Australia

Curriculum review boosts Aboriginal language

Briar Road Public School in Airds has been building its Aboriginal language program for the past three years under Principal Tammy Anderson. The area has been a melting pot of indigenous cultures since residential development in the 1970s, but none of the children at home spoke an Aboriginal language, so the school decided to teach the local Dharawar language. .

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“We partnered with Aboriginal organizations that are a very important part of doing authentic things,” said Anderson. “We don’t invent the language. We are the custodians of it.”

An Indigenous woman and an Aboriginal language teacher for 20 years, Anderson made a deliberate choice to slowly build it and get it right, consulting her parents and community every step of the way. The program’s pioneer is currently in her second year, and her tutoring will be extended each year as the original cohort grows.

Students are now at a stage where they can announce Aboriginal words that they did not know three years ago on the school radio.

“I think it strengthened the self-image of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and gave non-Aboriginal children a stronger sense of the country in which they lived. improved overall outcomes,” says Anderson.

Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Ben Franklin says giving Aboriginal children the opportunity to learn their own language can strengthen their ties to their country, maintain a strong identity and improve educational outcomes. said.

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Curriculum review boosts Aboriginal language

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