More support needed for first languages (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

*More support needed for first languages
*
From: AAP September 17, 2012 5:57PM
AUS

TEACHING indigenous children in their mother tongue will help lift literacy
rates and school attendance, a federal parliamentary committee says.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs committee has spent more
than 12 months looking into language learning in indigenous communities.

Its report, tabled in parliament on Monday, made 30 recommendations and
called on federal, state and territory governments to offer bilingual
education programs from the earliest years of learning.

Committee chairman Shayne Neumann, a Labor backbencher, said it was
"crystal clear" bilingual classrooms would improve school attendance.

"White Australia has dispossessed indigenous people of their land and of
their language," he told reporters in Canberra.

Of an estimated 250 Australian indigenous languages, only 18 remain in
2012, Mr Neumann noted.

Access full article below:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/more-support-needed-for-first-languages/story-e6freono-1226475717085
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