British linguist David Wilkins once said that ‘without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed’. The quote is often used to highlight the importance of vocabulary learning for students. Range and accuracy in vocabulary use are considered the most significant linguistic differences between students of English as a first language and as an additional language/dialect (EAL/D). For this reason, developing vocabulary is regarded as a major task for EAL/D students alongside other tasks such as developing grammar. To prepare EAL/D students for learning subject content, teachers often need to explicitly teach students key words beforehand so that students can develop the linguistic capacity to decode subject content texts and encode their understandings for future applications. Acknowledging the critical role of vocabulary in learning, this chapter is devoted to presenting and discussing the complexity of learning vocabulary.

Chapter 1 sets out who the book is aimed at: student teachers, experienced teachers and teacher educators; and justifies why a handbook for student teachers of modern languages is needed. The chapter outlines the structure of the book and summarises the aims and content of each of the subsequent chapters. Advice is given on how to use the book most effectively with an explanation of its special features, ‘Food for thought’, ‘Try this out’ and ‘Reflective questions’. The chapter suggests how student teachers can organise and structure their thoughts on the different chapters and the idea of keeping a professional development portfolio is introduced.

In order to deliver effective lessons, teachers must choose appropriate resources, materials and equipment to suit the pedagogical aims of each lesson. Chapter 12 looks at the importance of organisation and management and how to achieve a productive, interactive and positive learning atmosphere in class. The chapter examines why planning ahead by walking through lessons in advance is essential, and warns that teachers ignore this at their peril. It also discusses how to involve colleagues in planning and the benefits of collaborative working. Finally, the chapter also examines behaviour management and how to maintain a safe and orderly environment in the modern foreign languages class that is conducive to successful learning, noting potential causes of disruption and strategies to prevent it, as well as what to do if that disruption still occurs.

This chapter takes a different approach to common ECE perspectives on physical development that, for example, focus on the stages of achievement of fine and gross motor developmental milestones. Instead, we focus on the bodily functions, movement and deep physical learning that are central to infant–toddler pedagogy. This is because embodied health and wellbeing in the first three years of life are the foundations for ongoing holistic learning and lifelong outcomes. The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) acknowledges this through its recognition that cognitive, linguistic, physical, social, emotional, personal, spiritual and creative aspects of learning are all intricately interwoven and interrelated. Promoting physical health for holistic wellbeing reflects this view by acknowledging the whole body as the physical home of all these parts. The brain is the ‘control centre’ for many of the complex integrated systems within the body, including the nervous and sensory systems, that establish and guide development.

Reading is critical for learning new information, acquiring new understandings and developing new cognitive skills. It is considered an essential skill for life, study and work in today’s world. In the Australian Curriculum, reading is regarded as a core component of literacy skills alongside ‘viewing, speaking, writing and creating’ texts for ‘a range of purposes’. The texts involved in students’ development of literacy can be multimodal, as they may use oral, visual and digital texts in addition to print texts. As a result, students are expected to ‘use a range of strategies to comprehend, interpret and analyse these texts, including retrieving and organizing literal information, making and supporting inferences and evaluating information and points of view’ when reading .

Across Australia and beyond, early childhood education (ECE) services play a significant role in the everyday lives of infants, toddlers and their families. For some decades, the enrolment of infants and toddlers has increased to the extent that, in today’s Australian society, around 40% of birth to 24-month-olds and nearly 60% of two-year-olds spend at least part of their week in an early childhood service. More still balance ECE service attendance with informal care arrangements with family members and friends. With these figures echoed across many countries worldwide, the widespread uptake of infant and toddler early childhood programs has meant that this generation of infants and toddlers and their families are experiencing a markedly different start to life than previous generations. It is now the norm for infant–toddler care to be spread across multiple contexts both within and outside of the walls of the family home, and for the responsibility for early learning to be shared between family and non-familial adults.

Assessment is a key aspect of teaching and fundamental to student and teacher learning. As a teacher, you will use syllabuses, Australian Curriculum content and the local cultural knowledge that is valued in your community to develop tasks and provide classroom experiences that foster quality learning. You will need to understand that there are a range of assessment types, with different purposes and tools available that you can use to assess student learning and progress. As you grow in your career, you will continue to develop the skills and knowledge required to activate a collaborative classroom culture that promotes student ownership of learning and enables students to foster each other’s learning through classroom assessment. You will work in partnerships with students, colleagues and parents/caregivers to curate authentic evidence of learning. In this chapter, we examine forms of assessment, the most effective types of feedback and how teachers use assessment data in teaching, planning and reporting practices.

When we think about ‘becoming’ or ‘being’ a teacher, we often reflect on experiences that positively impacted our learning, or those that reduced our enthusiasm or motivation. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership emphasises teachers’ significant role and responsibility in preparing children and young people to lead successful and productive lives. Building on Chapter 1, this chapter introduces core skills for the profession of teaching, highlighting communication, organisation, reflective practice and leadership for aspiring teachers. Acknowledging that teaching is a human endeavour, you will explore personal attributes, including confidence, resilience and self-care, and the process of managing, building and sustaining a career, while upholding professional standards.

Once you have finished university and are ready to teach in a classroom, have you finished learning? While you probably have immediate things to learn about – your new school or casual teaching, the syllabuses that you will be working with, the students you will be teaching, your colleagues and the realities of day-to-day behaviour management – there are other ways in which your learning does not stop once you have graduated. The expectation that teachers will not stop learning is realistic, as there will always be changes (social, economic, political and technological) that have to be accommodated. Developing technologies have led to changes not only in what teachers have to learn, but also in how they learn. Formal pathways for professional learning have been supplemented by informal methods. You now begin your journey from graduate to proficient, according to the roadmap through the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) provided by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. You have embarked on an exciting career that offers numerous options for development.