Canberra Academy of Languages – Home

Specialist Education Provider for Senior Secondary Languages in the ACT

CAL Now

If you're interested in studying Year 11-12 continuing or advanced languages with us in 2020, please send us your enrolment enquiry. For more details, see "Enrolment enquiries" below and updates on our news and events pages.
For overviews from our previous two years, see the Convener's report for 2017 and the Convener's report for 2018.

About CAL

Our purpose

The Canberra Academy of Languages was established in 2016 to expand opportunities for language learning in the Canberra region as a specialist facility preparing senior secondary students as local and global citizens. For more details, see the CAL Charter.

Our students

Our programs commenced in 2017. We provide courses for Year 11-12 students to continue learning in their chosen languages, where these courses are not available through their schools or other providers.

Our values

We value excellence, equity and a civil society. More details are in the CAL Charter.

Our plans

The Canberra Academy of Languages is registered with the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies (BSSS) as a Specialist Education Provider, with effect until 31 December 2022.

See our current flier for an overview of our purpose, programs and plans.

As we plan our program for 2020, we look forward to continuing our work with students, families and schools in providing expanded opportunities for language learning that complement existing programs in languages offered in the ACT.

Not-for-profit

The Canberra Academy of Languages is a not-for-profit organisation. However, like any not-for-profit organisation, we need to ensure that we have the revenue to carry out the activities that relate to our purpose. The purpose of the Canberra Academy of Languages is outlined in our charter, which is in Schedule 2 of our Articles of Association.

Some not-for-profits are associations that derive their revenue mainly from membership fees – an example being the Modern Language Teachers' Association of the ACT (MLTA ACT). In our case, our major revenue source is enrolment fees. These enable us to cover the cost of program delivery, including teacher salaries, venue hire, public liability insurance and teaching resources.

Frank Keighley
Convener, Canberra Academy of Languages

Provision

The academy provides language learning programs in selected languages for which courses have been endorsed by the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies, to complement programs available through schools or other providers. Our focus is on continuing and advanced levels in senior secondary languages. A practical threshold for entry to our continuing languages courses is about two years of high school study, or any equivalent of the A2 level based on the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Alliance Française - venue for CAL French from 2018 We delivered courses in Continuing and Advanced French in 2017 and 2018. Our students were highly successful in their learning through these programs. Our venue from the start of 2018 has been the Alliance Française de Canberra.

We are running programs for Continuing and Advanced French and German in 2019, delivering the units “The World Around Us” and “Lifestyle and Traditions”. Students in either Year 11 or Year 12 may participate, provided the units do not duplicate the ones they have already completed.

Languages to run in 2020 will be identified on the basis of expressions of interest that we receive leading up to our information evening on 19 September. See details below for enrolment enquiries.

CAL Languages 2018 Image - Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate and Selamat Datang Monument

Enrolment

Enrolment is via school-sponsored places (suggested when students reduce their workload by one line to undertake a language externally) or family-sponsored places (suggested when students undertake a course as an external line additional to their full-time day program).

Costs are $500 per term (which may be offset by any applicable subsidies), paid at the start of each term. This equates to about $12 per hour of program delivery.
Our 2019 Term 2 information/registration evening for interested students and their families will be held at the Alliance Française, 66 McCaughey Street, Turner, from 6 pm on Thursday 11 April 2019. Year 11 students who commence in Term 2 can complete a major if they follow the program until the end of Year 12.
For program details, see our Programs page and our resources repository.
See the section above for information about program provision.

Enrolment enquiries

To enquire about enrolment for 2019, please email your expression of interest to info@cal.act.edu.au and let us know:

your name and preferred email and contact number
prospective student's name
student's current year level (eg Year 10, Year 11, Year 12)
the language the student would like to study
if relevant, the Year 11-12 language units the student has completed already or will complete in 2018 (not relevant for applicants currently in Year 10)

We will take expressions of interest into account in preparing plans for 2020 to outline at our information evening on 19 September. We contact you about next steps for enrolment. We are also happy to meet with you to discuss your directions and help you to establish whether our programs will suit your needs. Please email or call us if you would like more information.

Why learn languages

Learning languages provides cognitive, social and functional benefits. Mastering communication skills in another language delivers benefits that include:

Cognitive benefits

Improved thinking skills, with benefits in other learning areas and in broader life experiences
A better understanding of how languages work, including English
An understanding that other languages differ from English and an improved capacity to learn additional languages
Direct access to literature, music, film and other expressions of culture in the arts and humanities through the target language
Access to a new frame of reference and perspective for understanding and interpreting the world

Social benefits

Ability to interact more effectively with speakers of the target language and to participate more effectively in the settings where the target language is used, in travelling, studying and working
A greater capacity for intercultural understanding
Greater understanding and acceptance of diversity
Insight into the learner's own identity, values, heritage, and culture
A richer community culture and enhanced social cohesion

Functional benefits

Broader employment opportunities, in both local and global contexts
Greater collective capacity for the community in international relations, trade and strategic negotiations.

More information

For more about learning languages, see

Other pages on CAL website

Links on CAL website home page

Links on Languages.Org.Au

Languages.Org.Au is a resource for learners of languages, managed by the Canberra Academy of Languages, with a home page that provides links to organisational contacts and links to schools of languages in Australia; and language-specific pages for French, German, Indonesian and Indigenous languages. For example:

CAL on social media

Follow us on Facebook
on Twitter

Other selected online resources

Contact