SAIL Birthday Wrap

SAIL Birthday Wrap! Last month saw the biggest SAIL celebration so far this year, the 4th birthday. The festivities began with the tutor bash where all that attended were treated to a performance by Ajak Kwai, Tasmania’s Sudanese singing sensation.

The Dandenong party celebrations were immensely successful, with everything from West African drummers and performers, photograph presentations, to copious cake and goodies!

The wholeSAIL photo was an incredible effort – 15 minutes, 100 people, one photographer and one brilliant set of photos! These will be available on-line for your viewing in the not too distant future.

A big Thank-You to all those involved in making it happen:  The fabulous SAIL Kitchen team, for living out the instruction: “Let them eat cake”. And eat they did!  The cake bakers and suppliers of other goodies for the day  The dancers, both students and tutors who made the day come alive  The drummers, including students, for the wonderful entertainment on the day

And finally to everyone in all areas of SAIL, without whom there would be nothing to celebrate!

Hall Clean Up Thank-you Once again, we want to thank each and every person who contributes to the clean-up of the hall every week. It is an incredible effort, and again this week chairs and tables were put away and the hall swept clean. Your efforts are hugely appreciated!

Theme This Saturday marks the end of yet another theme – the “Enviornment”. We have noticed that some students have been busily working on projects across the past few weeks, and this Saturday we would love to display some student work on our new pinboard. If your student has prepared some work suitable for display please see Jackie. And even better, if they would like to present their work (very briefly) to a small group of students for ‘show and tell’ please also let Jackie or Matthew know.

The next theme will commence on the 15th October, and will be ‘Australia’. This is a broad theme and tutors could choose a particular focus, such as animals, geography, history, immigration, music or whatever interest you and your student. If you find some relevant worksheets or have some ideas that others might be interested in, please let us know. Tutor Talks Tutor talks will resume this month with one small change – they will occur on week 2, not week 5, as previously. There are two tutor talks planned for the rest of the year: October 22nd and November 26th. It would be fabulous if as many tutors as possible could keep these dates free to take advantage of the expertise and knowledge of our speakers. The talks will take place after lunch and students have been dropped home as usual. The topics will include the session on ‘Bullying’ that was postponed, and session on teaching and preparing English as a Second Language for new arrival students.

Tutor Surveys Thankyou to all volunteers who have completed and returned surveys. Your comments, ideas and feedback will assist to ensure that we know the sorts of things that will best support you, and that the program continues to improve. In the next few weeks we shall report back to you on some of the great ideas and suggestions that have come through. The surveys are attached to this email for those who would still like to forward their suggestions.

Email issues A small request to SAILors one and all to please ensure that the following email addresses are on your email “safe list”. This will aid us in keeping you in the SAIL loop on an ongoing basis. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

SAIL About options The Welcome Day, brings together 40 young newly arrived teenagers who have been participating in circus training with the Westside Circus over the last 2 months, these include students from The Western English Language School, ST Albans Secondary College, and SAIL. The welcome day is an afternoon jam packed with fun for the whole family to enjoy, with free workshops and performances.

The Welcome Day : Saturday 8th October 1:30-4:30pm at The Living Museum of the West, Van Ness Ave Maryibrynong. Pipemakers Park melway ref 28 b10 across the road from Highpoint. free workshops and activities: 1:30-2:30pm Sudanses cultural performances: 2:30-3:30pm circus performance extravagansa by the young newly arrived teens: 330-430pm

The whole day is free, fun and a fantastic way to celebrate the young circus performers hard work and achievements and to try out some fun activities yourself. Come one come all! Overseas job opportunity Courtesy of SAILor Jenni S, we pass on this information;

Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) for Marie Stopes International Australia (MSIA): Intake 15, March 2006 MSIA (a reproductive health NGO) are currently looking to nominate five young professionals for overseas posts for the governments Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD) program. You must be an Australian citizen, under 30 and meet the selection criteria. The post is for one year departing in March/April 2006. The positions are: * Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Advisor in Papua New Guinea * Marketing/Project Assistant in Viet Nam * Project Assistant in

* Fiji, * Cambodia * China

If you think you have the drive and commitment to take on one of these positions please submit your CV and covering letter addressing the selection criteria to Jennifer at [email protected] by the 27th of September 2005. If your application is successful you will then need to submit a separate application to AusAID by the 21st of October 2005.

Total trivia It with great pleasure that we announce that one of the very first SAILors, Sima Manyiel was recently drafted by an American College to play for their basketball team. Sima, now at almost 7 feet tall, will be heading off later in the year to take up the scholarship. We congratulate Sima for moving from SAIL directly onto the world basketball stage.

Thank you for making the SAILing so smooth into SAIL's fifth year!

Matthew and Jackie