Dr Amy Farndale

Greetings! Hello. Guten Tag. Niina Marni. Habari. Selamat pagi/siang/sore. Bonjour. Namaste and more... (these are some of the languages I have used in my lifetime and during my teaching career when supporting bilingual preschoolers as well as in my academic career while preparing pre-service teachers for supporting culturally and linguistically diverse learners)

I am passionate about supporting people to communicate. I specialise in early childhood language and literacy (and more specifically on bilingual preschoolers' social interactions, emotional experiences, and functional language use of English as an additional language). I have been an early years teacher for 20 plus years, in contexts such as children's services, schools, tutoring, nannying, and of course, many beloved preschools in Australia, the UK, France, and Kenya.

I am a lecturer, researcher, course coordinator and tutor in the Bachelor of Education program in the courses: Studies in English Education 1 and 2 and also in the Masters of Education program for the literacy curriculum specialisation and ECE literacy intensive.

I continue to consider myself to be a preschool teacher, albeit from a distance now, as I work for UniSA full-time as an academic.

I am also a parent of a 12 year old daughter, who loves musical theatre - dancing, singing, and acting - communicating in multimodal ways (another area I am interested in).

My view of literacy draws from the Early Years Learning Framework (2009, p. 46) in that 'literacy incorporates a range of modes of communication including music, movement, dance, storytelling, visual arts, media and drama, as well as talking, listening, viewing, reading and writing'.

I hold the Bachelor of Early Childhood (with honours); a Master in Education (specialising in Early Childhood Education); various Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificates; and a PhD titled: "Bilingual preschoolers' social interactions, emotional challenges, and functional langauge use while learning English as an additional language'.

I have also led action research titled: Story Creation with the community. Which involved supporting Aboriginal children (Kaurna and Pitjantjatjara children) and children with Autism spectrum diagnosis as well as bilingual children and children who parents and educators considered to be shy or confident communicators. 

Department for Education and Child Development,

TESOL research group UniSA,

de Lissa Research group, UniSA, School of Education UniSA

Translanguaging research group

West Torrens Partnership DECD

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia

• Master of Education (Early Childhood Education) University of South Australia

• Bachelor of Early Childhod Education with Honours University of South Australia

Work history

2015-2019

Tutor of Studies in English Education 1, UniSA

2014-2019

Preschool Teacher and Acting-Director at Kurralta Park Community Kindergarten, DECD/DfE

2012-2018 

Case Study Researcher - Bilingual preschoolers' social interactions, emotional challenges and functional language use while learning English as an additional language.

2008-2010

New Arrivals Program Teacher / Intensive English Language Classroom Teacher at Richmond Primary, DECD

2002 - 2018

Early Years Teacher in various metropolitan and country locations for the DECD

2007-2008

Volunteer Teacher - library project coordinator in Kenya.

2006

English Tutor/nanny in Paris, France

2001 & 2005

Key stage 1 teacher in England