations

Melbourne West Group

• Days 1 and 2: Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 June, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Days 3 and 4: Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 September 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Location to be confirmed dependent on service locations

Central Goldfields Group

• Days 1 and 2: Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 May, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Day 3 and 4: Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 August, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Location: Maryborough

Latrobe Valley Group

• Days 1 and 2: Thursday 2 and Friday 3 May, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Days 3 and 4: Thursday 1 and Friday 2 August, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Location: Morwell

Online Group

• Days 1 and 2: Thursday 20 and Friday 21 June, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Days 3 and 4: Thursday 19 and Friday 20 September, 8.30am to 3.00pm
• Via Zoom (requires tablet or computer with microphone and speakers/headphones plus internet)

Please contact us if you are considering the EL&L program for 2024.

Please complete the brief Enquiry Form for more information or to express interest in the EL&L program. Pricing information is below the form.

$4,500 per person (incl. GST).

Course costs include:

• Enrolment in the Certificate IV course or coursework option
• Participant course materials including 2 manuals, 2 workbooks, participant bag with bespoke EL&L resources and 2 assessment booklets
• 4 days of training (usually delivered in 2 blocks of 2 days, over two school terms either face-to-face or online)
• Coaching and support sessions in the participant’s own workplace
• Assessments
• EL&L training and coaching team travel costs and online costs.

GEOGRAPHIC CLUSTERS

EL&L is available throughout Victoria.

ALNF can assist with pooling centres into geographic clusters for community capacity building in keeping with ALNF’s whole-of-community approach to improving the capabilities of educators, parents and community for children’s long-term benefit. For face-to-face delivery, a minimum of 20 course participants is required.

Sites outside an EL&L cluster can access online delivery of training and coaching.

Geographic clusters:

Early childhood centres from nearby geographic locations can request this program as a group, and ALNF can assist with coordinating clusters. This achieves:

• cost savings for each centre because they do not have to make up minimum training numbers
• broader capacity building in communities.

Example (based on a cluster of four centres with 5 course participants each):

Cost for 5 participants at each centre:

• Training, coaching and participant resources: $22,500 incl. GST
• Centre resources $2,900 incl. GST
• Total: $25,400 incl. GST

We recommend that you include in your School Readiness Plan:

4 days of Backfill/Additional Hours for staff relief for each staff member you wish to attend the EL&L training. Backfill of staff is not required for coaching as this is conducted at your workplace and can be undertaken whilst staff are on the floor with children. You do not need to include travel costs for EL&L trainers to attend regional/remote locations.

The following may only be purchased if enrolled in the EL&L course or if the EL&L course has been completed:

CENTRE RESOURCES

Full set $2,900 (incl. GST)
Book and game kits (usually 1 set recommended per learning site) for use by adults trained in EL&L with children in your service, set includes:

• 53 7 Steps to Phonemic Awareness Game Kits with bespoke oral language and pre-literacy activities
• 20 Book Kits including quality children’s books, each with suggested integrated learning experiences to improve children’s oral language and pre-literacy skills. Select from Beginner Book Kits (ages 0-3 years) or Standard Book Kits (ages 3-8 years) or a combination (such as 10 of each).

Top up Book and Game Kits are also available:

Full Game Kit. $2040.50
Level 1 Games: Listening $385.00
Level 2 Games: Rhyme $385.00
Level 3 Games: Words and Sentences $385.00
Level 4 Games: Syllables $385.00
Level 5 Games: Initial/Final Sounds $165.00
Level 6 Games: Phonemes $165.00
Level 7 Games: Letters/Spelling $176.00
Per Book Kit $42.90

PARENT AND/OR COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS on a range of topics relating to early language and literacy can be scheduled during training/coaching visits. These can range from 1 hour demonstrations to half or full day workshops with resource packs for participants. To enquire about these workshops or request a quote please complete the Enquiry form or contact Philippa Pryor at ALNF at [email protected].

Tailored topics include:

• Talking Books with your Child
• Looking at Letter Shapes, Writing Letter Shapes

STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS are available on a range of topics. These can serve to help inform the colleagues of staff who are undertaking EL&L and as revision for those staff who have undertaken the EL&L course previously.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR REFLECTIVE PRACTICE: ALNF has developed a new digital Early Language and Literacy Development Index (ELLDI) and can provide support and recommendations for EL&L strategies which will meet children’s growth needs.

The Early Language and Literacy Development Index (ELLDI) is a digital, robust, accessible, formative assessment tool that can be used by a range of practitioners – early childhood educators, early years and school teachers, support staff, allied health professional and more – to receive (a) real-time feedback about children’s early language and literacy development and (b) targeted recommendations for integrated interventions. It is world unique in that it provides an empirical, evidenced based approach to assessing and intervening in early childhood language and literacy. Administration of the digital ELLDI takes approximately 20-30 minutes per child.

The purpose of the ELLDI and its associated guides are to:

• Provide overall and specific information about children’s progression in the prior-to-school years and transitioning into the early years of school across seven sub-domains:
  1. Expressive Vocabulary
  2. Phonological Awareness
  3. Comprehension
  4. Oral Language – including Clarity, Volume and Fluency
  5. Print Conventions
  6. Pre-Reading
  7. Pre-Writing
• Provide recommendations on EL&L strategies that support children’s growth.

To enquire about these services and obtain a quote, please complete the Enquiry form or contact Philippa Pryor at ALNF at [email protected].