Let your joy be in your journey—not in some distant goal.
TIM COOK
Thanks for visiting! If you’d like to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you! You can contact me at: skye.playsted@englishlanguageresources.com.au
Work
I am an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience. I teach in primary and high schools, in federally-funded adult migrant English teaching programs and in universities. I have also worked with some wonderful volunteer English teachers and assistants at a community-based refugee support organisation. I am inspired every week by the people I work with, both students and teachers. Teaching is a giving job, and this is evident in the work that community volunteer groups do, and have done for many years.
I’m currently researching teacher professional learning and TESOL, with a focus on pronunciation teaching with beginner adult English as an additional language learners. I regularly deliver teacher professional development and research seminars, and am involved in facilitating meetings for postgraduate student and early career researcher communities of practice. Additionally, I write, review and edit pedagogical papers, and work casually as a university academic tutor. And I still enjoy the great privilege of being offered opportunities to teach casually in school and community classrooms! As a researcher and teacher educator, I believe my strengths lie in my ability to draw on a broad range of teaching experiences across different sectors of education, and in my ability to network and collaborate effectively with academics nationally and internationally.
Writing
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9855-2326
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
Playsted, S. (2019). Reflective practice to guide teacher learning: A practitioner’s journey with beginner adult English language learners. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 7(3), 37-52.
Playsted, S., Burri, M., Acton, W. (2020). Warming up and activating mind, body and emotions in pronunciation instruction. TESOLANZ Journal, 28, 49-55.
Teaching and Learning
Playsted, S. (2021). Encouraging critical thinking through a dialogic teaching approach in the beginner-level English language classroom. Humanising Language Teaching, 23(1), 1-10.
Playsted, S. (2021). Teacher-to-student connections: The social rewards. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 7(2), 15-17.
Playsted, S. (2020). Nurturing learners’ relationships and confidence in the speaking skills classroom. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 6(9), 8-14.
Playsted, S. (2020). Mezirow moments: The value of conferences for a mother returning to study. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 6(4), 11-14.
Playsted, S. (2020). Learning to dance: Experiences that changed us. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 6(1), 9-14.
Playsted, S. (2019). [Issue introduction] On the neuroscience of language and the brain dictionary. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 5(11), 1-2.
Playsted, S. (2019) Culture in the classroom: Learning and teaching in culturally diverse classrooms. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 5(8), 12-17.
Playsted, S. (2019) Scaffolding feedback for longer term knowledge retention. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 5(1), 42-43.
Playsted, S. (2018) Finding their voice: Singing and teaching with refugees in Australia. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 4(12), 9-14.
Book Reviews
Playsted, S. (2021). [Review of the book Envisioning TESOL through a translanguaging lens: Global perspectives, edited by Z. Tian, L. Aghai, P. Sayer & J. Schissel]. English Australia Journal.
Playsted, S. (2019). [Review of the book Culture myths: Applying second language research to classroom teaching, by Andrea DeCapua]. JALT Mind Brain Education Think Tanks, 5(4), 26-29.
Playsted, S. (2018). [Review of the book Refugee background students transitioning into higher education: Navigating complex spaces, by L. Naidoo, J. Wilkinson, M. Adoniou & K. Langat]. TESOL in Context, 27(2), 71-74.
Other Contributions
Playsted, S. (2020). Contributor to S. Baker, People from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds: An open access annotated bibliography (3rd Edition).
Playsted, S. (2019). Contributor to S. Baker, People from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds: An open access annotated bibliography (2nd Edition).
Playsted, S. (2018) Report from ACTA Conference 2018. QATESOL News, December 2018.
Invited Presentations
Playsted, S. (2021). Dialogic teaching: Encouraging confidence and critical thinking in the beginner-level EAL classroom. Presentation for LESLLA April Coffee Break.
Playsted, S. (2020). Building confidence: Teaching speaking and listening skills to beginner-level English language learners. Professional development webinar for QATESOL.
Playsted, S. (2020). Online environments and the future of social science research. Online presentation and discussion for 8th 2020 meeting of the USQ Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Group.
Playsted, S. (2020). Intercultural communication in the adult EAL classroom: Concepts and classroom practice. Professional development webinar for VicTESOL Creative pedagogies for teaching adult EAL learners.
Playsted, S. (2020). Using movement, gesture and touch to teach short vowel sounds. Teaching tip presentation for VicTESOL Creative pedagogies for teaching adult EAL learners PD, Carringbush Adult Education, Melbourne. Rescheduled to 2021.
Presentations
Playsted, S. (2021). Making vowels matter: An innovative approach to pronunciation teaching with preliterate adult English language learners. Conference presentation.
Playsted, S. (2019, September/October). Reflective practice to guide teacher learning: A practitioner’s journey with beginner adult English language learners. Professional development presentation for Adult Migrant English Program teachers, TAFE Queensland.
Playsted, S. (2019). Reflective practice to guide teacher learning: A practitioner’s journey with beginner adult English language learners. Poster accepted for presentation at the ALAA Conference, Perth, WA.
Playsted, S. (2019). Sharing perspectives on intercultural communication. Workshop presented at the QATESOL Regional Mini-conference, Toowoomba, Qld.
Playsted, S. (2018). Pronunciation teaching with adult refugee learners: Learning skills as we sing. Teaching tip presented at the 3rd Pronunciation Symposium, Wollongong, NSW.
Playsted, S. (2018). Towards a more dialogic approach with a class of young adult refugee-background learners. Paper presented at the ALAA Conference, Wollongong, NSW.
Service
Volunteer Student Mentor, University of Queensland Academics for Refugees Chapter.
Panelist, English for Adult Migrants – Future Directions, ACTA webinar.
Reviewer, TESOL International, TESOL Awards Program applications.
Chairing member, University of Southern Queensland Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Meetings
Peer reviewer, Journal of Research and Innovation in Language
Staff member, JALT-TESOL 2020 Mind Brain and Language Education Virtual Symposium
Management committee member, QATESOL
Member ACTA Adult ESL working party
Editorial team member, JALT Mind Brain Ed SIG Think Tank+ Bulletin
Volunteer 3rd Pronunciation Symposium & ALAA Conference (2018)
Volunteer English teacher, Toowoomba Refugee and Migrant Services (2017-2019)
Awards
Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (2020-2024). Commonwealth funding to offset tuition fees and receive a stipend to undertake doctoral studies at the University of Wollongong.
University of Wollongong. School of Education Outstanding Achievement in Postgraduate Studies (Coursework) Award (2020).
Current Professional Memberships
Literacy Education and Second Language Learning for Adults, TESOL International, Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, QATESOL, Refugee Education Special Interest Group, International TESOL Union, JALT Mind Brain Ed SIG, English Language Testing Society.