CISWA PD WORKSHOP:

“Integrating International Students into the Classroom”

PRESENTERS:

Dr Carmela Briguglio, Curtin Associate, School of Management, Curtin Business School

Dr Kevin McKenna, CISWA President, Former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, International, Curtin University

THE WORKSHOP

This PD Workshop is designed for teaching, academic and administrative staff to better understand the challenges faced by international students and how they can assist international students to achieve success while studying in Australia.

This session will help teaching and academic staff how to:

Challenge themselves to view their role through the lens of an international student who has English as their second language;
Identify and implement flexible teaching and learning styles within a classroom setting to cater for ESL students;
Adapt language used in the classroom to better facilitate understanding and comprehension for international students;
Broaden their understanding of the coping mechanisms that can be implemented for international students to help them better manage their learning in an Australian classroom; and
Better understand the needs and concerns surrounding an international student and what they can do to help assist.

This workshop is suitable for all staff who interact with international students.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Dr Carmela Briguglio has extensive experience in language and literacy education, having occupied several relevant teaching and administrative roles, in both schooling and tertiary contexts. She has been a Languages Adviser, Curriculum Officer, and Consultant for ESL and Moderation with the Western Australian Department of Education, and Lecturer in Charge of Modern Languages at Edith Cowan University, before moving to Curtin in 1993.

Carmela is currently an Associate at Curtin University where she has held a variety of positions, including that of Manager of the WA Office of the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia (NLLIA), Cross-Cultural Education Coordinator, and Manager of the Communication Skills Centre in the Curtin Business School. Carmela’s research includes projects examining the socio-linguistic and study needs of international students, internationalisation of curriculum, intercultural communication and embedding English language across the curriculum. Her PhD involved research in the use of English as a global language in multinational companies and the implications for education.

Carmela has won a number of internal and external teaching and learning awards. In 2012 she was awarded an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) fellowship and an OLT citation, and in 2014 she was nominated as a founding Fellow of the Curtin Academy.

Dr Kevin McKenna has had extensive experience in the international education sector with over 30 years at Curtin University. Kevin originally joined Curtin University of Technology as an economics lecturer from a position as an economist with the Australian Federal Government in Canberra. He had various roles in Curtin Business School until in June 2000 he was appointed as the founding Pro Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University of Technology’s Malaysian Campus in Miri, Sarawak.

From 2004 to 2009 he had overall responsibility for all of Curtin’s international operations, as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, International. This involved the oversight of 7000 offshore students in various partnership arrangements in over a dozen countries as well as managing the recruitment of 3000 students per year at the Perth campus. In 2008 he was responsible for the establishment of Curtin’s Singapore campus. He is now retired and currently the President of CISWA.