Early Learning Languages Australia
(ELLA) - Expressions of Interest
now open
FACT SHEET
The Australian Government is providing $9.8 million for the ELLA trial, to test the effectiveness of
providing preschool children with early exposure to a language other than English through online
learning programmes. This is part of the Australian Government’s commitment to reviving language
study in this country and was an election commitment under the Government’s Policy for Schools:
Students First.
The trial will determine the effectiveness of online language learning for children in a preschool
programme and will help the Government determine what approaches are most cost-effective and
able to be rolled out to more students in the future.
How will it work?
Children at up to 40 services providing a preschool programme will be selected to participate in the
one year trial of online language learning in 2015. Language learning software will be developed in
Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Indonesian, French and Arabic. Participating services will be provided
guidance for teachers, parents and children including support material to assist with the delivery of
the ELLA programme.
What early learning language software is being developed for the trial?
A total of 35 mobile applications (apps) are being developed for the ELLA trial, consisting of seven
unique apps for each of the five languages. The apps will have a progressive release throughout the
2015 school year.
Each participating service will trial the apps in one of the five languages for the duration of the trial.
The early learning language apps will give children the opportunity to develop recognition of the
different sounds and concepts of a language other than English, with the possibility of understanding
and reproducing that language in a natural medium through play based learning. Children will be
Opportunity through learning
Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) – Fact Sheet
introduced to words, sentences and songs in the language, and will be provided an age appropriate
experience and practice in the language.
Who can participate in the trial?
Early childhood services in Australia that currently provide a preschool or kindergarten programme
to children in the year before full-time school can express an interest in participating in the trial if
they meet the following requirements:
1) Provide a preschool or kindergarten programme:
a. to children in the year before full-time school
b. delivered by a qualified early childhood teacher
2) The service has an active internet connection.
Services who meet these requirements will be eligible to participate in the Australian Government’s
ELLA trial. To determine whether your service provides a preschool or kindergarten programme that
is deliverd by a qualified early childhood teacher, information is available at ACECQA.
Long day care centre based services delivering a preschool programme, government and
non-government preschools that are part of a school and standalone preschool services are
encouraged to express interest.
Submitting an Expression of Interest
The online Expression of Interest form will be available on the Department of Education’s website at
www.education.gov.au/early-learning-languages-australia.
To complete the form successfully, you must:
 Read and declare your service meets the eligibility requirements
 Provide all the requested details about your service including information about any wifi
access/capability and type of internet connection at the service. Your administrative area or
your service’s internet provider should be able to provide you with this information.
 Ensure approval to submit an expression of interest has been obtained from your nominated
supervisor and/or approved provider.
 Acknowledge that the software developed for this trial includes analytical tools which will
collect data on children’s usage and progress through the language learning programme and
this information will be used solely for the purposes of the trial evaluation.
Services that submit an Expression of Interest must agree to incorporate the suggested number of
weekly sessions into classroom plans (approximately 40 mins per week).
Partially completed forms can not be saved or submitted. Once the completed form has been
submitted an acknowledgement will be issued by the system.
The online form to submit an Expression of Interest will open at 9am Monday 15 September 2014
(AEST) and close 5pm Monday 29 September 2014 (AEST). Requests to express an interest in
participating in the trial after the closing date will not be accepted.
What happens after the Expression of Interest period closes?
On conclusion of the Expression of Interest period, the Australian Government will liaise with state
and territory representatives to determine sites that will participate in the trial. Service selection will
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Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA) – Fact Sheet
ensure there is coverage of a range of settings to inform the trial evaluation and future roll-out
considerations. Service selection is not on a first-come, first-in basis, but rather to ensure there is a
diversity of settings to best inform evaluators of the effectiveness of the new early learning sofware.
Services will be notified of the outcome in October 2014. Further information about how services
are selected for the trial is in the ELLA Frequently Asked Questions sheet.
Services selected to participate in the trial may be expected to undertake training in Term 4, 2014
and will be provided with additional assistance to incorporate ELLA activities into their early learning
programme for the duration of the 2015 school year. Services will also be expected to contribute to
the evaluation of the trial to be completed by February 2016.
Where can I find more information?
Further information about the ELLA trial can be found on the ELLA Frequently Asked Questions
sheet. General assistance can be provided by contacting the Child Care Access Hotline on
1800 670 305 or via email to ella@education.gov.au.
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