Welcome to Term 3 and the JLTAV Winter Newsletter. I hope everyone had a great Semester 1 and an enjoyable holiday break. I hope the holidays provided an opportunity for you to relax and unwind, and you are refreshed and re-energised for Term 3.
2025 JLTAV Practice Exams
To further support VCE teachers we have created two practice exams. Please click on the link below for information on how to purchase these resources. The resources will be sent to those who have purchased them during the week beginning Monday 28 July.
https://forms.gle/63q5tUGR8jRupHk67
Practice exams from 2020 to 2024 are still available for purchase. Please email jltav@jltav.org.au for information on how to purchase these resources.
We wish all Year 12 students success as preparations for their end-of-year exams increase in Term 3.
2025 Model UN in Japanese
On Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 30 July our 2025 Model UN Conference in Japanese were held. Many thanks to Madeleine Pickup from the Department of Education and Training, and Dr Sally Northfield from the United Nations Association of Australia Victorian Division for their support in organising this event. Many thanks also to Satoshi Sanada who has supported the Model UN in Japanese as Secretary General since the event started in 2019.
2025 JLTAV Junior Speech Competition
This year’s competition will be held on Sunday 31 August at the Hawthorn Arts Centre.
Please click on the link below for registration information and the set speeches for the competition.
https://jltav.org.au/events/#!event/2025/8/31/2025-jltav-junior-speech-competition
Please find here some advice to teachers to assist in this year’s preparations.
Please note that all contestants (students) and audience members (teachers and family members) require tickets for each division they are participating in or watching. This helps us to allocate the spaces we use for each division of the competition according to the number of registrations. All tickets are free, however, students need to pay the registration fee in order to participate in the competition. Please click on the link below to be taken to the Humanitix website to organise the tickets. The teacher in charge is responsible for organising the tickets on behalf of their school/students/parents.
https://events.humanitix.com/2025-jltav-junior-speech-competition
Participating schools will be informed of the start and finish times for each division closer to the day of the competition.
2025 Junior Speech Competition Judges
The JLTAV Committee is looking for judges for the 2025 Junior Speech Competition. If you are interested in being a judge, please email me at nlane@mackillopsh.vic.edu.au. Being a judge is a valuable professional learning opportunity.
2025 Calligraphy Competition
Our highly successful calligraphy competition will again be held during Term 3. Details of this competition have been included in this newsletter. Many thanks to the schools and students who will support this competition.
Looking for online presenters
In Term 3, we would like to offer a series of online professional learning sessions. If you would like to present, please email me at nlane@mackillopsh.vic.edu.au.
Yuichi Deguchi’s Resources
Our amazing colleague and Life Member of the JLTAV Inc., Yuichi Deguchi, has generously shared the resources he has created over many years with the JLTAV. Yuichi’s resources have been made available for free to JLTAV members only. In order to access Yuichi’s resources, if you have not done so already, please complete the form in the link below by Friday 29 August. The resources are most suitable for primary school teachers, however, secondary teachers will also find the resources useful. We extend our appreciation to Yuichi for his great generosity and creativity. We know his resources will be most useful to Japanese teachers. The link to the resources will be sent on Saturday 30 August.
https://forms.gle/oVd648kmPackqAbY6
Please note: Yuichi Deguchi has generously made his resources available for Japanese teachers to use. The copyright of the resources belongs to Yuichi. If you modify any of the resources, please acknowledge Yuichi as the original creator of the resource. The resources are not to be sold either in their original format or modified format.
Japanese at Uni promotion videos and information
Two short videos promoting Japanese language education and Japan Studies are now available on the JSAA (Japanese Studies Association of Australia) homepage:
The videos are designed to appeal to mid- to senior-secondary level students, with testimonials from current tertiary students, graduates, teachers, and images of university classroom activities. We hope you can utilise them in your classes and for relevant events to promote Japanese language education. We thank the Japan Foundation for their support.
There is also a set of slides “Studying Japanese at Victorian universities” available on the JLTAV website via “Links“.
University Languages Portal Australia (ULPA) is also a useful portal for those interested in studying languages at university.
Looking Ahead – Dates for your Diary
Our 2026 JLTAV Annual Conference will be held on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 March at a new venue, the Catholic Leadership Centre in East Melbourne.
We are pleased to launch the expression of interest form for presenters at the 2026 JLTAV Annual Conference. We invite all colleagues with an interest to present, and encourage those who have never presented before to consider taking up this opportunity. There are so many inspirational teachers within our community with something to share and this is your chance. The link to complete the expression of interest form is below. Please complete this form by Friday 28 November.
https://forms.gle/FvB4zxZLxrrgo3NF8
The JLTAV Committee continue to work hard to organise events throughout the year and I thank them for all their hard work, generosity and commitment to the Association. Contact details of the 2025 committee have been included in this newsletter.
Our events for the JLTAV will be advertised through the following channels:
- The JLTAV website
- The JLTAV Facebook page
- The Japanese Language Teachers of Australia Facebook page
- The Victorian Department of Education Access, Resource, Collaborate (ARC) website
Term 3 is the time when secondary students make decisions regarding their subject choices for the following year. As a way to support teachers during this time, links to advocacy resources have been included on the JLTAV website. Information on studying Japanese at Victorian universities has also been uploaded to the links page on the website. We hope you find these resources useful. I wish everyone a successful Term 3 and thank you for your support of the JLTAV Inc. Keep warm and healthy over these winter months!
Nathan Lane
President, JLTAV Inc. (Reg. No. A0024691U)