News: Visa Changes for Anyone Working in Critical Industries

by Insider Guides: https://insiderguides.com.au/visa-changes-critical-industries/

Image: Insider Guides

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian Government has introduced a new visa – the Temporary

Activity (subclass 408) visa – that is available to international students in Australia. 

This is a temporary visa that allows you to stay in Australia if you are employed in a ‘critical industry sector’, including health care and food processing. There is no visa application charge for Subclass 408 (although you may need to pay other costs for requirements such as health checks and police certificates) and the visa allows approved applicants to stay in Australia for up to 12 months. 

What can I do on the Subclass 408 visa?

With the Temporary Activity visa, you can:

• Remain in Australia, if you have no other visa options (for example, if your studies have finished during this time) and are unable to depart Australia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions
• Remain in Australia to continue your work in critical sectors. These include agriculture, food processing, health care, aged care, disability care and child care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Medical professionals making employment arrangements in the health care sector are also able to apply for this visa.

This visa is not open to visitors to Australia who are unable to support themselves during this time – these people must make arrangements to return home.

Who can apply?

There are certain requirements and conditions that must be met for people applying for the Subclass 408 visa. These include:

• Having a current visa that expires in 28 days or less or your last substantive temporary visa expired less than 28 days ago,
• Either having evidence from your employer that you have ongoing work in a critical sector and that an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident cannot fill the position, or demonstrating you can’t meet the requirements of any other visa,
• Maintaining adequate health insurance during your stay in Australia.

You can find the full list of requirements here.

Applicants can also include family members in the application.

Please note, this visa is only available to people currently in Australia.

For more information and to apply for this visa, visit the Department of Home Affairs website.

Academic English: Top Tools for International Students

by Belinda, Insider Guides: https://insiderguides.com.au/top-tools-learning-academic-english/

There’s English, there’s Australian English and then … there’s academic English.

Just when you think you’ve mastered a language, you find there’s an entirely new kind of vocabulary and style used by textbooks and teachers.

But, you can easily improve your academic English by focusing on the two most important components: academic vocabulary and academic style.

TOOLS TO IMPROVE YOUR ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

The number one place to start to improve your academic English vocabulary is the Academic Words List (AWL). This handy list compiles the words that appear with the highest frequency in English-language academic texts. In total, the AWL has ten sublists of words, but the most important is Sublist 1,which contains the top 60 most common academic words.  If you can familiarise yourself with Sublist 1, you’re well on your way.

Where to find the AWL

• Vocabulary.com provides AWL Sublist 1, along with word definitions and spelling games.
• All of the AWL sublists are available here.

Where to test yourself

Once you’ve familiarised yourself with the words themselves, you should test yourself with games and exercises.  Some of the best exercises can be found at:

• English Vocabulary Exercises.com
• RMIT’s academic word list tool
• Exam English
• You can also subscribe to Wordsmmyth.net for an academic word of the day and many other tools.

Some apps for learning academic English (or just improving your general English vocabulary) are:

• The Oxford Learners Dictionary of Academic English available on iPhone and Android.
• A Word a Day on Android
• Word of the Day on iPhone

TOOLS TO IMPROVE YOUR ACADEMIC STYLE

Once you have the vocabulary, you still need to figure out the right way to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together.

Academic English has certain styles and conventions and is much more formal that conversational English. The following resources will help to break down and learn how to structure academic English.

• Improving the Structure and Style of your Academic Writing from the University of Sydney.
• Pointers and exercises from Using English for Academic Purposes.
• Advice on Writing and Speaking Academically from The University of Melbourne (pdf)
• This guide from UniLearning explains the differences between academic and other writing styles.
• There’s a whole host of academic games and worksheets from the TEFLtastic blog.
• For those students who have to write up research reports, The Academic Phrasebook from The University of Manchester is organised according to the main sections of a research paper eg. Reporting Results and Writing Conclusions.
• And of course, there’s the IELTS Academic Writing Practice Tests.