Spring Teacher Retreat 2026: A Day of Connection and Inspiration

2026 Spring Teacher Retreat Program

9:50 – 10:15 | Arrival, registration & morning tea
Arrive, enjoy morning tea and ocean views and connect with teachers from community language schools across NSW.

10:15 – 10:30 | Welcome

10:30 – 11:30 | Sharing culture, deepening understanding

Through a carefully curated series of short cultural sharings from CLS teachers, each less than five minutes, Kara will demonstrate a framework teachers can use with their own students. Together, we’ll explore how a story, poem, song or other cultural experience can open up conversations about feelings and needs, what we share as human beings, and what is unique to different cultures.

Teachers will leave with a practical approach they can use to develop intercultural understanding and personal and social capability in their own classrooms.

11:30 – 12:00 | Lunch

12:00 – 1:45 | Raising bilingual children in Australia
Interactive workshop with Professor Susana Eisenchlas

What helps children maintain their home language while growing up in an English-dominant environment? What gets in the way, and how can teachers and families help?

Drawing on her extensive research into bilingualism and home language maintenance, Professor Susana Eisenchlas will lead an interactive workshop exploring the value of raising children bilingually, some of the challenges families face, and practical ways we can support children to maintain and develop their home language.

1:45 – 2:00 | Closing‍