Indigenous language book to keep culture alive (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

[This is the print version of story 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s996391.htm]

Last Update: Tuesday, November 25, 2003. 10:00am (AEDT)

Indigenous language book to keep culture alive

A new book is helping young Indigenous children learn some of the 
languages that will help maintain ties with their culture into 
adulthood.

Indigenous Children's Services Unit project development officer, Andrew 
Burns, says the book, Language - Our Right, Our Identity, is being used 
in more than 120 Indigenous child care services in Queensland.

Mr Burns says the approach helps young Indigenous children become truly 
bi-lingual and move easily between their traditional language and 
English.

"What we're actually looking at is trying to implement Indigenous 
languages into the early childcare curriculum, the reason being it's a 
lot easier for a child to learn certain concepts within their home or 
native language than it is to learn English, because it is a well-known 
and proven fact that English, within itself, is one of the hardest 
languages in the world to learn."


© 2003 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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