Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
Sign In Skip to Content

Curriculum advice for remote and flexible learning

Implementing the Victorian Curriculum F–10

The following information outlines curriculum area advice to schools to support remote learning and continuity for students in F–10 Languages. This advice should be read in conjunction with broader advice provided to schools regarding the Victorian Curriculum F–10 on the VCAA and Victorian Curriculum F–10 websites.

Delivering F–10 Languages remotely and flexibly

Keep in mind

  • Schools can review and adapt their teaching and learning program for Languages to enable the curriculum to be delivered at home via remote learning.
  • Teachers are best placed to make teaching and learning decisions and assessment modifications appropriate to their circumstances. Teachers need to take into account their own and students' access to remote learning tools (such as online learning platforms), and they must also consider the strengths and abilities of their students when planning learning activities.
  • A weekly program of teaching and learning, based on the original teaching and learning program, can be developed for students to complete at home. This program should include learning activities that enable students to demonstrate aspects of the relevant achievement standards in Languages.

Ideas and connections

  • Schools and teachers may select teaching and learning activities that integrate Languages with another learning area and/or capability to enhance efficiency of curriculum delivery.
  • Teachers can select teaching and learning activities, including practical activities, that are able to be undertaken with materials readily available in students' homes to replace activities included in the original teaching and learning program for Languages.
  • Teachers can provide templates that scaffold students' practical activities while learning at home, focusing on activities related to revising, maintaining and developing communication skills in the Language being studied.
  • Schools can consider if there are alternative approaches or another focus that can be used to deliver curriculum content in place of what was originally planned.

Useful resources

In addition to VCAA Languages resources, teachers may consider the following resources:

  • VCAA curriculum area resources – Schools and teachers may select teaching and learning activities that integrate Languages with another learning area and/or capability to support the efficiency of curriculum delivery; for example, see Links between Intercultural Capability and related learning areas.
  • VCAA online Language Assessments – To support teachers implementing the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Languages curriculum, the VCAA is offering access to a new suite of online language assessments. Developed with and hosted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), the language assessments consist of a series of multiple-choice listening and reading tests. The assessments provide a snapshot of students' reading and listening skills, which can then be used to better target an individual students' learning needs. Language Assessments are available in the following Languages: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Modern Greek, Spanish, Indonesian and Japanese.
  • The Modern Language Teachers' Association of Victoria (MLTAV) – MLTAV is a professional association for Languages teachers and is the umbrella organisation for approximately 22 Single Language Associations. The MLTAV website has a range of resources for teachers working remotely on its COVID–19 Teaching & Learning Support Resources page. The website also gives contact details for all Single Language Associations.
  • The Languages and Multicultural Education Resource Centre (LMERC) – LMERC is a specialised library for teachers in the areas of Languages and EAL. The LMERC library is closed for borrowing, browsing or returning until further notice; however, LMERC can be contacted by email to discuss how the library can support teachers' resource needs remotely, and physical resources can be requested by email. Free postage is available to government schools outside the metropolitan area.
  • The Immigration Museum – The Immigration Museum, one of Museums Victoria's venues, is temporarily closed but has online resources for teachers of Languages.
  • The Department of Education and Training (DET) – DET has resources for out-of-school learning. 
  • FUSE, Department of Education and Training – FUSE is a content library of teaching materials and educational resources for all stages of learning. It includes traditional text resources, multimedia, videos and interactives. Its Learning from Home page supports educators to access digital resources that can be used to support learning at home. Resources include sets of self-directed learning activities that can be provided to students in the form of a Word document or as a printed workbook. 

Assessment and achievement standards

  • Schools should assess student learning, including evidence from practical activities, against the relevant aspects of the achievement standards in the Victorian Curriculum F–10.
  • Depending on the resources available at home and the aspect of the achievement standard being assessed, students could draw, photograph, label, describe cultural artefacts, generate and respond to blogs, make puppets to practise and produce conversations and dialogues, record conversations and dialogues, plan a trip to a country where the Language being studied is spoken, undertake research on customs and traditions, prepare a snack or a simple meal from a country where the Language is spoken, and/or write a response or journal entry to record and communicate their findings.
  • Teachers can select and use a variety of assessment types to provide timely feedback to students and to monitor learning progress. Schools can review the range of assessment tasks to achieve a balance between short inquiry-based activities that focus student attention on specific skills and understanding and more open-ended, rich assessment tasks that can be completed over a longer period of time at home.
  • On the resumption of face-to-face learning, schools may need to undertake a variety of assessments to determine students' actual progression of learning, considering the original teaching and learning program and making the necessary adjustments to this program as required. 

For more information

Dr Catherine Bryant, Acting Languages Unit Manager

Phone (03) 9032 1688 or email the Acting Languages Unit Manager

​