I still remember those moments from my childhood when I realised that language was something with its own patterns and rules. Sitting in a local Italian restaurant and realising I could figure out what the Italian words were by comparing them to the English translations in different dishes. Or the time my mind was blown [...]
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Up-goer Five
Big words and jargon confound and conceal – it’s a common claim. James McElvenny looks at the recent Up-goer Five craze of explaining complex topics using only the 1,000 most common words.
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Maintaining Indigenous languages: revering a distant past or contributing to a better future?
Special guest Dr. Bill Fogarty argues that Indigenous language maintenance and education is not about reverence for some distant past for esoteric reasons. Rather it is an important asset that can play a role both in developing a future for Indigenous communities and in benefiting the socio-economic fabric of the Australian Nation.
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Australia’s Asian Literacy in the Asian Century
The Australia in the Asian Century whitepaper is, on the surface, a bold statement in several areas, including literacy in Asian languages and cultures. It targets all Australian students being exposed to Asian cultures throughout their schooling and having access to classes in Asian languages. Does it mean that your children will all be learning Chinese at school next year? William Steed looks more closely at the pathways outlined to achieve this goal.
READ MOREFirst language education is a matter of common sense
The Our Land Our Language report unequivocally calls for the reinstatement of bilingual education programs in remote areas, for compulsory English as an Additional Language training in teaching degrees, and for changes to be made to how NAPLAN testing is carried out. But what do these measures mean and how effective will they be in ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote areas get the best education we can provide?
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How not to report on Indigenous education
Greg Dickson writes… On Monday I got a phone call out of the blue from a journalist from The Australian. Initially, I felt a bit chuffed being cold-called by a big newspaper. I soon realised however that the journo was asking me about stuff that wasn’t really my area of expertise. She wanted to know [...]
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Ngurrju! Manymak! Pupuni! NT drops First Four Hours in English policy
Over three years ago, the Northern Territory government introduced a policy mandating English-only lessons for the first four (out of five and a bit) hours of school per day, despite widespread criticism. But as Greg Dickson has discovered, the government may have finally retracted the policy.
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Karri-borlbme kun-wok ~ Learning language
Greg Dickson writes: We’re very happy to spread the word about a great new initiative from Western Arnhem Land that gives us all the chance to learn a bit of an Aboriginal language: Bininj Gunwok*. Through the Bininj Gunwok Language Project, you can now subscribe to an email list and receive regular bits of vocab, grammatical info [...]
READ MOREHow can multilingual bureaucracy be incentivised?
The Victorian Department of Human Services is seeking feedback from residents in public housing, but only if they can understand and fill out the English-only form. Aidan Wilson says the bureaucracy be doing more to help non-English speaking people by providing documents in their first language.
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Clear focus on Indigenous languages is rather fuzzy
The Federal House of Representatives Inquiry into language learning in Indigenous communities visited Darwin this week, and the Northern Territory government had a hard time defending its first-four-hours-in-English policy. Greg Dickson explains.
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